Chapter 13: Ep 11 Director's Cut

As the screen began loading up before them, many of the cast sat at the edge of their seats with excited expressions and looks of anticipation.

"I can't help but feel honored to witness such a legendary moment in history." Frederica said while smiling up at the screen.

"Of course, the defeat of the great calamity will be a story for the ages." Julius nodded his head and continued to watch the screen patiently and elegantly. He was a knight, hopping your leg up and down in excitement for watching a historic moment is not elegant behavior as such, he was not bobbing his leg up and down… He was merely doing one of Subaru's warm-ups, yeah.

"Um… Did Subaru really face the Whale and bring it down?" Emilia turned to the excited maid sitting behind her with a worried nervous expression.

Rem giggled a bit as she understood the other's disbelief at the thought that Subaru could face down the giant whale.

"I assure Emilia-sama that Subaru-kun was brave and wonderful to the very end of the hunt." The maid smiled confidently while toying with the sleeping boy's hair.

Emilia looked beside her to the smirking duchess. Before she could get a word in, the green-haired princess smugly gestured her fingers in a zipping motion over her mouth.

"You will all have to see what sir Natsuki-san did for yourself. I'm not telling."

Emilia pouted as Crusch winked smugly at her. The half-elf wasn't the only one fuming, as the little spirit girl that was sitting on the boy's sleeping lap angrily pouted at the duchess as well.

Rem giggled softly in amusement. The maid's eyes softened as she stared at Subaru's sleeping face, she stroked his cheek tenderly and smiled at his innocent aura.

Who knew someone with such an aura could've gone through so much.

The maid's heart clenched in sadness for a moment as she remembered the last few viewings, the sheer despair, and horror they've all felt seemed to have lifted out of the room, replaced with excitement and border on cheerfulness that hadn't been present since ages.

"It seems everyone wants to forget the last sessions we've seen." Rem softly whispered in sadness as she kissed the boy's head softly.

"But I won't…" The Oni whispered.

Season 1 Episode 11 Director's Cut.

Begin.

The scene opens up on the sun rising over a ruined village.

"What's this?" Otto asked in confusion as everyone looked on with bewildered faces.

"Why are we starting here, I suppose. Why not the beginning of the battle with the Whale, I wonder?" Beatrice asked in an annoyed tone.

From the middle of the road, a lone man could be seen walking along with the ruins and broken fences of the village.

"Who's tha'?And why are we seein' this? WHERE'S MUH CAP'N?!" Garfiel shouted angrily.

As the blonde demi boy raged in confusion, the rest of the cast was looking at the screen with bewildered faces as well for the abrupt change in the scene.

But an old, butler uniformed knight, was looking at the screen with a solemn expression as he tightly gripped his chair handle.

"Theresia…" The man whispered as his heart clenched in pain.

The brown-haired young man stops in a wide cleared area. He unsheathes his blade and begins to swipe it melancholy.

"It seems like he's training in a remote area…" Tivey speculated smartly.

"Bro, what does this have to do with the Whale and Subaru?" Ricardo shook his head and looked at the screen with frustration.

"Why do I feel like I knoyw him?" Felix mused in suspicion.

A red-haired knight looked at the screen with a saddened gaze as he understood what he was about to see.

The brown-haired young man suddenly notices something from beside him so he looks toward it.

It was a lady with red scarlet hair, watching the sunrise with her back to him.

"I haven't seen you before. What is a woman doing here so early in the morning?" The young man asks gruffly.

The lady turns around with a surprised look in her bluebell eyes. She places a finger on her chin and hums in thought for a moment.

"Oh, don't worry about it. Just come here." The lady smiled cheerfully and gestured for him to come close.

"She looks reeeeally pretty." Emilia said softly and smiled at the sight of the two.

Crusch's eyes widened as she recognized who this person was immediately.

The duchess slowly turned to her knight and servant with a pity filled frown.

The old man… was shedding tears of anguish at seeing his late wife. Clutching his handles close and shaking in his seat while his lips trembled to a weak but grief-filled smile.

"Yes… She was indeed, beautiful."

"Wilhelm-dono…." Crusch teared up herself at the sight of the old man she respected.

The man didn't give a hint of emotion as he stepped closer to the lady.

As he stood closer beside her, it was revealed that she was sitting atop a hill of condensed flower patches that bloomed and shined under the sunrise.

"Wait…" Julius slowly turned to the Sword Demon with wide eyes as the realization hit him.

"His wife liked flowers…" Otto whispered as he did the same thing and looked at the old man with sympathy filling his eyes.

"Hey…"

The man turned to the ecstatic lady. She turned to him with a soft smile.

"Do you like flowers?"

The man looked at the lady with a surprised expression.

"Oh…" Emilia and Rem looked at the old man with sad shocked expressions.

"S-She seemed really nice…" Emilia whispered softly in a feeble attempt at comforting the clearly anguished old man.

Wilhelm just watched the screen with his eyes streaming.

"Rein…"

Right in front of the old man, a golden-haired princess looked at her knight with worry and sympathy filling her scarlet eyes.

Her knight, the sword saint had been watching the screen with an expression of shock and horror as he recognized his own grandmother.

The lady he killed.

The young man's face suddenly disappears and another face fades into the scene.

An old gruff face of a hardened man was placed instead of the innocent sharp-looking young man. Gray neatly folded hair replaced the wide spiky brown hair.

The only thing that presented a connection… Was the sharp blue eyes that Wilhelm carried.

Those sharp eyes that were honed on the flying figure of the beast of fog.

"What?" Petra asked in surprise at the sudden change.

"That was the old man?" Al asked in surprise at the screen's way of doing things.

"It was showing us a moment between him and his late wife… spirits…" Frederica whispered in sympathy and grief as she could only imagine the hurt and anger flowing in the man's heart.

"Troops-"

"LET HIM HAVE IT!"

"AL HUMA!"

As Rem's magic attacks stabbed the underbelly of the beast, blood-spattered across the grassy field.

Crusch's disturbed expression turned to one of surprise as she and the rest of the crippled army looked on at the lone boy and his trusty maid running towards the beast on their black ground dragon.

The boy smirked encouragingly at them.

Crusch smirked in acceptance and took a deep breath.

"Troops! Follow those two fools!"

And the army carried forth on their attack, emboldened by Natsuki Subaru's bravery.

"So the battle begins." Anastasia mused while clapping excitedly.

Otto and Julius looked at the screen with angry glares towards the beast that had brought so much horror and anguish for the respectful duo of grandfather and grandson.

Emilia and Beatrice held on to the boy as they watched with worry for the boy.

"Go Cap'n!" Garfiel shouted with stars shining in his eyes as he watched the boy that had been suffering for so long finally take a stand and show his awesomeness by leading the army and fighting the monster of mist.

From behind the rushing soldiers, many weird-looking structures were placed behind the army lines.

The weird-looking machines suddenly glowed brightly as the disks on top of them moved to point at the huge calamity in the air.

"What are those?" Petra asked with stars in her eyes.

"They look super weird." Emilia whispered while staring at the screen with wondrous eyes.

Crusch and Anastasia smirked mischievously as they stared at the screen.

"Oh shit…" Otto widened his eyes in surprise as he recognized the weapons.

"Wha' is it?" Garfiel asked in confusion as he stared at the weird-looking disks.

One by one, each of the weird glowing disks shot blue rays of magical energy… that aimed to hit the monster right in the face.

* BOOM!*

* BOOM!*

* BOOM!*

* BOOM!*

Very sizable explosions fired up the night sky against the Whale's colossal face making the monster close its eyes in annoyance.

"Goddamn…" Al whistled at the brilliant lights.

"WHOOOOOOOO!" Garfiel shouted while raising his fists in excitement at such weapons.

"How did you get such firepower, I suppose? These things are way too advanced, in fact." Beatrice looked astonished that technology had advanced enough to create such weapons.

Crusch smirked mischievously and zipped across her lips while shrugging. Smugly, she turned to look at the screen as Beatrice, Emilia, and Felt pouted in jealousy.

The duchess felt proud that she could tease the great spirit like this. After all, Beatrice had been teasing all of them since the start of these sessions.

Subaru and Rem looked on at the brilliant monster as it burned from the blows of the machinery.

"They're firing the night-banisher! Close your eyes!"

Subaru nodded to Rem's warning and did as he was told.

"Should we close our eyes too?" Tivey asked in confusion.

Ricardo shrugged and watched the screen excitedly.

A small canon like structure glowed brilliantly and shot a huge ball of light into the night sky right above the Whale.

The ball of light exploded and painted the starry black night sky with white shining rays of light that almost turned the world from night to another simple morning in a second. As if the sun just rose on command.

"Whoa!" Otto was slack-jawed at the canon's ability.

"It's like a small artificial sun!" Felt marveled as the screen showed the small illuminating ball of light that lit up the entire field.

"Cap'n's surely gonna use this to kick the bastar's ass!" Garfiel shouted while jumping on his seat in excitement.

Julius shook his head slightly but smirked softly at the excitement of the blonde man before him.

The knight had to admit… he felt the same sense of exhilaration.

"Whoa… it's just like everyone said! Incredible!" Subaru lamented while looking around at the suddenly lit up plain fields.

Emilia felt her heart flutter at the sight of an excited smiling Subaru.

"It's so good to see him happy for once… isn't it."

Emilia was surprised to find Anastasia saying that with a smile on her face.

She looked around and noticed how Crusch, Rem, and Beatrice all had warm smiles as they all noticed how good it felt to see him so refreshed and not suffering or in pain.

Intimidated, Emilia's violet eyes narrowed beautifully and her grip on Subaru's crumbled hand tightened.

Had she been a cat, she would've hissed.

The monster opened up it's blinded eyes.

* SCREEEEEEEEEEEECCCHHHHH!*

Ricardo and Mimi winced at the sound.

"Hey, sis! What's wrong, sis?!" Tivey shouted as he shook his trembling sister in worry.

"It's nothing, Tivey. Just let her be… the Whale's voice had a real trauma-inducing effect on all of us, especially ones who have superior hearing abilities such as demihumans."

Tivey nodded at Felix's explanation but kept his arms firmly around his sister.

"I didn't know the Whale left that effect on so many…" Rem looked at the shaken trio of mercenaries with pity.

"Everybody was in disbelief and high spirits for our victory to notice the heavy effects and burdens our fight had caused at the time." Crusch smiled strainly and kept her hand firmly gripping with Subaru's as her head filled up with unpleasant memories of her amnesiac self interviewing whoever was left of her army and seeing their pains first hand.

The duchess only leaned on the boy heavier because she genuinely liked the warmth and comfort he was providing… it was easing the guilt and pain… it was like a drug.

As the monster's moans filled the air, the waves of sounds and echo coming from its mouth forced the very earth beneath its floating form to burst and fall over the oncoming army.

"Oh shit!" Garfiel widened his eyes and smirked heatedly at the unexpected and exciting attack.

"He moved the ground with just the sounds coming from its mouth?!" Frederica asked in shock.

Reinhard's eyes widened and looked on at the soldiers getting hurt because of his inability to help or to be of use.

"Subaru…" Emilia's only comfort at watching the scene of the scary beast was the maid's smiling expression as she watched while hugging Subaru from the back.

A cloud of dust settled between the ground army and the floating whale.

Subaru's dragon stopped along with the rest of the troops as they stared at the beast of fog while it wriggled through the air.

The White Whale was seen in all of its glory from the horn to the giant fins as well as its menacing gigantic mouth that emitted howls so loud they commanded nature's silence.

"That's… the White Whale?" Subaru asked as the monster continued howling over him.

Wilhelm's eyes narrowed as he gazed at the floating beast.

"It's so big!" Petra exclaimed while holding her hands up to her mouth in shock and a rush of excitement. The little girl was so amazed and thankful for being able to see this legendary event play out before her. It was an honor for any peasant-like she was.

Didn't mean she wasn't extremely worried for her hero.

Reinhard's hands trembled as his face was filled with displeasure. At the sight of the Whale, he understood…

"So many people got erased… because of my laziness… Subaru's gotten this hurt… because I couldn't stop the Whale outside of the capital." The Sword Saint mourned in fear for his fellow knights and fighters as soon as he took the truly massive shape of the Whale in.

His guilt was eating him alive.

For not being able to help.

Opening Theme 2: Paradisus-Paradoxum

The scene opens up to Subaru gazing below the Whale.

"It's so huge!"

"Are you scared?" Rem turned back to the boy with concern.

Emilia and Beatrice frowned a little at the boy's self-deprecation.

Subaru smiled at her. "Yeah, I'm scared… of the blindingly bright future where I'm praised for defeating it!"

"Now that's more of what I need of him. Being proud and selfish." Priscilla nodded her head in approval at the boy's attitude and confidence while gazing at the screen indifferently.

"He truly earned such praise." Wilhelm nodded his head with Felix's words.

It was more true than it ever was how much Subaru deserved praise and cheers for his accomplishments. The old man could not help but feel a little proud of the boy.

Subaru smirked intensely and mischievously at the beast. "Now, let's run like hell!"

"Yes!"

Subaru and Rem ran on their ground dragon right beneath the monster's nose. The Whale's yellow disgusting eyes immediately focused in on the running pair.

"Subaru…" Beatrice hugged her contractor tightly as her breath caught in her throat from fear and worry for her contractor.

"Go Cap'n!" Garfiel shouted from his seat as he teared up from pride at how cool his captain looked.

"He truly is baiting it…" Julius couldn't help but lean forward with an excited smirk at his friend's heroics.

The monster twisted mid-air towards the two with its mouth opened.

"It's so fast!" Subaru gritted his teeth in panic as the monster looked like it was going to eat them in a second.

* ZAAAAPPP!*

* CRUNCH!*

A loud zipping sound filled the air and an invisible force of wind suddenly cut the whale's face, making it bleed and stagger back midair away from Rem and Subaru.

* ROOOOOAAAAAAR!*

As the monster howled in pain, Subaru turned back to see who was it that saved him.

"You greatly underestimate us, looking away so carelessly."

A proud armored Crusch spoke to the monster while holding a glowing green blade.

"Whoa!" Otto wheezed in relief and amazement for the armored maiden on the screen.

"Thank you so much, Crusch-sama." Rem bowed deeply for the green-haired princess.

The duchess smiled softly at the maid and nodded her head. "I should be thanking you really, the Whale took you both as distractions while I just stole the hit."

"Thank you anyways, Crusch-sama."

The noble lady nodded at Emilia's sincere thanks and turned to watch the show with her hand still tightly holding Subaru's.

"Never knew it was this dangerous for you…" The duchess whispered softly to the sleeping boy beside her with her eyes glued at the screen.

"The intangible sword with no regard for range… That's Crusch-sama's sword art, famous for its Hundred-Man Strike." Rem commented as everyone looked at the creature, howling in pain in the sky.

"Tha's a real'y cool weap'n!" Garfiel huffed in jealous yet excited anger and astonishment.

"Mhm~ My lady's weapon is the greatest becuyase lady Crusch-sama is the greatest, nyan!" Felix nodded his head with a proud faithful smile.

The light cannons began shooting the beams of magic at the distracted Whale from all sides.

The Whale howled angrily and floated down towards Crusch's army.

The duchess and the Whale seemed to be staring at one another as it hunkered down towards her.

"Disperse!" Crusch shouted while glaring at the Whale.

The duchess stood alone before the oncoming Whale as her entire army moved out of the way.

"Aren't you gonna move?!" Felt shouted as she felt frightened by the situation.

"No, she won't."

Felt looked back to find the old butler that had been crying in grief and mourning had turned into a menacing monster with an aura of pure ill intent swarming around him as he glared at the screen.

The blonde girl was so terrified she leaned more on her guilt-ridden knight while keeping a distance from the old angry demon.

Ricardo smirked in pure excitement. "This is where things get badass."

Everyone looked closely at the screen in anticipation of the dogman's words.

Wilhelm suddenly jumped off from his ground dragon and stood right before the Whale as it howled menacingly toward him and the duchess behind him.

The old man simply closed his eyes while holding his unsheathed blade.

"For fourteen years, I have dreamed of nothing but this day." The old man whispered.

Garfiel marveled at how cool and legendary this pose was.

Petra had her hands to her mouth in fear for the old man.

Emilia gazed softly at the man sitting in the theater after his words and frowned in pity at the pain he had to go through.

She remembered someone that had to undergo something worse than that.

She leaned softly on the person's soldier.

"Thank you for helping him, my Subaru." The half-elf whispered lovingly to the boy that had worked so hard to bring all of the peace.

The beast of fog burst toward the old man with its mouth opened wide.

"Oh no!" Petra shouted in fear.

"What's gonna happen?!" Otto tapped his leg in anticipation.

Ricardo, Felix, and Crusch smirked while Mimi was just rocking back and forth with an excited smile.

Wilhelm opened his eyes and pointedly spoke to the oncoming beast.

"Fall here, and leave your corpse behind."

* HOWWWWWWLLLLLL!*

"…"

Wilhelm and the Whale stared on another down as the monster flew toward the old man, mouth opened.

The older man kept staring at it with a cold indifferent expression.

Scene change...

To the red-haired lady smiling at the young Wilhelm….

"YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A MONSTER!"

"Kick' it's ass ol' man!" Garfiel brought his fist up in anger for the injustice caused by this beast at both the old man's wife and his Capetian.

Reinhard flinched in guilt at the sheer anger in his grandfather's tone. At the words spoken.

"The Whale's not the only monster… I deserve my part of the plan as well…" The knight wheezed in guilt and suddenness for what he had done.

The shaking knight was surprised to find a gloved hand firmly squeezing his shoulder.

His old man… was frowning down at him.

"Don't blame yourself."

Reinhard's tear ridden eyes widened in shock at the man's words. He must be dreaming! This was absurd!

As the grandson thought himself going mad from hearing the kind stern words, the grandfather's eyes closed momentarily as if lamenting on an early grieving… as if guilty.

"Please…"

Reinhard's entire form stopped rigid as his breathing stopped. Eyes wide as saucers, Reinhard looked at his grandfather in bewilderment as Wilhelm whispered to him softly.

"Please… Don't ever blame yourself." Wilhelm finally opened his eyes and stared at the confused and astonished knight before him.

The old man looked guilt-ridden and shameful.

Reinhard could only slowly turn around and stare at the screen… his eyes never once blinking as the shock overtook him.

The old man jumped right out of the way of the beast's oncoming open mouth and spun his entire body in the air and pointed his blade toward the baited Whale.

Shouting, the man stabbed the Whale in the forehead, making it bounce on the ground and fly back into the sky from the pain.

* HHHOOOOWWWWWWWLLLL!*

Everyone watched in awe as the Whale spun and twisted its body in the air as Wilhelm stabbed and cut through its flesh all over from every angle he could burst the tip of his blade in.

The old man could be shown running along the Whale's entire length with his sword cutting through its flesh, leaving a long wound that was spurting blood so much that it looked like a wall of red had suddenly appeared on top of the Whale.

"How wonderfully cooperative of you, coming here to be slain!" The old man twirled his blade with a furious rag filled look in his eyes as he stabbed into the giant Goliath once more.

* HOWWWWWL!*

* SPURT!*

* SWISSHHHH!*

* CRUNCH!*

* HOOOOWWWWWWWL!*

"Ha!"

* CRUNCH!*

* HOWWWWL!*

Wilhelm stabbed, jumped, and stabbed again while shouting in anger.

"Damn…" Al whispered in shock as the entire theater cheered the old man on.

Wilhelm smiled to himself a little, enjoying the pain he was inflicting on the beast a little bit.

Garfiel, Petra, and Otto just stared at the screen with slack jaws. The blonde demihuman was so happy to see such badassery he began bumping his fists together repeatedly.

"Damn, he's so cool." Felt whispered as she hopped a little bit in her seat from the excitement.

Reinhard frowned a bit as he noticed how angry and upset his grandfather was.

That was no way to hold the sword.

"Oh crap!" Subaru shouted in panic as the old man fell off the whale.

The beast quickly maneuvered mid-air and sunk with its mouth opened toward him.

"Oh no!" Emilia gasped in worry for the awesome swordsman she had been admiring just a moment ago.

She didn't notice how Crusch, Felix, and Rem smirked while watching the screen confidently.

As the Whale closed its mouth to swallow the older man mid-air, a red ground dragon dashed below them both and jumped high in the air, taking the old man on it's back from between the Whale's massive teeth.

"YES!" Otto cheered along with his brother for the red (wannabe best girl) dragon.

"Don't you look away from us, moron!" Ricardo shouted as he swiped his blade on the monster's teeth gum.

"Here we go!" Mimi shouted as she beside the monster on her riger.

"Everyone let's go!" Hetaro ordered from behind his sister as the rest of the magic users jumped beside the twins.

* BOOM!*

* CRUNCH!*

* SPURT!*

* BURST!*

The riger riders of the Iron Fan attacked the Whale's side with attacks of wind magic and stabbing it with lances and long swords.

Tivey cheered for his clan along with Petra, Mimi, and Garfiel.

"They seem to have taken it by surprise, I will Betty's Subaru get his part, I wonder?"

Emilia pinched the spirit's cheek while frowning at her sternly. "Beako! Many were giving it their all, and worked suuuper hard! You need to appreciate them as well and not just Subaru!" As the half-elf pouted at the small girl, Beatrice immediately huffed and slapped her hand away.

Emilia shook her head with a small quirk of her lips as she continued watching the screen.

"Still though… to be able to garner all of these amazing warriors and knights' respect and admiration… What did you do here, Subaru?" Emilia asked in bewilderment as she remembered how the people spoke about him. From the many rumors and fictionalized stories about a strong, courageous commoner that faced the Whale down and slammed it into the earth without any effort.

Far fetched… but he had done something to make everyone believe such silly tales.

"You must've been so cool…" Emilia happily smiled and watched the screen with excitement and proud warmth for her knight.

"Troops, get back!" Crusch shouted as she prepared her glowing master sword.

She swiped her sword in the air and sent a wind beam shooting towards the Whale and cutting its mid-waist with a force so strong it forced the Whale to bleed and screech in pain.

"Go lady Crusch! GO!" Felix cheered with a fist out.

"Weren't there as well?" Julius asked with a raised eyebrow.

The catboy extended his tongue out to the knight beside him on the row, as did any mature person, and continued to cheer for his lady.

"Fire at its flank!" The princess ordered, taking the opportunity that the monster was distracted.

"Algoa!" The magic users behind her released powerful balls of explosive magic towards the Whale.

* BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM!*

The army cheered as the Whale was swallowed by a raging explosion of fire that had filled the sky.

"WHAAOOO!" Otto and Garfiel went crazy and laughed manically from the shock and excitement of the attack.

"It's so terrifying." Frederica whispered with wide eyes at the power of the magical weapons.

Anastasia whistled, impressed. "It really is worth every holy coin."

"I'm guessing the Whale's not gonna be able to fly anymore because of the attack." Ram snorted and shook her head in disappointment at how fast the battle had ended.

Priscilla's eyes narrowed as she noticed something.

"Why isn't it using the special fog?"

The princess's question rang out across the theater, making all of the hopeful audience stop and making the ones that were in the battle fall rigid in their seats.

Otto's eyes widened as he noticed something on the screen.

"It's still floating in the air normally." he whispered in horror as he realized… the attack…

"It did nothing to hurt it, infact." Beatrice's eyes narrowed as she looked at Daphnee's creature with disgust.

"Looks like that was pretty effective! I think we can pull this off!" Subaru commented enthusiastically as he smirked at the raging fire could.

"No, in truth, we had hoped that attack would ground it."

Subaru's eyes narrowed at Rem's words. He looked up at the sky as the fire started dissipating and the Whale's tail could be seen in the sky.

"It's not losing altitude at all… " Subaru commented while glaring at the monster.

"We used all of our best attacks right from the get-go." Ricardo said from beside the boy. "If that didn't make it fall, that means it's a lot tougher than we thought."

"The magic attacks didn't work?" Subaru inquired in a panic.

"Its white hair scatters mana and disperses force. My magic wasn't as effective as it appeared, either." Rem lamented in alarm.

"Fire!" Crusch ordered and moved out of the way as the light canons shot their explosive beams once again.

* BOOM!*

* BOOM!*

* HOWWWWWLLLL!*

"Time for the second campaign. Hack away at its reserve power!"

Ricardo smirked at Subaru and shot off on his riger along with his squad.

The Iron Fang ran along the Whale's fin and reached its side. The beast of fog could only howl in pain as the fang hacked and slashed at its side.

"Damn, that thin' is tougher than I th'ght." Garfiel growled as he realized the true strength of this beast.

Reinhard's eyes narrowed at the beast, his hands clenching in righteous anger for leaving the people of his kingdom to fight such a powerful demon and not helping them.

"Acting as a decoy now would just be a hindrance. So all we can do is watch until it makes a move?" Subaru growled as he watched from the ground.

"I understand his frustration. But there is really nothing he can do at the moment." Julius muttered through gritted teeth as the beast's power began making his blood boil. Why wasn't he with them?

Reinhard grimaced as he remembered what Subaru had to face to fight this monster. He couldn't believe that his friend returned to face the monster once again even if he needed a lot of help to get back on his feet.

He couldn't help but think about the way Subaru sees himself as worthless and expendable and yet fighting monsters much more powerful than him just to keep a few villagers alive.

The Sword Saint never felt this incompetent in his life, and that was saying something.

"I feel just as irritated as you do." Subaru looked beside him to find Felix looking at the whale on a yellow ground dragon.

"I don't even have any attacks, so all I can do is watch, anyway."

Crusch's eyes widened in surprise a little bit at how similar her knight viewed himself to Subaru. She couldn't help the sense of worry from overwhelming her.

"Felix…" Her knight could be suffering from self-deprecation like Subaru was and she could be ignoring it this whole time.

Subaru leaned in with a smirk toward the cat boy. "But with your healing specialty, you're our lifeline. Just fulfill that role for us! We're counting on you!"

The duchess nodded her head sternly, agreeing with the nasty-eyed boy's effort to cheer her knight up.

Felix looked at Subaru with a bewildered expression. "You've really changed in just one day, huh? What happened?"

The catboy looked down with his ears flat. "I'm sorry for doubting him… " The healer whispered in guilt and sadness as he flashbacked to all of the horrors Subaru had endured to make this change in himself happen.

"You should listen to Subaru-sama's words more. Felis-chan."

The healer looked at his lady in confusion and bewilderment.

The duchess beautifully winked back at him and turned to watch the screen. Holding Subaru's hand, she watched with a smile.

"If I had to say, I've become a slightly better man." The nasty-eyed boy winked with a smile.

Many frowned and some even glared at the boy's words.

"You've become so much more than that, Natsuki-dono." Wilhelm shook his head while frowning softly.

"Big bro really needs some help." Felt growled as she glared at the screen in anger and frustration.

"Betty's Subaru needs some head pats, infact." Beatrice pouted and glared at the screen.

Emilia and Crusch held the boy's hand tighter with the duchess frowning sternly at the man's low opinion of himself and the half-elf full-on glaring at her knight's stupidity.

Why couldn't he see how wonderful he was?

"Wilhelm-sama is…"

Subaru and Felix instantly looked where Rem pointed.

Up above, the old man was swiping his sword as it dug deep into the colossal Whale and running across its body as a wall of red sputtered behind him.

"SEEEEAAAHAHHHHHH!"

* HOOOOOOWWWWWWWLLLLL!*

The old man encouraged himself by screaming over the Whale's pained screeching and howling, impressing all of the troops below the two.

"Oi! Tha's som'ing mine amazin' selfs would do!" Garfiel laughed and cracked his knuckles together in excitement.

The old man quickly unstuck his sword from the big open wound he inflicted on the monster and jumped high in the air with the blade drawn behind his back.

* CRUNCHH!*

With elegance, the old man stabbed the sword into the Whale's black pupil, making it bleed from the eye as he jumped down to the ground.

* SCREEEEEECH!*

"Ewwww!" Petra grimaced in disgust at the sight.

Emilia smiled in satisfaction as she heard the monster's pained shrieking. That's what he gets, for hurting her Subaru.

Wilhelm's leg was met by Ricardo's side turned blade as the dog man forced the butler to boost up toward the fog.

"Upsy-daisy!" The dogman growled as he sent the old swordsman flying.

Wilhelm shot like a bullet and screamed battle hardy as he stabbed his sword into the area around the Whale's eye.

He quickly cut the entire area in a circle shape and forced a fountain of blood to burst around the Whale's eyeball.

* SSPPRRRRRRRTTTT!*

Subaru could only watch in awe as the yellow gigantic eyeball fell from the Whale's socket and landed right beside his dragon.

Wilhelm followed the eyeball and stabbed his sword into it, causing blood to fly all around him.

Emilia full-on smirked.

"He is going in!" Otto shouted as Garfiel howled and whistled in cheer for the performance.

Subaru watched with a hung jaw.

The old man held the beast's eye by his sword tip and moved it in the air. Smirking as if taunting it, he spoke confidently.

"Miserable."

"I must've gone a little over-excited. My apologies." The not at all embarrassed butler said while smirking a bit at Subaru's shocked gaze.

It felt good to show off once in a while, especially when he was hurting the mythical beast that hurt so many in the process.

Wilhelm's smirk fell as soon as he noticed something.

"What is that?"

"Something's odd..."

"What's going on?"

The other soldiers pointed and whispered amongst themselves as they all noticed the giant monster's change.

"What's up with them?" Anastasia glared cautiously at the screen.

"Someth'n aint righ'." Garfiel narrowed his eyes in distrust at the dangerous beast.

Priscilla snorted softly and crossed her leg while leaning back in her seat. "it finally got a grip and will start attacking."

Emilia's eyes widened at the words coming from the fiery princess.

"The fog…" Emilia whispered in alarm.

Rem, Crusch, and Felix nodded their heads with an aura of seriousness surrounding them.

"The color of its eye… " Subaru watched slack-jawed as the Whale's remaining yellow eye suddenly turned blood red with a black pupil at the center.

* SCREEEEEEEEEEECCCCHHHHHHHHH!*

Subaru and Rem glared with narrowed eyes as the Whale forced weird alien-like sounds out of its throat, filling the air with unnatural sound waves as spurts and holes opened up all across its massive form of a body.

The Whale's eye full-formed blood red as the holes in its body filled up with moving scales.

Its mouth opened and let out a roar of anger.

* ROOOOOOAAAAAAAR!*

Subaru, Rem, the Iron Fang, and the rest of the army had to place their hands on their ears to protect them from the striking sound waves as the monster angrily shouted.

Subaru suddenly opened his eyes in horror as the monster's holes extended further.

* TSSHHHHHHHHHHH!*

The alien shrieks filled the air as the beast of fog lived up to its name and covered the entire Lufus plain fields with blank white mist.

The mist and fog were being gushed out of the Whale's many holes.

Many in the audience had their eyes wide in shock at the scene.

"So that's how he makes the fog." Otto growled while glaring at the screen.

"How could the Witch create such a monster? So powerful and dangerous." Julius gritted his teeth as he remembered when the entire world filled up with mist and fog while he was blocking a road instead of helping his fellow fighters end the beast.

"At least we know that things are going right this loop and Subaru-kun won't have ta die." Anastasia mused from behind her scarf, hiding her worried expression.

Scene change…

"Have you grown to like flowers?"

"No, I hate them."

The screen shows the younger Wilhelm swiping his sword in the same ruined village.

Watching him while sitting on a rock to the side was a pouting red-haired lady with blue belle eyes.

"Why do you wield that sword?" She asked curiously.

"Because this is all I have." Younger Wilhelm swiped with a hardened stance.

The young man faded to place the present-day Whilhelm in his place, as the scene changed.

Most of the people in the theater all frowned in sympathy for the old couple.

"They looked so made for one another…" Frederica whispered as her heart clenched in sadness at the sweet couple.

Reinhard looked on somberly at his grandparents in their youth. The hero felt a weird blanket of warmth coursing through him as he saw his family's happier moments.

Wilhelm grounded his teeth in anger at the way he treated his beloved in his early days, wishing he could give her nothing but happiness and love filled moments instead of wasting his days with her being a petty brainless fool vying for power.

The old man glared fiercely at the fog-filled sky as the Whale emitted the alien shrieks around him.

"It disappeared?" Subaru asked as he struggled to stay put as his ears were assaulted by the Whale's sounds.

"We're going to move! Hang on!" Rem shouted worriedly.

As Patrasche ran through the fog, Subaru and Rem could only hear the voices of their comrades around them.

"Troops! Retreat!" Crusch ordered.

"Got it! Retreat! Re-"

"AHHHHHHH!"

"GRAAAHHHHHH!"

As the sounds of many screams and cries of his allies and soldiers filled the foggy air, Subaru could only loo around blindly.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!"

"Oh my Od…" Frederica held Petra close as she watched the horrific scene.

"Big bro…" Felt called out softly as she shivered in her seat not knowing how the boy isn't as freaked out as she was.

"Holy shit…" Otto and Garfiel fell silent with worried and serious looks on their faces for their brother and the other soldiers.

Crusch watched with a tortured expression. The voices of every man that had suffered under her commands haunted her psyche. The sight before her blasted her with unpleasant memories of every soldier condemning her in a dark void. It was easy to forget these nightmares when she was amnesiac or when she was busy learning of this boy's painful life in her world. But seeing the battle from another perspective reminded her of the things she needed to be guilty of. Of her incompetence and ignorance at forgetting such a sin, she had committed to hundreds of men.

Emilia looked worried for her knight and saddened for the people that were getting hurt in the fog.

"Damn beast…" Julius gritted his teeth in fury as he heard the screams of the proud men around his friend.

Reinhard winced and clenched his fists tightly as the screams and shrieks of innocent men filled the theater. The screams of his own people. Of the fighters dying because of his own incompetence.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered as the screams around Subaru intensified.

Felix and Mimi shuddered in place while looking away as they too had been in the same place as Subaru.

Rem looked at the screen with pity as she had been too busy saving Subaru at the time to think about the other men around them.

As he was preoccupied with everyone screaming, Rem managed to make Patrasche dive aside.

Narrowly missing a fog attack that had broken off a piece of the earth that they were standing on.

"That's what magic fog looks like?" Subaru asked while looking at the area of the ground that had been hit. "If that had hit us…"

* ZIIIIPPPPP!*

* ZAAAAAAPPPP!*

Crusch swiped her glowing sword in a different direction, forcing the mist to part away just a bit for her soldiers to be seen around here.

"How many men did we lose?" Crusch asked sternly.

"Twelve from my unit. We're three short now." A soldier answered from the side.

"Who was lost?" Crusch asked sounding a bit soft.

The soldier gritted his teeth. "I don't know."

"Fourteen from mine. One deserted." Another soldier answered.

"I'm missing six. I'm sorry." Another said with his voice filled with shame.

Subaru's eyes widened.

"No one was riding on the opposite side of me."

"Who is Rem?"

"Rem… who is that?"

"You've forgotten Rem, too?

That's it. People hit by the White Whale's fog vanish from existence, along with all memories of them.

"The Fog of Elimination… " Subaru gritted his teeth in anger.

"What a disgusting creature." Priscilla growled out with a look of disgust.

"This situation is looking really dire now. I can't see any way out." Anastasia caressed her scarf in frustration as she analyzed the situation of the soldiers.

Ram gritted her teeth in worry for her sister on the screen.

"What will you do to get out of this, I wonder?" Beatrice asked any of the two girls that were present with the boy during the fight in impatience and worry for her contractor.

They stayed silent.

"You're back." Crusch sounded out from his side.

He looked beside him to find Wilhelm with the Iron Fang walking out of the mist and toward the area Crusch's sword had cleared up.

"Forgive my haste."

"What are the damages?" Ricardo asked.

"A total of twenty-one lost. It appears one whole platoon was wiped out. It won't even be possible to properly protect the honor of those lost."

An old soldier from behind Crusch growled out. "Forgive me."

Wilhelm looked down with a scowl.

"Why do you wield the sword?"

Scene change to younger Wilhelm watching the flower patch beside the red-haired lady

"Because I couldn't think of any other way to protect." He answered her question.

The scene changes back to present Wilhelm, gripping the sheath of his blade tight while frowning to the ground.

"You shouldn't blame yourself Old Man Wil." Felix whispered sadly.

The old man just scowled deeply and clenched his fists in anger and frustration. It was his fault that these men all died. He should've been faster and stronger to kill it.

His grandson before him was angry for a different reason. He was furious with himself and his uselessness to help. Now his grandfather was wielding a burden of guilt similar to his own.

"Damn!" Garfiel cursed as he felt upset for the old man and his wife.

"Now that it's in the fog, we don't know where it will attack from. Staying close together is the worst thing we can do." Crusch boomed out to her army.

"Disperse imme-"

* SHRIEEEEEEEEEECK!*

"What is that?!" The duchess shouted in alarm as she looked around.

The sounds of alien screams surrounded all of them as the mist and fog intensified, making everyone blind to the source of the beastly howls.

Soldiers began to cover up their ears as the sounds tore through their earbuds and caused a microcosm to ingrain their heads and consciousness.

"Is that the White Whale?" Subaru gritted his teeth as he held one ear closed.

"AAAAAHHHHHHAHHHHHH!"

Subaru looked behind him to find a soldier falling off the back of a ground dragon and screaming while scratching his face in pain.

"Hey! What's wrong?!"

Subaru shouted as he dropped off and ran towards the man.

"Hey!"

Subaru pulled the man's hands off his face to find that he had scratched his entire face with his fingers while screaming.

Subaru looked around in horror as many soldiers fell off their dragons while screaming and others began purposely hurting themselves by scratching their arms and faces and even banging their heads into the dirt.

"Wh-What's going on?!" Emilia asked, her eyes wide in horror.

"It seems to be an effect from the Whale." Julius slammed his fist on the chair in anger.

Otto's eyes widened as he noticed how their eyes looked… He had that same look…

"It's the fog." Rem whispered while hugging her hero to ease her tension and anger at the disgusting ways of the beast.

"I wanna punch it in th' face!" Garfiel growled like an animal and glared at the underhanded tactics of the monster.

"They will be easy pickings now. How did you get out of this?" Anastasia glared hotly, scratching her scarf harder and faster to ease her frustration.

"What a scary monster." Petra looked quite frightened at the troop's situation.

Even Rem was shaking while holding her head.

"Hey! Rem!" Subaru shouted in worry.

"That voice is the fog directly attacking our minds…It's similar to mana sickness but much worse… " Rem struggled to speak as her mind was assaulted by the beast's screams.

"Some people can resist it, and some can't? I don't feel anything… " Subaru uttered as he looked around at the fallen army.

Rem shook her head. "It's okay. It will calm down now."

"HHHHAAAAHHHHAAAA!"

"Hey! Enough! Stop it!" Subaru quickly ran over to the soldier and held his hands to keep him from hurting himself anymore.

A struggling Crusch shouted out to her knight. "Felis! Have the unaffected help them!"

Subaru struggled to keep the man from hurting himself. "They say hurting people is harder on an army than killing them, but what monster does that?"

"Move!" Felis ordered as he held his hands to the man's face and activated his healing magic on him.

The soldier seemed to have calmed down as Felis continued to heal his face.

I guess Felis can remove the effects of the fog's contamination,

"I couldn't do it fast enough." Felix growled in anger.

"You did what you could." Wilhelm whimsically patted the healer's shoulder.

"This is a really tough situation." Emilia bit her lip and looked at the screen with fixated worry for everyone, not knowing how she could fare if she'd been with the troops inside the fog.

Subaru looked around at the broken and preoccupied army.

But there's not enough time. If it comes for us now, we're finished.

Subaru clenched his jacket tightly and breathed deeply.

Emilia and Otto looked shocked as soon as they put the dots together.

"What are you doing?!"

"Subaru…"

Crusch and the rest of the people in the theater that remember what had happened all smiled softly.

"This is where your knight truly earned his title." Crusch bemusedly commented with a small proud smile to the worried and slightly upset half-elf.

"Idiot!" Beatrice huffed out in anger at her contractor's antics.

"Crusch-san!" He shouted for the focused duchess.

"I'll buy us time. Have everyone regroup!"

"What?" Crusch asked in confusion but the boy was already climbing Patrasche's saddle.

"Rem, sorry, but I need you to come with me to the most dangerous place here!"

"What's this damn fool doing now?" Julius sighed and waved his hair while shaking his head at Subaru's self-sacrificing plans.

"That's a fair question. What could Natsuki-kun do?" Anastasia mused critically.

Emilia just hugged her knight and squeezed him tight. Shaking her head and closing her eyes while whispering. "Please don't summon her. Please don't challenge her. Please don't let her kill you!"

The maid smiled sincerely. "Of course. Anywhere."

Ram pursed her lips in anger and worry for her sister's own self-sacrificial habit.

"Wait, Natsuki Subaru!" Crusch shouted as the rest of the soldiers looked at the boy.

"Anyone who can hear me, cover your ears! In this fog… Anyone who can't, stay where you are!" Subaru held on to Rem as Patrasche ran into the fog.

"What's he doing?" Petra asked while leaning closer to watch, her heart pounding in anticipation for her hero.

He closed his eyes and shouted from the bottom of his heart.

"I'll Return by Death to-" And the world stopped immediately.

As black mist covered his entire being…

A figure appeared behind Subaru… purple tainted lips of a woman appeared….

It spoke something into his ear…

Softly…

Silently…

"I'm back!" Subaru shouted as the world around him moved normally once again.

Everyone looked at the screen in horror and absolute fear.

"THE WITCH!" Petra hugged Frederica and cried into her shoulder.

"Sh-She's getting closer and closer to manifesting every time he challenges her authority." Julius said in a heavily frightened tone.

Reinhard gripped his handles tightly and narrowed his eyes, wanting to protect his friend from the hideous monster.

Emilia and Beatrice held the boy tightly while both girls shook.

Rem and Crusch glared at the shape of the shadow lady, frustrated that they weren't aware of what the boy was doing right infront of them.

"Big bro…" Felt uttered for a second time, heartbroken for how much Subaru was willing to go to save everyone.

"Well, Rem? Do I smell like the witch?" Subaru asked with a smirk.

The maid focused on the road with a worried look. "Yes! You reek!"

"That's what I wanted, but did you have to say it that way?!"

As the boy and the maid disappeared away from them, Crusch turned to her injured battered army.

Those who can move, get the injured to the foot of the tree! We'll have to use a bit of force." The duchess growled with gritted teeth.

Scene change back to Subaru.

"With the ulgarm, it was effective enough to cover the whole forest. What will it do this time? Honestly, it's an unknown quantity… "

"No, it's working." Rem quickly urged the dragon to move away from an oncoming blast of fog magic.

"It's coming… It's coming! Here it comes!"

Subaru shouted as the fog infront of them dissipated to reveal the open mouth of the wounded Whale.

"Shit!" Garfiel and Otto cursed together, shocked and frustrated at their utter uselessness for not helping their brother and afraid for him after seeing how closer the dreadful Witch was to him.

"Ul Huma!" Rem quickly forced an ice pillar to burst out of the earth and stab the whale's snout from the side to make it fly away from them.

"How?!" Subaru shouted and looked above him.

Same scene from a previous loop. With a giant disgusting eye glaring inches away from him.

This time… it was blood red.

Subaru's face contorted in panic.

Emilia and Crusch glared heatedly at the monster. The duchess for not knowing the boy had faced it so dangerously close and the half-elf for seeing this creature frightening her useless idiotic knight.

Both girls took their leverage in crushing his hands equally while glaring at the screen.

Ram just remained on the edge of her seat to watch closely with a sweating forehead and narrowed eyes. She had the most bright idea. If her sister gets hurt because of the boy's stupid plans, then Ram will count each bruise and cut her sister will receive from this moment on.

The consequent number will determine how many times she will beat the boy until he begs for mercy. After he wakes up.

"I think that's a little haaaarsh." Roswaal was amused and a little bit uneasy with the way his maid had described her plan under her breath. He thought it entertaining to focus on anything going on in the theater since the viewing will show expected events he's already memorized and seen. Soooo everything will be boring once again.

Roswaal shook his head and slumped back into his seat in sadness. First, he gets blueballed about having successfully mind fucked the lad only to have his own maid save his mind and force him to do things the right way without getting over-obsessed with Emilia.

His own maid fucked his plans.

It was infuriating for the clown. It made him sad.

"Sooooo saaaad."

Ram ignored her whimpering master beside her and carried forth with her duty to count how many times she will shove her foot up Subaru's ass-

(Da fuck?)

"Arrrrghhhhhhhaaaaa!" A flying Wilhelm shouted as he dropped from the sky and right ontop of the Whale, stabbing into it roughly.

"Well done Wilhelm-sama!" Otto cheered for having his brother saved as well as having the Whale bastard injured and bleeding.

So much pain.

So much grief had been caused by this beast.

"I won't forget this." Otto growled as his gaze turned furious at the on-screen monster.

The monster that made him go mad and enlisted him to throw his own brother off a moving cart.

The merchant gritted his teeth and let the tears of passion and anguish for what his brother went through fall.

"Don't let him get hurt!" Otto screamed, making Julius raise an eyebrow in surprise.

The knight slowly smirked. "Huh. It seems he turned the guilt back a bit. Good."

"Sis! Together!" Hetaro and Mimi jumped high behind the old man on their rigers and shot a burst of wind magic at the Whale's wounded side.

"Yeah! Yea! We are za best!" Mimi shouted in cheer, wishing she could have her brother Hetaro cheering as well for saving their big bro.

"Captain!" Mimi shouted.

"I got this!"

The dogman quickly maneuvered his riger to walk alongside the Whale's side. He stabbed his blade into its body and kept it in as he runs alongside it. Cutting and slashing every hole on the Whale's body that was emitting the white fog.

"So handsome~" Ricardo whistled, making Anastasia snort and giggle beside him.

The White Whale began thrusting its side against the earth to get rid of the pesky humans that were attacking it.

"Rem!" Subaru ordered in distress.

The maid silently forced Patrasche to run right underneath the Whale's nose.

The bleeding calamity instantly honed in on the boy's smell and sharply glared at him.

"Come on, I suppose!" Beatrice sat on the edge of Subaru's thighs and started biting her nails from fear of this situation.

"Looking away from me? How unfriendly. And after I've spent the past fourteen years utterly mad for you!" Wilhelm commented as he stabbed his sword into the Whale and jumped right on top of it.

He unsheathed another blade and stood beside Ricardo on the head of the monster.

"This is startin' to get fun! It's more sturdy than expected, but not all that strong!" The dogman commented.

"No, it's putting up less of a fight than it should." Wilhelm shouted as he stood beside Ricardo's riger on the Whale. "I find it hard to believe this mabeast got the better of my wife a Master Swordsman. The fact that we got the jump on it, and that it didn't use its fog to divide our forces to start with-"

* HOOOOWWWWWWWWWWL!*

The Whale suddenly turned its body upwards and began flying towards the sky, making both Ricardo and Wilhelm drop from ontop of it.

"I'll take one more thing before I leave!" Wilhelm shouted and cut off one of the Whale's fins and making it drop to the ground.

A red ground dragon quickly caught the old man on its back and ran with his master into the fog.

"Nice going ol' man!" Garfiel shouted while smirking in delight. Otto nodded his head and bumped his fist in the air, satisfied with the beast's torture.

"That's true! How could someone like the Sword Saint lose to this monster?" Felt turned to her knight with an inquiring face.

Everyone else turned to the knight with expected interest.

The Hero sitting in the room hang his head in shame as his throat clogged up.

"…" He kept biting his lip as he refused to admit his guilt.

What would they do once they'd know? Would they tell Subaru when he wakes? Make the only friend he had made in his miserable failed life turn on him too?

He didn't want that.

Reinhard liked his friends.

He didn't deserve any… But he truly loved having them by his side.

So, how will he be able to admit Theresia van Astrea's true cause of death?

How will he be able to explain how a red-haired, arrogant, selfish boy forced his power to steal the Sword Saint's blessing from his own grandmother while she was out fighting the Whale?

That he made Theresia weaker and easier to kill by the beast of fog.

Reinhard was a monster. And he didn't want his friends to know he was a disgusting monster.

If only his lady didn't ask him.

"Rein…"

The knight slowly opened his eyes and stopped shaking to face his lady.

He looked at the disturbed Felt in confusion. Why was she looking at him so… worriedly?

Why was lady Emilia frowning at him… in sympathy?

Before he could voice his confusion, Felt spoke up softly.

"Why are you crying, Rein?"

Reinhard finally noticed how blurry the world was and how hot his cheeks and eyelids felt as he streamed lines down his cheeks.

"Ha…" The knight uttered.

How pathetic.

"How weak." Priscilla snorted and smiled sadistically at the sight of the greatest hero alive crying so pathetically.

How insolent.

"Rien… tell me what's wrong?" Felt asked while she hugged her knight.

How selfish.

"Hey man, you have to say something." Ricardo said while looking at the hero with alarm.

How disgusting.

"Reinhard." Julius sat up in his seat, now more worried and disturbed by the sight of his friend.

How arrogant.

"Alright, get away from him I need to have a thorough investigation to see what's wrong with him, nyan!" Felix immediately jumped infront of his frozen friend and pushed Felt away.

How expected of a parasite.

"I can 'elp!" Garfiel suddenly jumped infront of the knight and cocked his fist back with a focused Yoda like look.

"No, don't!" Otto shouted while holding Garfiel back from punching the greatest Swordsman who ever lived.

How gross.

By now, everyone was looking at Reinhard with alarmed and confused expressions.

One old man slowly dropped his hand on the frozen knight's shoulder.

"It. Wasn't. Your fault." Wilhelm repeated hoarsely and somberly with an anguished look on his face as he looked pleadingly at his broken catatonic grandson.

Reinhard slowly turned to his grandfather with his eyes empty and lost of all their light.

"Sorry for worrying you guys, I just remembered someone dear to me that was lost by this beast."

To everyone's bewilderment and unease, the Sword Saint put on a shining and charming smile and turned to the screen silently.

Felix and Otto looked at each other in uncertainty and shrugged.

As the three boys walked towards their seats, the rest of the crew slowly looked at the screen, wondering what will happen next and wanting to forget the sight of Reinhard's tears.

"I don't think that's it." Julius mused while narrowing his eyes at the Saint in suspicion. For how perfect Reinhard was, he was never a good lair.

But now… as he put on that confident smile…

They couldn't tell if it was real or fake, not even his grandfather or his lady could mark him down.

Except for two people that were watching the show and could see the truth behind his mask as soon as he put it on.

"How amuuuusing." Roswaal sarcastically sighed as he thought something good might happen with the boy, disappointed that the hero was the same broken tragic knight described in Roswaal's gospel.

A fiery-haired beautiful princess snorted in amusement and waved her crossed leg to ease the wasted tension that had built up in her body.

"Waste of a man, truly." Priscilla sighed softly as she found the greatest knight to be boring for her. She would've liked to have the Sword god himself licking her shoes. Sadly, he was too uninteresting for her.

Her scarlet gem-like eyes slowly moved from the red-haired disappointment to the slumped black-haired enigma with colorful heads sitting all around him.

Her lips quirked. Now this one… he was interesting.

His flaws and stupidity… were so enthralling.

And his 'good' heart… it just made her want to talk with him just to get more of his personality and antics to understand it.

"Who knew something akin to a dog would interest me?" Priscilla mused haughtily and bemusedly while smirking down at the half-wit's sleeping pet.

Her sense of wonder tempted her to almost ask the world how it will turn to deliver the boy beneath her boot.

"It will be bemusing to watch as well. How much it would take to make you mine." Priscilla pursed her lips and snorted in annoyance.

The hardships of being a goddess.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Seeing everyone turning away from him, Reinhard let out a sigh of relief.

His grandfather's words were truly something…

Why didn't anyone tell Reinhard about how much of a comedic his grandfather was?

Truly, a hilarious statement.

The Sword Saint shook his head and watched the screen in worry for his friend and in anticipation to see the moment this beast was slaughtered for his crime.

Happy that no one got to learn the truth about him.

Happy that his lady was no longer questioning him.

Happy that he remained unpunished for his sin.

How slothful of him.

"Wilhelm-san!" Subaru shouted as he ran alongside him.

"Be alert! We don't know where it'll come from!" The old man shouted making everyone anxious.

Subaru, Wilhelm, Ricardo, and the twins all stopped in a cleared patch and looked around into the surrounding thick fog.

"What's up? It ain't gonna follow us?" Ricardo asked

Silence…

Silence…

"It comes!" Wilhelm shouted and looked up suddenly.

Subaru quickly moved away with Rem and Patrasche and shouted to the others. "The fog's coming down!"

* SSSSSPLAAAAAAAAASSSSHHHH!"

The magical fog attack hit the spot where the group had once stood and forced an explosion that knocked all of them off their dragons and rigers.

"That was close! I never knew how scary it was for you guys to fight it in the fog like this, nyan!" Felix said as he sat on the edge of his seat for them.

"Subaru-sama truly did us a miracle by getting away from us." Crusch admitted begrudgingly while frowning in frustration for the boy's lack of self-worth.

"He's a moron!" Beatrice huffed in anger, making Emilia nod her head in agreement while looking at the screen worriedly.

"Subaru-kun truly did his best to help the troops against the Whale." Rem somberly smiled at the boy.

Garfiel whooped proudly at his captain's awesome plan. He truly began showing them how cool he was and the blonde tiger was all in for it.

Wilhelm smiled gratefully at the boy.

"He truly looks competent now." Julius mused with a sincere smile on his face as he watched Subaru's heroics.

Wilhelm quickly picked up his blade and struggled to stand on his knees.

He slowly looked down…

To find a pretty yellow flower standing alone right beside him.

"Run!" Subaru shouted in anguish.

But he was too late.

All Wilhelm could do… Was watch as the White Whale opened its mouth and moved to swallow him.

"No!" Petra shouted in despair while Garfiel and Otto cursed loudly.

The one's who were present during the fight winced as they remembered how heartbreaking it was to learn that they lost their best warrior.

Reinhard widened his eyes in shock and horror.

"Hey, have you grown to like flowers?"

The scene changes abruptly to young Wilhelm standing at the flower patch with the lady.

"What's wrong?" She asked as she noticed his hardened expression.

"There was talk of conferral, and I became a knight."

The lady looked surprised for a moment but smiled softly. "Well, congratulations! So you're one step closer to your dream."

"My dream?"

"You wield a sword so you can protect, right? A knight is someone who protects another."

Wilhelm's gaze fell on his shocked grandson. Guilt and shame-filled him.

He couldn't protect everyone.

"That's a really noble motivation, Wilhelm-dono." Crusch said while watching the scene with an expression of respect and grief for the old man's wife.

Scene change to a burning city. Dead bodies of knights and demihumans all around.

Wilhelm is shown on the ground, wounded and bleeding with his sword by his side.

He was surrounded by monstrous demihumans.

"I don't want… to die…" Wilhelm uttered pathetically as a monster picked up his axe and was about to kill Wilhelm.

Julius and Reinhard shook their heads in respect to their fellow knights that had fallen during the time of the civil war.

Emilia and Felt looked saddened by the devastation caused by the war.

"He looks like Subaru." Crusch instantly registered this scene along with the boy's same moment of weakness that had shocked her.

She never expected to see the same thing happening with her knight.

She was shocked.

"Is it why you accepted him so easily?" Reinhard asked in a soft tone as he too saw the similarity between his grandfather and Subaru.

Wilhelm just gritted his teeth tiredly.

Waited for his death.

*WHOOOSH! *

In an instant, a figure stood ontop of him.

A figure that had cut down every single monster in the area in a matter of seconds.

"Huh?" Wilhelm looked up in astonishment.

Theresia van Astrea, stood ontop of him wearing her armor and wielding her legendary sword in hand.

The Swordswoman glared at the second pack of demihumans and shot towards them.

Cutting and slashing. Dodging arrows and kicking the shooters' heads off their shoulders.

The army of monsters never stood a chance as she turned them to corpses beneath her boots.

"It's truly a wonder how powerful she is." Anastasia marveled at the ease Theresia butchered her enemies.

"The reason humans won the war 70 years ago was because of the Sword Saint." Julius morbidly stated as he clenched his hilt.

Reinhard winced and shook his head in shame.

'And I killed that hero.'

"It's humiliating!" Wilhelm shouted as Theresia blocked his sword strike with her fingers.

"I see." She simply said to the angry man.

"Were you laughing at me?! Answer me, Theresia! No… Master Swordsman Theresia van Astrea!" Wilhelm growled and moved to slash at her with his sword once again.

Theresia instantly moved away and plucked his sword out of his hand. Holding it, she plunged the helm of his blade right into his lungs, forcing him to drop down on the grassy field.

"...Ghhk!"

"I won't come here again." Theresia said softly as she looked down at him with a sad frown.

She walked away from him as he struggled to stand up.

"With a face like that, you shouldn't be holding a sword!" Wilhelm shouted.

"I'm a Master Swordsman. I didn't understand the reason why, but I do now." The lady stopped walking and spoke softly.

"The… reason?"

"Wielding a sword to protect someone… That sounds nice to me, too." The lady began walking away.

"Wait, Theresia! I'll take your sword from you! I don't care about the role bestowed upon the Master Swordsman! Wielding a sword… The beauty of a steel blade… Don't look down on them, Master Swordsman!" Wilhelm shouted as Theresia walked away.

The old man hung his head in shame. It was truly hard: watching his stupidity and arrogance. The way he hurt his dear beloved wife because of his pride.

"You truly are similar to Subaru, Wilhelm-sama!" Emilia gasped as she instantly noticed the way Subaru's outburst compared similarly to Wilhelm.

The old man looked down in shame.

"I think that's what made you so wonderful to your wife, Wilhelm-sama."

The old butler looked at the softly spoken maid in shock.

Rem smiled at him and hugged Subaru closely.

The scene change to present-day Wilhelm, looking at the flower that was plucked out of the earth as the Whale's mouth grazed the chunks of dirt he was standing on.

And as Subaru watched with wide horrified eyes…

The Whale closed it's jaw and swallowed Wilhelm van Astrea.

To the shock of everyone watching…. The Whale was loving it.

"NOOOO!" Garfiel shouted in horror and anger at seeing the cool old man getting swallowed like he was nothing.

"Wilhelm-san…" Emilia gasped in terror.

Reinhard grounded his teeth in anger. Reprimanding himself for being so useless and blaming his laziness for the horror his grandfather was forced to go through.

"We've got trouble!" Ricardo shouted.

But everyone could only watch as the Whale moved to swallow Subaru in the same manner it had done to the old butler.

Before the Whale could reach Subaru, Ricardo pushed the boy out of the way.

Emilia couldn't help but breathe in relief while watching the screen with worried eyes. It didn't help that she had completely squeezed his hand in her shock.

Crusch winced and crushed the boy's hand as well, wishing that she had been there to better protect him.

"Idiot, he didn't need to be a distraction." Felt gritted her teeth in fear and frustration.

Subaru opened his eyes as he was falling away to see Ricardo's body cut open with his riger torn in half because of the Whale's sharp teeth.

"OOO! Sorry for your back man." Al winced for the dogman.

Ricardo laughed out loud. "No need ta worry' it was jus' a scratch!" He boasted loudly.

Anastasia shook her head and sighed in relief that both, her subordinate and Subaru were alright.

"Wolfie NO!" Petra shed tears for the fluffy wolf that had died.

The boy rolled around the floor until Rem caught him on her lap.

Subaru looked at the patch of blood where Ricardo and his sliced riger now lay. He noticed a giant shadow looming over him.

He looked up.

His eyes widened in terror.

He started shaking…

"You're kidding me…"

* SCRIIEEEEECHH!*

* HOOOOOWWWWWWLL!*

* RAAAAOOOOORRR!*

Up above him, illuminated by the night-vanquisher through the fog,

Three floating White Whales could be seen.

Title screen:

Wilhelm van Astrea

"Wha' THE FUCK!" Garfiel shouted and slumped into his chair from shock and horror.

"H-How?! This isn't what Subaru told me when he spoke about the Whale." Emilia, now full-on panicking in horror and despair for her knight's situation, sat on the edge of her seat while looking at the screen with a slack-jawed expression.

"This shouldn't be possible, I suppose! Why are there three now?!" Beatrice demanded of the troops that were present in the battle for an explanation.

"I didn't see the other two corpses when I arrived after the subjugation." Julius lamented now holding an expression of nervousness and horror.

"This has really become a shit show." Al tsked and shook his head at his other-worldly brother's stupidity. He wouldn't have to deal with all of this had he just ran.

"There are three Whales? It can't be…" Otto stared at the screen in fright and disbelief.

"Hmm, how did you beat all of them then? Did you drive the other two away?" Anastasia demanded, feeling a little insulted that none of her men told her of the other two Whales.

"Big bro can't get a break can he?!" Felt shouted in fury at the pure amount of dragonshit being shed on her hero.

"Three Whales! Three fucking whales!" Tivey shouted in horror.

"How did you win this?" Frederica shuddered and thanked her lords that she wasn't present during the battle. And feeling a little on edge for the poor fighters on the screen.

"Now this is truly interesting." Priscilla smirked and finally felt her excitement rising as she noticed how dire and dangerous the situation had become. Downright impossible even.

"This is too much to handle. Barusu had his arms full." Ram shook her head and glared at the screen with a glint of sympathy showing for the poor boy that will eat without teeth for the next few weeks after she stomps his head to the ground for all the shit he put her sister through.

Come on. Seriously. How the fuck does he get into such situations?!

A red-haired young man was slack-jawed at the sight before him. His body trembled in shock and his eyes dilated in horror.

"There's no way…" He whispered as his face twisted in horror. "Please…" How could he be so weak? Had he been a better man he would've ended at least one of these monsters.

"There are three of these monsters…" Petra hugged herself and hid her face from the shuddering thought.

Just like Petra, someone else was rocking on his seat with a despaired look on his face as he shed tears of anguish.

"This is soooo booooooring!" Roswaal whined loudly.

"Captain?" Mimi whispered as she looked at Ricardo.

Crusch looked horrified at what lay above her.

The entire army looked at the three beasts with terror in their eyes.

Some, if not most, dropped their weapons entirely.

"How?" A soldier whispered.

"It's all over." Another soldier hugged himself to stop his shaken body.

As Ricardo bled on the ground. And Wilhelm van Astrea was swallowed whole.

The soldiers just gave up and looked at the three monsters with fear and terror.

"Everyone's lost their morale to fight." Julius gritted his teeth in anger for not being present during these hard times.

"No one in their right mind would still be able to face such a sight and keep a steady face. I would've run away immediately if I was them." Al snorted making some of the viewers worried.

Until….

"But… They 'ave ta help the 'ld man! They should f'ght not run 'way!" Garfiel growled and scratched his handles in frustration and worry for the soldiers and his captain.

Emilia held her hands together and prayed for the poor fighters that were trapped under three White Whales.

None of them noticed how some of their friends were smiling warmly at the screen.

"Whatcha smiling about? You don't seem to care that you were unconscious when the army's hope was shattered." Anastasia mused to her dogman merc as she felt her worry return full force when the three whales showed up. She truly did not envy these poor fools.

But she was still worried about her own men.

Ricardo shook his head and laughed with glee. "It's not that I don't care my lady. It's that I always wondered what happened during this part. Here is where I was brought down and couldn't continue the fight."

The dog man smirked at Otto, Garfiel, and Julius.

"Here's where Natsuki Subaru truly showed his true colors. That's what my fellow soldiers told me, at least." The dogman revealed excitedly, making the crowd of wondering audience look at the screen in anticipation.

What could a boy like Subaru add that would help them in this situation?

"Don't let it swallow him!"

Wilhelm and so many others widened their eyes at the shouting voice.

"Oh Subaru…" Emilia smiled proudly while shaking her head and sighing at her idiot of a knight.

The entire hopeless army looked up in surprise at the shouting black-haired young man.

"If we get him out before he's swallowed, we can save him!" Subaru shouted as he rode Patrasche to catch Rem after she plunged her mace into a Whale's fog hole.

"Subaru-kun…" Rem smiled up as the boy caught her in his arms and held her close.

Subaru smirked and looked at the Whale with confidence.

"Don't think this little bit of despair is enough to stop me!"

The three Whales flew around him as Subaru glared at all of them.

"Giving up doesn't suit us! Not me, not you, "

All of the soldiers looked on at the boy.

"NOT ANYONE!"

* HOOOOWWWWLLL!*

* RAAAAOOOOOR!*

"Holy shit…" Otto whispered while slumping back, shock overwhelming him at the sheer bravery shown in this scene.

"Is he an idiot?" Julius wondered as a heartfelt smile wormed its way on his expression.

Felt was so in awe at how cool Subaru was, she was jumping and cheering with all her might.

"Betty's Subaru shouldn't be the one to give these fools courage, I suppose. He shouldn't face down three hulking beasts on his own if he looks really brave doing it. Hmph!" Beatrice humphed and pouted at her contractor's brave yet idiotic behavior.

Felix and Crusch shook their heads but had warm smiles on their faces.

"How did I forget these moments he had? All of this courage he showed?" Felix lamented on why he hated the boy before this all began. Why did his respect for Subaru suddenly vanish into thin air, replaced with nothing but disdain for the boy.

"I couldn't be his friend even if he wanted me to." Felix gritted his teeth in defeat as the guilt built up and swallowed his consciousness.

Crusch just held the boy's bruised up hand tightly and smiled warmly at the screen. "Moments like these truly pull a girl's heartstrings, Subaru-sama. That's very dangerous." The duchess mused teasingly to no one as she watched the kid's bravery.

Petra and Frederica could only stare slack-jawed at the way Subaru faced the three mythical beasts in awe.

"He truly is reliable."

"And amazing."

The two maids sat on the edge of their seats in excitement.

"He fires you up." Otto smirked at his brother, ignoring how crazy Garfiel was going as he slammed his fists on his chair handles over and over again with starstruck eyes.

Reinhard looked at his friend in shock and admiration, wishing he was on the ground to witness Subaru's bravery with his own eyes.

"At least he doesn't screw up." Anastasia nodded her head with an excited smile on her face.

Priscilla looked genuinely pleased by the boy's display of courage. "That's how a devoted dog should think. Loyal and pleasing."

Rem had a proud wide smile on her face as she heard the others gush about her hero. "If only you get to hear them, Subaru-kun." The maid thought sadly as she remembered how low he thinks of himself.

"Hmph! I guess he did well in saving my sister from being harmed because of his uselessness in a fight." Ram snorted and hid her relief when she saw Rem being carried in Subaru's arms.

The pink-haired maid had a satisfied smirk on her face as well but she hid it from anyone looking.

"He's really changed." Emilia smiled warmly, feeling happy that her knight finally began looking up instead of looking down on himself.

Seeing him fight on even though he was weaker than everyone around him to stop a dark future from befalling all of them.

Fighting and running even though he's been tortured and killed by monsters and evil madmen. Carrying this burden to save her and everyone else even though he was abandoned and scorned by all around him.

It filled her with so much warmth… So much astonishment…. So much worry.

The half-elf moved on her seat, leaning forward with an amazed and excited smile on her face as she finally saw the reason why so many people spoke of her knight as if he was some legend to be.

"You're so cool, my Subaru!" Emilia gushed with wide eyes and an excited smile as she focused on the screen.

The Whales all screamed at the boy as the night-vanquisher dissipated and let the darkness of the night return on the fog ridden plain fields.

Rem could be shown with her horn out as she jumped in the air and plunged her mace into one of the whale's fog holes.

Subaru ran beneath the beast with a smile. "Let's go, Patrasche! Run right under the Whale's nose!"

The beast began lowering down towards the boy and his ground dragon, mouth open.

"No!" Petra gasped as everyone's breathing hitched for Subaru's safety.

"The only one who may sniff Subaru-kun is me!" Rem shouted in anger as she shot her mace to deliver another painful hit to the Whale.

The maid herself couldn't help but blush beet red from shame and embarrassment, hiding her face into her hands as everyone began laughing at her.

She didn't even want to see Emilia's eyes. Cold, threatening, and empty…

It was shuddering and haunting. Rem didn't want to piss the half-elf off again.

"I'm sorry Emilia-sama."

The half-elf beauty kept her hard stare on the maid. "It's fine, Rem-rin."

The maid shivered at Emilia's cold tone.

Ram shook her head in shame and disappointment. "Barusu's idiocy did this to my sister." The pink-haired maid shook her head and scowled deeply as she counted this as 10 points where she gets to use Subaru's head as a football.

As Rem held off the Whale, Subaru breathed a sigh of relief…

Before opening his eyes and looking beside him where a second Whale had its mouth open and ready to shoot a fog blast toward the boy.

Subaru's face contorted to one of fear.

"Shit!" Garfiel shouted and stood up in alarm for his captain.

Emilia and Beatrice held their breath and watched with wide eyes.

"Close your mouth!"

* ZAAAAAAPPPPPP!*

Crusch delivered another strike of wind from her glowing sword that made the Whale close it's mouth and shriek in agony.

"Thank you so much, Crusch-sama." Emilia bowed her head to the lady while sighing in relief.

The green-haired lady smirked at the half-elf proudly. "Of course, Emilia-san."

The beautiful duchess rode on her dragon alongside the boy and spoke sternly. "At a glance, the situation looks dismal. Where is Wilhelm?"

"If you remember him, at least we know the fog hasn't erased him. It'll all depend on how well Rem fights…"

Subaru looked at the maid as she hit and slashed at the Whale fiercely.

"What do you think, Natsuki Subaru? Does nothing seem strange to you?"

"Strange?"

"There are now three White Whales. If it's actually a mabeast that lives in groups, how could we not know that by now? There must be some trick behind it." Crusch concluded while staring at the three beasts above.

"And we need to find it, huh?"

Subaru and Crusch stopped their dragons and stood side by side.

"If we don't, we won't hold out for long. We'll do something. A retreat is no longer an option." The duchess glared as a Whale moved down to attack them.

She unsheathed her sword and shouted to the army of brave warriors behind her.

"Fire!"

Nothing…

"What's going on?" Otto asked with an anxious face as he hoped his fears won't be realized.

Crusch looked behind her to find the magi users all had looks of hopelessness and defeat on their faces.

"Fire, I said!"

Nothing.

"They're paralyzed with fear… Damn." Julius gritted his teeth in anger at the soldiers' cowardice.

"You can't blame them for it. Three White Whales dropped on them and they don't know how to kill one much less fined the will to fight these three." Frederica argued not liking where the fight was going.

"We didn't even knoyw if more Whales were coming, nyan!" Felix shook his head and tried his best to forget the enormous amount of fear and confusion on the battlefield that day.

"What a scary situation." Emilia held her hand to her chest and watched with sympathy covering her expression for everyone on the battlefield.

She wouldn't be able to help anyone had she been there.

She would be scared and terrorized like the rest of them.

Crusch gritted her teeth and swiped her glowing sword to deliver a magical wind strike towards the beast.

Again.

Again.

Again.

"Crusch-san!" Subaru shouted as the princess kept striking the beast to hold it back.

He looked beside him to find fog clouds coming near the huddled army.

Patrasche began running and avoiding the many fog blasts the Whales were shooting toward her master.

"Damn! Ther' ganging up on Cap'n!" Garfiel growled as he saw the two Whales shooting at Subaru while he ran under them.

"While I was protecting the rest of the army and distracting one Whale, Subaru-sama bravely forced the other one to follow him as he led it away from us." Crusch held the boy's hand and informed Emilia with a smile.

"But where was the third one?" Emilia asked while wincing in worry for her knight.

"Your gonna have to watch to understand that." Crusch smiled sheepishly as she didn't want to explain the long-winded version nor did she want to ruin the shock that will come when they conclude.

"He seems to use all of his abilities efficiently. If only he could put that resolve into some combat training." Wilhelm, impressed with the way this kid used something like the Witch's stench to hold off a mythical monster on his own.

He also glared at the screen as his sense of shame overwhelmed him for losing grip and allowing himself to be downed mid-battle. Forcing the rest of his fellow soldiers to wallow in fear and misery.

As Subaru held off the Whale and continued to dodge it's fog attacks, Rem began plunging and throwing her mace into every hole that was conjuring up these fog attacks.

Subaru barely had time to dodge a speeding Fog of Elimination before he stumbled and began to fall over from the speeding Patrasche.

"Shit!"

"Petra-chan!" Frederica scolded sternly as Petra jumped in her chair with a worried expression.

Emilia and Beatrice held on to the boy and looked on in alarm.

He held his legs tightly around the dragon and shouted.

"Willpower!"

He quickly caught the tug and placed his legs roughly on the saddle.

"Yea!" Garfiel howled and laughed out loud as he cheered for his cool captain.

Emilia sighed and slumped back in her chair. Her expression was one of relief.

"He's seriously tiring, huh?" Anastasia spoke, sounding a little annoyed but relieved for the boy herself.

Emilia and Beatrice nodded their heads with annoyed glances thrown at the sleeping knight.

"I love him just the same." Rem proclaimed as she hugged him close.

Crusch just snorted at Emilia's outraged pout.

She also tightened her hold on his hand a bit more.

Hey, a military ruler should rule with an iron fist.

(Fuck you, I'm keeping it in.)

"Damn… Just being a daredevil isn't gonna be enough! I've gotta use my head! Why are there three of them?"

"Duck!" Subaru heard Crusch shout.

He didn't have time to dodge as an oncoming attack from another Whale was shot at him…

"Raaahhhhhh!" "Raaaahhh!"

Subaru opened his eyes to find that the twins had shot their wind magic against the fog attack and canceled it.

"Whew!" Mimi whipped her brow and sighed in relief.

"Is he gonna keep getting hit from all sides like this?!" Felt asked in outrage at the tricky situation.

"The army was in no condition to fight-"

"The army was scared and useless in this fight!"

Felt cut the hesitant Crusch off with a glare. The duchess sighed and shook her head at the girl's words, not denying the truth behind them.

"Had it not been for Subaru's constant distracting and use of the Witch's stench on him, the army would've lost a long time ago. Crusch-sama couldn't have won against these three beasts without him." Reinhard informed with a look of realization and awe at his friend's role in fighting the beasts.

Everyone looked at Reinhard with expressions of shock and surprise.

"Hmm, I suppose that is correct. The three whales could've directly erased the entire troop had it not been for their distraction with Subaru." Julius lamented critically with a surprised expression. The knight truly couldn't believe how useful Subaru was in this fight.

Emilia glared a bit with worry and frustration.

"He's putting himself in a lot of danger though." She whispered and shook her head at her knight's heroics.

"Subaru-sama is owed a great deal in this battle for everything he did to fight. It truly was his name that deserved to be praised for this feat." Crusch had no problem declaring to the crowd behind her while giving a slight look towards a far-off Priscilla.

The fiery princess just gave the duchess a look of pity.

"Poor Karsten dirt thinks she needs to prove something to me. How pitiful will she look when I have that precious hand she holds so dearly rubbing mine beautiful feet." The princess snarled lightly at the end.

Crusch just smirked and even though she didn't hear what Priscilla had said, she was content with the look of pure upset the noble gave her at the end.

He looked behind the twins and found that Crusch had actually forced one of the Whales down and was striking at it with her army surrounding the creature.

"Whoa! Awesome!"

"We'll all back up Natsuki-san and Crusch-san until the captain is fully healed and we can regroup." Hetaro told to the ever elated Subaru.

"Ricardo's still alive?"

"Yes, my sister took him to Felix-san."

"He struggled a lot! It wasn't easy!"

"I see… That's a relief."

"On the verge of death, our captain sent a message. 'Hey, it's getting' a lot lighter. The fact that I didn't die proves that!' that's what he said."

"Ya, bastard Hetaro! Get my voice right!" Ricardo growled in fake anger as the twins on his lap laughed.

"What does he mean by weaker, I wonder?" Beatrice mused while looking at the screen critically.

"I don't know but I believe that Subaru will use this to help everyone." Emilia smiled warmly and tilted her head to glance at her knight with pride painting her eyes.

Crusch and Rem snorted at how true that was.

"Lighter?" Subaru looked up at the Whale above him in thought.

"What's light about a hard, heavy situation like this?"

He looked down to the Whale that Crusch was striking and cutting at.

"Light?"

Subaru slowly looked up to the third whale. The one with…

Garfiel's eye narrowed as he finally understood what was going on.

"That one in the sky."

Otto looked at his friend in confusion.

Garfiel growled with disgust all over his glare as he gazed at the Whale.

The one with

an eye missing….

His eyes widened in surprise. "That's it… I get it!"

Before he could share his findings, the Whale that's been tailing him suddenly dropped down into the ground and started rubbing its sides against the earth.

"Wha…" Subaru and the twins looked on in bewilderment as the Whale howled and groaned in pain while it rubbed against the earth.

Everyone noticed a spot from underneath the Whale's flesh bulging out unnaturally.

Rem gave a war cry and stabbed her mace into the spot.

The twins followed her and shot their wind magic attacks on the same spot.

Suddenly, the wounded flesh of the Whale opened up and a gloved hand shot out and grabbed the Whale's fur.

The hand-pulled as strongly as it could and out came Wilhelm, covered in blood.

"Badass." Ricardo snorted softly while everyone looked relieved at the old man's safety.

"I'm glad you made it, Wilhelm-sama." Emilia exhaled softly.

The old butler bowed silently and elegantly to the half-elf princess.

Reinhard breathed a sigh of pure relief at seeing his old man safe from the belly of the fog beast. "Thank you, Subaru, Rem, Mimi, and Hetaro." The hero softly whispered under his breath and steeled himself to see what his friend will do now to beat those three beasts.

He couldn't help but wonder… did his grandmother get surrounded by Whales too? Did she cry once he stole her power to fight for himself? Did she have a painless death being swallowed by the whale or whales without any blood?

Was her expedition not gonna work from the beginning without someone like Subaru acting as a decoy?

Did he really kill his grandparent or was he just a tool used by the universe to speed fates judgment on his grandmother?

Thinking about making excuses for his sin… How truly slothful and ugly of him.

Subaru hopped off of Patrasche and ran towards the fallen old man.

"Wilhelm-sama."

"Not skilled enough. I was careless…" The old man uttered tiredly and fell unconscious.

"Is he alright?" Hetaro asked in worry.

"Yeah, he's just unconscious! Sorry, but could you take him to Felis?"

"Of course! What about you?" Hetaro inquired worriedly.

"I realized something." Subaru uttered as he stared at the lone floating Whale.

Scene change…

Subaru and Crusch were standing side by side as the boy reported to the lady.

"It split up?"

"Yeah. Its fighting strength and the left eye that Wilhelm-san gouged out convinced me. Your group's been engaging it head-on, so you must have sensed it." Subaru explained to Crusch.

"I was absorbed in battle, but… You're right." Rem agreed in surprise.

The audience gave audible sounds of shock and surprise at this.

"That makes sense." Felt softly agreed, smiling wide as she announced. "Big bro is really smart." The blonde was smiling in awe.

"Hmph! As expected of Betty's Subaru, I suppose. He's not as smart as Betty but still better than the rest." Beatrice smugly gloated from her place on Subaru's lap.

"So it wasn't three beasts, it was one that split itself and let the copies fight while the important one rested and healed." Otto looked blown away with his eyes shining with pride.

"So they will be able to win by just killing one and not all three of them!" Petra clapped her hands in excitement and hope.

"Subaru is really doing great here." Reinhard spoke with a slack-jawed look as he couldn't believe how he missed such obvious signs.

"I think Barusu just blurted his conclusion out and got lucky, heh!" Ram huffed out sternly and snarkily from her place above.

"I agree there's no possible way he got all of that on the first try." Julius nodded his head with a look of pure wisdom and elegance.

Otto took the opportunity to call him out with stride and flare. "I think you're jealous that it didn't occur to you, Julius-san."

The greatest knight slightly glanced at the smirking merchant with a hint of annoyance.

"Hmph! I guess, he did a truly fine job." The knight begrudgingly admitted with a forced tone.

"He managed to put hope and confidence into the knight's hearts by his plans and efforts while our best fighters were mostly beaten and out of the fight." Wilhelm admitted without shame and in good confidence.

"Nya, we were all in disbelief when he suddenly turned the tide in the fight." Felix admitted as well while Mimi nodded her head.

"He's a really good tactician as well? This boy is a good package." Anastasia softly whispered as she felt her greed wanting him for herself so she could change the world using his otherworldly way of thinking… It wouldn't hurt to have him as her squire to witness his antics and personality every day either.

Emilia couldn't believe how amazing her knight was. She couldn't fathom how much the stories got exaggerated like she heard after the Whale was defeated. She thought Subaru's role was small… but this… He was soooo cool!

The half-elf slowly frowned in disappointment a little as she noticed how he was treating Crusch.

The two looked so well-tuned with one another as they thought over how to face this impossible beast…

Emilia didn't like how perfect Crusch and Subaru worked for one another.

"Man, Subaru-kyun looks like a perfect knight when he's working with my lady! It makes me soooo jealous, nyan!" Felix growled out making some in the theater explode in laughter.

Crusch snorted as well but smiled warmly at the screen as she imagined the thought.

"I do agree with the conjecture that this one is weaker than the original body. But what good does knowing that do? Killing three White Whales is much easier said than done." Crusch inquired sternly.

"We don't need to kill all three of them. Just one should be enough." Subaru smirked confidently.

"That bastard's been making its two doubles fight, while it just hangs around up there and watches. What do you think it's doing?"

Subaru glanced up with Crusch and Rem.

The princess glared at the Whale. "That's the real one?"

"It won't come down because it knows it can't let itself be killed."

"But…" Crusch closed her eyes in disappointment as she gripped the handle of her sword tightly. "I can't rely on my sword to hit from this distance. If I had one strike, it might be possible, but… " Crusch looked at her sword with a frustrated look.

Subaru smiled.

"I have a plan that's just a bit too much of a wager." Subaru's smile turned to a confident smirk as he challenged. "You want in?"

"Truly an insane wager." Crusch shook her head with a fond smile as she slowly rested her head on the boy's shoulder.

"Of course it is. I think everyone already heard of what he did here." Frederica snorted softly.

"We will see how he brought the Whale down?" Felt asked with her eyes twinkling with excitement. Her knight also perked up a bit.

Emilia and Beatrice looked at the screen with worried looks.

Scene change…

The two Whales that had been grounded down began attacking what was left of the army.

Felix and the rest of the healers were busy with the mounting number of wounded and injured soldiers.

As the Whale's attacked the tired out soldiers, Crusch's shocked voice sounded out over the screen as she spoke with Subaru.

"I think you're insane."

The boy smiled at the duchess with his eyes shining. "We're already insane for taking on that huge thing in the first place."

Crusch smiled and shook her head. "Perhaps… No, you're right. That goes for everyone here right now."

"You're truly beautiful when you smile, Crusch-sama." Rem smiled softly at the lady.

Crusch smiled softly as she looked up at the maid. "I guess my time with Subaru-sama as an amnesiac made me aware of how easy it is to smile with him around."

"You two look like you'd make a great team." Felt said snarkily with her voice slightly tinted with jealousy.

"Yes, Crusch-san. You look really happy with Subaru serving by your side." Anastasia giggled a bit into her gloved hands as she noticed how cold Emilia's stare had become.

Crusch simply shrugged and resigned herself to smirking comfortably. "Subaru-sama wasn't serving under me. He was fighting alongside me to save our world." The duchess corrected sternly but kept her smirk on.

Emilia pouted cutely and crushed her stupid knight's hand. It was bad enough that she wasn't there to help, she was also sure that she couldn't do as good of a job helping him as the duchess was.

Now she had people talking about how good her knight looked serving other girls.

Fudge this!

(That was Emilia. And yes, fuck all of you. I'm keeping it in.)

(These jokes are my babies)

"Get out of the way!" A demihuman warrior shouted as he held on to the fur of a Whale that was moving to attack the wounded camp sitting at the bottom of the tree.

Crusch glared at the Whale and glanced to the boy beside her. "We will hold off the two doubles." She extended a closed fist out and smirked at the boy. "I'll take your wager."

Subaru smirked back and bumped his own fist with hers.

"Historic moment." Otto noted warmly.

"If I remember what I heard from the townsfolk, stories spread of the subjugation across the kingdom of all the events of the fight." Frederica lamented with a warm smile as she remembered all the fantastical stories. "I heard that this moment, in particular, was dubbed 'A commoner's last stand.' the moment where a mere commoner boy stood side by side with the warrior princess to bring down the beast of fog."

Crusch snorted a little and leaned in her seat in amusement. "It's not far off from the truth, I suppose." the duchess whispered in amusement.

Emilia glared a bit as she remembered some of the stories about the commoner and the warrior princess.

"Heh! I heard stories that big bro cut the Whale in half with his bare hands. Idiots." Felt snorted and shook her head at the rumors that spread all over the slum districts.

"How will he bring the Whale down, I wonder?" Beatrice brooded while looking at her contractor on the screen with a fond proud look.

Scene change to the soldiers shaking on the ground in terror and fear as the Whale came down upon them.

"They're coming this way…"

A second Whale reached them from the fog.

"Stay away!" A frightened soldier shouted.

"Run!"

"We'll be wiped out!

The soldiers, wounded and injured all looked on as the two Whales shot multiple attacks of Elimination fog.

But then… Crusch jumped infront of her army with her sword unsheathed and glowing.

"HHHHAAAAAAAA!"

She let out a war cry as she delivered a strong airstrike that blocked the two's attacks outright.

The airwaves of the attack were so strong that she was knocked off her ground dragon.

The soldier's all howled in despair and shock at the fallen lady.

Crusch paid them no mind and leaned on her sword to stand up.

"Crusch-sama!"

The noble lady took a deep breath. And shouted.

"Stand up! Lift your faces! Take up your weapons!"

The soldiers looked at her in surprise and shock.

"Look at that boy! He's so weak and fragile, a breath could blow him away, and he's unarmed!"

Subaru could be shown, dodging the attacks from one of the Whales as he ran alongside it.

"He's a powerless boy whose defeat I have seen with my own eyes!"

The soldiers all looked on at the boy as he dodged and run against the Whale's attacks with gritted teeth.

"He's weaker than anyone else here! Yet he's shouting louder than anyone that we can still do this."

The entire army, along with the wounded, all looked at Subaru with wide eyes.

"So how can we sit around, looking at the ground?"

Some of the soldiers hardened their eyes.

"If our weakest man hasn't given up,"

Some began to grit their teeth in anger.

"How is it acceptable for us to kneel in defeat?"

* ROOOOAAAAARRR!*

An oncoming Whale opened its mouth to shoot another fog attack.

Crusch prepared to strike it with her sword as well.

"Did you all come this far to wallow in shame?!"

The lady asked as she prepared her legendary sword.

* WHOOOOSH!*

A mace was sent flying, impacting the Whale's eye forcing it to withdraw the attack.

Crusch looked behind her to find the leader of the old knights with his arm extended and a battle-ready glare on his face.

Seeing this, the other knights began unsheathing their weapons and picking them up.

Crusch nodded her head and glared at the Whale.

She let out a war cry as she attacked with all her might.

"Follow me!"

And the army howled behind her.

"Damn, that was a rousing speech, lady." Al praised.

"That was really amazing." Petra called out as her heart pounded from excitement.

The duchess only shook her head and sternly spoke out against any praise. "It was Subaru-sama's efforts that the soldiers had recognized not my words or tone."

"But you're the one that put an effort in reminding them about Subaru's continuous effort against the whales." Reinhard praised with a soft smile.

"I like the way you used his weakness to hit their pride." Julius smirked bastardly.

"Cap'n's not weak." Garfiel snorted at them and glared at the screen. He approved of the lady's way but he didn't like it.

Crusch smirked at the blonde boy and answered in confidence. "I know."

Emilia couldn't help but feel how small she was as she witnessed the sheer efforts Subaru and Crusch have been pulling together to defeat this monster.

How would she have fared if she was down there with them?

It truly scared her…

But having her knight working so hard to fight such a frightening mabeast.

"I don't know how you do it." Emilia looked at her sleeping knight in distraught emotion.

The images of all of his deaths and horrible betrayals played in her mind, making her tear up a bit.

"I don't know how you do it, Subaru." The half-elf leaned closer to his shoulder and found it appropriate to rest her head on it while watching the screen in silent worry and anguish for what her knight was going through on his own.

Subaru was suddenly surprised to see that the Whale he was tailing was getting shot at by the beam canons.

He smirked back at the newly encouraged army. "She has some nerve, calling me a weakling and a loser."

Crusch snorted in amusement.

Rem smiled at her fondly, happy that the noble lady was breaking her stern persona and showing some heartfelt emotion.

He glanced up at the monster above.

"Let's do this, Rem. Time for the climax!"

"Right, Subaru-kun!" The maid nodded her head and smiled.

Scene change…

Rem stood alone on the ground with her horn out.

"Al Huma!" She shouted, activating her magic gate to make a giant sphere of ice three times her size appear before her.

"Damn!" Garfiel shouted and looked at the maid with stars in his eyes.

"What're ya doing?" Ricardo whistled and asked with an excited smirk.

Wilhelm leaned forward with a thoughtful expression. He was unconscious with Ricardo when Subaru's moment happened…

The old man's eyes widened in shock.

"He didn't…" It was an insane plan. A disturbing plan…

The old man smirked proudly.

"Where's big bro?" Felt asked with a raised brow.

Beatrice and Ram facepalmed as soon as they put two and two together.

"Idiot!" Beatrice reprimanded the boy for his plan.

"I should've thought of that!" Ram reprimanded herself for not thinking about such an amazing way to get rid of Barusu when he was annoying.

The soldiers cheered in shock and awe at her ability.

"Please!" Rem begged as she sent the pillar of ice flying towards the third Whale that was flying up in the sky.

The Whale moved out of the seeding pillar's way and avoided it as it glided past him.

The army looked disappointed at this.

"Shit!" Ricardo slammed his fist in anger.

"Laaammmee!" Mimi booed in disappointment.

Emilia noticed how Rem was grinning at the screen.

Crusch smirked while looking up at the Whale.

"I'm counting on you." She said in a confident tone.

"What…" Anastasia's question stopped in her throat as she realized what they were doing.

The merchant princess smirked in approval of the boy's tenaciousness.

The screen shows the beaten Whale as it spectated everything that was happening down below.

And then…

"Hey, now that I see you up close, you really are creepy."

The Whale looked up and its eyes widened in surprise.

Right above it, standing on the very tip of its horn was Subaru.

The Emilia camp looked at the screen with expressions of shock and astonishment.

"Goddam!" Al shouted.

"I WISH I was there to see that!" Ricardo whined while staring at the screen in amazement.

Natsuki Subaru glared down at the beast of fog with his arms crossed as the wind around the two began blowing intensely.

"Try to keep up with me. Just so you know, I'm infamous for being so annoying that no one can ignore me!"

* HHHOOOOOOWWWWWWWWLLLLL!*

The beast sounded loudly in outrage as its eyes glared intensely at the boy.

"How…" Julius uttered in shock at the bewildering sight before him.

"Tha's muh Cap'n!" Garfiel cheered, looking shocked and amazed.

Otto's hat fell off as he gazed at the scene with a shocked face.

"Holy crap." Felt looked at the screen with a starstruck expression.

"He's so brave!" Petra shouted with tears in her eyes.

Anastasia and Priscilla were both on the edge of their seats with looks of disbelief.

"Subaru-kun's truly amazing." Rem giggled at everyone's starstruck expression.

"This man is crazy." Felix whispered with a horrified expression as he couldn't believe the sheer insanity before him.

"Okay, let's do this!"

Subaru jumped down from the Whale's horn and fell to the ground with his arms and legs extended.

"I'm doing you a huge favor! Listen up! It's because of you that Rem died and experienced such horrible trauma!"

Subaru's entire world stopped suddenly as black mist covered him.

The shadow lady appeared once again beside him and her black hands suddenly clenched the boy's heart tightly.

Subaru gritted his teeth in pain but forced his entire body to stay put underneath the Whale as he fell to the ground.

"I made it back!" Subaru shouted. His body could be shown with dark mist coming off of it.

The beast's nose caught the smell instantly and it was compelled to lower down and rocket towards the falling boy.

Subaru faced off the Whale as they both fell towards the earth with one another.

"Subaru!" Emilia shouted while clutching the boy's hand in fear and amazement.

Beatrice hugged her contractor tightly while staring at the screen in disbelief.

Most of the viewers watched on the edge of their seats with looks of awe and disbelief at the scene.

"Natsuki Subaru… " Reinhard could only stare with a look of desperation and hopelessness. "How can you be this good of a hero?" The Sword Saint looked at the boy that had been fighting and facing down all the monsters that Reinhard himself couldn't fight, increasing moral with his bravery, and doing his best to keep everyone safe.

"Rem!"

"Yes!"

The maid suddenly shot the second pillar of ice towards the rocketing creature, forcing it to move away from the falling Subaru.

Just before the boy hit the ground, Rem caught him with the chains of her mace and pulled him into her chest.

Subaru looked up at her and smiled.

"You saved me!"

"Thank you for the treat." The maid smiled innocently.

"What are you talking about?" Asked the poor confused young man.

"REM!" Emilia shouted in outrage while holding her knight's hand and crushing it. While blushing red.

Rem just huffed and hugged the boy tighter while glaring possessively at the half-elf.

Otto and Garfiel were just laughing their asses off. Even Julius was hiding behind his hand and snickering loudly.

"Lucky bastard." Ricardo howled while laughing out loud.

Petra was being held blind by Frederica who was glaring at her colleague in a strictly professional.

"I didn't know you could be so dirty, Rem-san." Felix teased warmly, happy to see the girl getting her claws into her love.

"Felix."

The cat stood rigid with his tail standing up like a feral cat.

"Y-Yes, Crusch-sama." Felix stuttered and refused to look at the demonic duchess.

Crushing Subaru's hand between her gloved fingers, the beautiful duchess looked more of an angry demonic lion as she looked at him her eyes red.

The catboy quickly knelt and bowed his head to the ground before his angry lady.

Everyone just backed away from the angry pair of Emilia and Crusch.

Beatrice hugged her contractor while shaking like a leaf as she was stuck between the two noble ladies.

A pink-haired maid was growling in fury.

The two looked beside them to find the original Whale howling in pain because of the ice pillar.

"Don't let me down, Patrasche! You're a dragon, aren't you? Show me how awesome you are!"

"He truly brought it down!" Julius exclaimed as he stared at the screen still in shock.

"Natsuki-san's plan is still not finished yet." Otto lamented with an anxious look.

"Yeah, what's big bro gonna do to kill the monster now that it's gone." Felt asked with a flare of excitement.

Emilia and Beatrice looked at one another and held on to the boy in worry.

"I can't believe he made such a cunning plan' in the span of seconds." Al shook his head in disbelief.

"Go, Patrasche! Go!" Petra and Mimi shouted with cheer with one another.

The dragon roared and began speeding up as the Whale chased them with its mouth open.

"Take this!" Subaru shouted.

"Fire!" Crusch commanded.

And as the Whale and the boy started passing their chase closer to the colossal tree of the wanderer, canons and magic users bombarded the trunk of the tree, splintering it and making the tree fall from the heavens and straight on top of the gliding beast of fog and the self-proclaimed knight.

* BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!*

The Whale could only let out a howl of pain.

* AAAGGRRHHHHH!*

Before the tree of Flugel fell on top of it and trapped it underneath.

"NOOOOO!" Petra shouted with her eyes wide in despair at the destruction of the tree.

Emilia and Beatrice also held their hands to their mouths in shock.

"It was the boy's idea to demolish this historical monument, wasn't it?" Julius shook his head disappointed… While also smirking in amusement.

"Cap'n burned the tree ontop of th' Whale! Tha's too cool!" Garfiel shouted and hollered in pride.

"Subaru's plan…. Was using the great tree to trap the Whale…" The shocked half-elf's wide eyes started filling up with a small bit of satisfaction and even pride at her knight's efforts.

Anastasia and Priscilla looked really impressed with the boy's thinking, The fiery-haired lady even more at the way his plan was ruthless and cunning.

As the Whale was trapped beneath the tree, all of the soldiers looked on, as Wilhelm readied his weapon.

In the royal palace, where Theresia just got named as a royal knight, Wilhelm walked to issue his challenge to the king and queen before the entire line of knights and magic users.

"Wow, we get to see the old folks tale." Felt exclaimed in excitement. Not noticing how much the old man behind her was shaking.

Wilhelm walked towards the beaten and battered White Whale with his sword at the ready.

Before the red throne, Wilhelm faced Theresia

He slowly-

-unsheathed his weapon and aimed it at the beast.

"This is for my wife, Theresia van Astrea."

The old man dashed forward and swiped his sword at-

-Theresia but she managed to jump out of his way and swipe at him from above.

Barely blocking her attack he danced in a circle and swiped his sword once again at-

-The beast that had caused him so much grief and pain. Wounding and cutting its flesh for every sin he had committed because of his obsession with it.

Wilhelm hacked his sword against-

-Her shinning blade, forcing her to look at him with shock as he smirked and struck her blade with as much force as he could.

He managed to-

-Wound the Whale from every spot on its body as he slashed -

-Against her blade again and again. He forced her back with his insane speed and strength until…

He forced her sword out of her palm.

"I win. As a weaker swordsman, you no longer have any reason to hold a sword."

"If I don't hold it, who will?"

"I'll inherit your reason for wielding the sword. You need only become my reason for wielding it."

Theresia smiled softly and stepped closer to the man. "Hey, do you like flowers?"

"I don't hate them anymore."

"Why do you wield that sword?"

"To protect…"

Wilhelm softly grabbed her arm and pulled her into a kiss.

"You."

As the thrill of watching the fight between the Demon and Saint died down, the satisfaction and explosive sense of warmth and passion-filled everyone watching.

The audience genuinely cheered out loud when the moment of love was shown on the screen.

Wilhelm and Reinhard just looked at the screen with stoned faces, emotions overwhelming the two family members.

"Do you love me?"

Wilhelm looked away pouting. "You should know."

Theresia pouted angrily. "I still want to hear you say it sometimes."

"All right… Someday… When I feel like it."

He pulled her in for another kiss.

Emilia held her hand to her heart as she remembered the way Subaru kissed her. It was almost identical.

"This is so lovely!" Frederica openly cried tears of happiness at the sweet scene.

"RRRAAHHH!"

* SPLLLLAAAAAASSSHHHHHHH!*

Everyone in the army looked on with terrified faces as the old man cut the Whale's neck from its body.

He stood atop the Whale with his sword up in the air.

Whatever was left of power or life force in the beast, it could only use it to look up at the old man with fear written on its yellow eye.

"Sleep for all eternity."

Wilhelm van Astrea delivered his sword into the White Whale.

The beast of fog could only let a small whimper out before closing it's one eye as it bled to death.

Garfiel, Otto, and Reinhard all looked at the old man in awe and relief. Happy that the beast was finally slain.

As the original died, the two copies dissipated into thin air as if they weren't there, to begin with.

Julius bowed his head in respect, silently thanking the heroes that were present on the screen and those who gave up their lives.

Happy that the Whale was truly singular in its existence and grateful for his friend for finally eradicating that existence.

The White Whale was killed.

"Thank you… Wilhelm-sama… Crusch-sama… Anastasia-sama… Emilia-sama… and Subaru." The knight whispered and bowed deeply even though none of these people noticed or acknowledged him.

The sun began rising over the plain field.

"It is finished, Theresia. At last… Theresia, I … " Wilhelm held his face in his hand as he whimpered. "I…"

The image of the red-haired lady gesturing for him to come closer and watch the flowers with her played.

"I love you!" Wilhelm shouted atop the Whale's corpse.

Crusch, Felix, Reinhard, and Garfiel bowed their heads in respect to the old man as he finally achieved his wish and avenged his wife's unjustified death.

"Congratulations, Wilhelm-sama. May your wife rest in peace." Emilia bowed her head to the old man in respect and gratitude.

"The White Whale has fallen! The mabeast of fog that has terrorized the world for four centuries has been defeated by Wilhelm van Astrea!" Crusch howled to the army.

Everyone around her began cheering and celebrating.

"We have won this battle!"

"So the Whale goes doooowwn." Roswaal mused tiredly and emotionlessly from his seat.

The audience contested from many camps all cheered for the defeat of the fog beast, some in disbelief for being able to see the moment.

"Can't believe that he managed to beat the Whale without dying against it once." Al pointed out in his own offishly normal tone.

Emilia's camp immediately stopped festivities as they remembered the next danger facing the boy.

Scene change…

(Added scene from the novels.)

As the wounded were being rounded up, Crusch was looking around at the numbers of injured people and the ones who are still in good shape.

She suddenly heard a young man raising his voice just a little removed from the White Whale.

"Rem! Rem, open your eyes…!"

"Are you all right, Natsuki Subaru?" Subaru lifted the girl in his arms, his face pale as he desperately called out to Rem.

The land dragon came right up to them, nuzzling them with its black nose in an act of concern.

"What's happening here, Rem?" Ram snapped glaringly as she noticed how her sister giggled along with Felix and Crusch.

Otto, Beatrice, and Garfiel just watched the scene with confusion and suspicion instead of worry for their friend since said friend was currently laughing loudly.

Emilia raised a brow and focused on the screen with a sinking feeling in her stomach…

"This… is no good… Please, Rem… if… you're not here…!" Before his eyes, Rem calmly rested with her eyes closed, completely unresponsive to Subaru's voice.

"...Suba...ru…"

"Rem-?!"

The maid slowly opened her eyes and looked up at the boy with a weak fading glint of light.

"I'm so g… Yeah, it's me. You know, Subaru. Rem, your body…"

"Subaru… I'm so glad… you are safe… "

Subaru choked as he held the maid in his arms. The maid was smiling at the boy with a worried and soft smile that paid no head to her own injuries.

"What happened to… the demon beast…?"

"It went down. We nailed it. It worked out. Everything worked out! I'm… not hurt, either… It's all… thanks to you…"

"He really cares about you." Frederica cooed and giggled at the blushing maid.

Emilia pouted and tightened her shaking hold on Subaru's hand as she felt that ever-increasing feeling in her gut.

"Is that… so? Then, Master Roswaal and… Lady Emilia… shall… surely be all right…"

"It'll work out. Leave it to me. So, Rem, you don't have to say anything right now, just rest… No, don't… close your eyes… Aw, crap, what should I do…?"

Subaru struggled to keep the girl awake as she closed her eyes and faded away from him. Not knowing what else he should do, he held her hand as tightly as he could.

"*Sniff * I can't believe my sister's last face before death will be that of Barusu." Ram sniffed into her sleeve, making Otto and Petra glare at her for ruining the mood.

Ram only looked at the screen deadpannedly and unfazed by all the stares.

"That… hurts, Subaru…"

"Sorry, my bad. But if I don't do this, you'll go off somewh…"

"I shall not go anywhere…. I shall be at… your side, Subaru…"

Subaru's eyes widened as he let the tears fall. Rem's body grew soft in his hands.

"Rem…? Rem! Please, Rem… open… your eyes…"

"Somehow, I'm very… sleepy… I'm sorry. Let me sleep just a little, and when I wake… soon, for your sake, I shall be…"

"Never mind all that! You don't need to do anything. It's fine if you're just together with me… so please, Rem…!"

Subaru held her as his voice grew wry. The maid could only smile and whisper hoarsely.

"May I say something… Selfish?"

"…! Say it, say something! I'll listen to anything, I'll do anything, so…!"

"I want you to say… that you… love me."

"Oh, now that is truly mischievous." Anastasia giggled as Ricardo, Al and Garfiel laughed hysterics along with Felix, Felt, and the totally not snickering Julius.

Tears willed up forced Subaru's eyes open as he shook his head from side to side. Then, he drew his face close to hers and told her:

"I love you."

"…"

"I really love you. Of course, I do… I can't… manage without you."

Emilia completely obliterated Subaru's hand in anger as she finally let that sinking and deeply increasing feeling in her gut blow out…

That's why after she was done with his hand, Emilia started laughing on the floor at how duped Subaru had been.

"HAHAHA, Subaru...S-Subaru's never gonna live this down… HAAAH! I s-swear it."

"Ah… I'm so happy." Rem's cheeks suddenly reddened as she happily accepted his words.

Subaru felt her strength getting weaker.

"Wait…"

"I love you, Subaru."

"Don't kid around-Stay with me! Am I gonna have… nothing but regrets again?!" Subaru sobbed and held the maid close.

"I don't wanna… laugh and talk about the future without you…!"

"In that future, can I be by your side?"

"Of course. I won't let you be anywhere else."

Closing his eyes, Subaru wiped away the rising tears before staring straight at Rem, and then, he stated firmly, "You're mine. I won't… hand you to anyone."

"Ooooohhhh!"

"Someone is protective!"

Roswaal and Felix, being the little snotty shits they were, started teasing each of the Oni maids.

Ram growled out, with a huff. "Barusu's sad existence is only noteworthy when he's used as a wiper for my sister's shoes."

"I didn't hear you agreeing that Natsuki-san should take Rem-san as his love just now, did I?" Otto teased from his seat only to be hugged by his blonde brother as Garfiel gritted his teeth to shield the stupid merchant from the pink-haired Oni's wrath.

Rem looked at her sister with a wide happy smile.

Emilia frowned a bit but didn't let her slight thorny feelings from spoiling her enjoyment in watching the scene before her.

"-I shall take that as a commitment."

"Huh?"

Abruptly, Subaru let out his voice like an idiot at the highly intellectual reply.

As he did so, Rem slowly opened the eyes she had kept closed all that time, proceeding to sit up inside his arms. Then, with Subaru dumbfounded, unable to grasp the situation, she tilted her head and smiled at him.

"You have promised I shall be at your side, Subaru… You cannot take it back now."

Where had the sight of her dying gone…?

In a teasing, toying way, Rem closed one eye and gently touched Subaru's lips.

Crestfallen, Subaru's strength gave out from his shoulders down as he sank to the ground.

"Why you…you, you…youuuu!"

"Sorry, Subaru-kun~" The blue-haired giggled and felt unusual warmth fill her as she relived that wonderful moment once again.

"Yes, I am Subaru's Rem. In name and fact."

Hearing her trademark reply, now even more brazen, Subaru could not follow up his words.

"We've both aired our true feelings, so that's really overkill…"

"Girls are strong when they become honest about love, Subaru."

Emilia, Rem, and Crusch smiled softly at these words.

Embarrassed than anything else, Subaru's face reddened as he let out a small breath and confessed, "…If you'd died, I was about to die, too."

The girls' moods suddenly turned sour as each of them took the opportunity to slap the sleeping boy on the head.

From Emilia to Rem, to Crusch, to Beatrice, to Petra, even Ram and Anastasia joined in for the shits.

"Stupid Subaru!" Emilia pouted as she oversaw the girls taking turns to slap the sleeping boy for his stupidity.

Rem slapped him harder than any of them as she had tears in her eyes. She didn't know how truly disturbing those words were.

"I am a lucky woman that you think so much of me."

"I'm not kidding, either."

Rem replied with a little smile, but Subaru had answered with his true and sincere feelings.

"I absolutely must not die, then."

"Darn right. I won't let you die, even if it kills me."

Rem looked at the boy sternly with disappointed glints in her eyes.

Subaru drew his face to hers, and their foreheads touched as they looked at each other from so very close.

Rem gazed adoringly at Subaru's gesture, and it was hard for Subaru to just stay there with her close enough that their breaths touched. Naturally, his gaze was drawn in by her pink lips, and he felt his heartbeat just a little faster—

"—Could you two wrap it up already, meow?"

Ferris, looking exasperated from having watched from a distance as the two flirted, butted in to break things up at the most important juncture. Apparently, he'd been watching the whole time.

"Ye'r a dumbass man!" Garfiel pointed at Felix furiously.

Otto slammed his hat down and smacked his fists together while pursing his lips at the catboy.

Felix himself hummed softly and glanced smugly at the boys.

He's smug look turned horrified as soon as he saw the pissed looking Julius glaring at him.

"You've taken what could've been an amazing moment for Rem-sama and stomped on it for some sick and twisted pleasure you have against heartwarming scenes!"

"Are you seriously mad because you didn't get to see Rem-chan kissing Subaru?" Felix asked in a frightened voice.

"You leave him be! He's a hero!"

Felix looked behind him gratefully… but then turned horrified as soon as he recognized his savor's demonic face.

Ram stood against the greatest knight to defend Felix for stopping Rem's kiss.

Holy shit.

Subaru was sure he'd done it on purpose.

Scene change…

As everyone began treating their wounds and sitting the injured in the carriages, the lone boy stood atop a hill watching the sunrise.

He turned to find the armored duchess and the leader of the army herself walking towards him.

"Somehow or other… I'm glad you're safe, too, Crusch-san."

"I am, yes." The lady looked down saddened."But our losses are not few. With the White Whale defeated, those who have vanished will not return."

"I think you did great, Crusch-san." Subaru smirked. "Your popularity should shoot through the-"

oh shit.

"Wait, did I just give you a boost in the royal selection that I shouldn't have?!" Subaru held his head in his hands.

"He only thinks about that now?" Anastasia snorts mockingly.

"We can't blame him, he was too focused on keeping everyone alive to think about the politics." Felt argued sternly.

Crusch smiled with amusement. "That's quite a gloomy look on your face. You don't look like the hero who brought down the White Whale."

"The first thing Emilia-tan's gonna do is call me a traitor… huh? What did you call me?"

"I wouldn't do that…" Exclaimed the half-elf.

"The hero who brought down the White Whale. I don't want to be so shameless as to claim your achievements for my own." Crusch smiled sincerely at the boy.

"No, I really didn't do anything… " The boy shook his head in denial but the lady kept her smile true.

Subaru let his arms fall and sighed.

"It sounds like your opinion of me has improved a lot. I'm surprised."

"More than that, and it's well deserved." The duchess smiled warmly at the beaten up looking boy beside her. She also squeezed his hand tighter just to punish him for his low self-worth.

"We really need to help him with this low self-esteem." Otto said uneasily as he frowned along with the rest of the boys.

"There's no reason to be modest. In truth, I'd love to welcome you into my household and reward your accomplishments."

"OOOOOOHHHHHH!" Ricardo and Al both howled while pointing at the screen.

"He got anoth'r one! Otto! Cap'n got 'nother one!" Garfiel shook his brother while Otto just remained emotionless as a single tear fell from his eye.

"I didn't mean anything inappropriate." The noble lady sternly pouted as everyone around her either shouted in outrage for trying to take away Subaru (Rem, Beatrice, Petra, and Felt.) or laughing at how clearly she was falling for him. (The boy squad, Reinhard, Felix, Anastasia, and Frederica.)

Emilia just hugged Subaru's arm tightly and stared coldly at the duchess.

"You're not taking away my Subaru." The half-elf whispered while glaring at how the two of them looked at the screen.

She absolutely hated how good Subaru and Crusch looked together.

"Please don't ask that of me! It's not really about loyalty or allegiance, but my faith already lies exactly where it should."

Subaru stared at Crusch with determination and confidence.

"I'm going to make Emilia the ruler. Not for anyone's sake. It's just what I want to do"

Emilia's eyes softened at hearing this. Crusch smirked at the half-elf.

"Natsuki-sama's love really flows strongly for you." The duchess commented making the half-elf princess smile warmly at her.

"Thank you for understanding, Crusch-sama." Emilia smiled gratefully at the lady… but kept her hold on her knight tight.

Crusch also smiled warmly at the princess… and leaned a little closer on his shoulder.

Crusch's smiled turned soft and disappointed.

"I was already aware of that, but it still stings a bit."

"Honestly, I think you're an amazing person. If I'd been on my own, I'm pretty sure I would've accepted your offer." Subaru smiled sheepishly.

"I wonder what it would've been like… To have Subaru-kun in our camp." Felix seemed to like the idea of having the black-haired young man.

"I would've loved to have him with us, but his heart is already set on a lady." Crusch sternly commented.

"Maybe even two ladies now." Frederica snorted and teased remembering how much he confessed to Rem.

The blue-haired maid blushed deep red and hugged the boy tightly.

Emilia frowned a bit at the thought of Subaru being in another's camp.

"I'll be counting on you to uphold the alliance. Even if we end up as enemies, I believe we can get along until then."

"Natsuki Subaru, allow me to correct one idea you have. Even if we do find ourselves in conflict one day, I will remain friendly toward you. Even if the day comes that we must settle things, I will not forget the debt I have incurred to you this day. Therefore, even if we do become enemies, I will respect you and show you favor until the end."

Subaru's bewildered expression turned to one of exasperation. "If I didn't already have a #1 and #2 in my heart, that would've been a close call."

"You really seem more lively with the boy, Crusch-sama." Julius mused while eyeing the lady with suspicion.

Emilia and Rem looked at the lady in shock.

Crusch just continued to glance at the screen and ignored the looks she was getting.

"I haven't gone so far as to think of you the way a woman might. I don't deny there were occasions where my heartstrings felt a pull, but my heart lies at the end of my dream." Crusch smiled and extended her arm to the boy.

He smiled wide and shook her hand firmly.

The two remained standing beneath the sunrise, smiling at one another.

"Subaru-sama is truly an honorable man." Crusch softly spoke as she thought of everything this boy had gone through from the start of his life in their world.

"Any girl would be lucky to have him…"

Emilia and Rem looked at the lady with wide eyes and slacked-jaws.

"Crusch-sama… Do you…" Emilia looked down a bit with rose-tinted cheeks but keeping her hold on the boy close as she stared at the lady before her. "… Do l-like Subaru…"

The lady simply smiled at Emilia warmly and answered with confidence.

"Don't worry, Emilia-sama, I would never be so shameless as to try and take him away from you." Anastasia narrowed her eyes at the noblewoman.

"I do admit that I have some warm affections for the young knight." Crusch admitted softly so that only Emilia and Rem could hear her. Also, Beatrice was there glaring at all three of these girls with disgust written on her face.

"Get off my contractor all of you, I suppose!"

But she was ignored as Emilia and Rem stared at Crusch with disbelief.

The duchess looked unfazed as she continued to watch the screen.

"Now… I'll be leaving to take our wounded and the White Whale's carcass to the capital, but it would seem you still have a duty to attend to. "

"Yeah. It may sound rude, but in a sense, that's what this whale hunt was really about."

"Subjugating the White Whale was secondary? Intriguing." Crusch smiled knowingly. "Do you need assistance?"

"I do." Subaru looked at the carts of wounded and injured men.

"Of course he does." Frederica winced along with Ram as they remembered what had happened to the people of the village.

"Make no mistake that I'd have gone along with Subaru-sama if I knew what he was about to fight next." Crusch sternly commented while gripping his hand to refresh her frustration as she remembered his painful loops.

"But… Frankly, I didn't think it would take this kind of toll on us. On top of that-"

"In that case, why not make use of this old man?"

Subaru looked up to find Wilhelm stepping toward them and kneeling before the boy.

"Natsuki Subaru-dono." Wilhelm looked up at the young man with a peaceful smile. "With this subjugation, it was because of you that I was able to carry out my reason for living all this time. I thank you…"

The old man bowed his head and uttered again. "I thank you. I thank you with all that I am!"

Subaru smiled softly at the old man. "It was your own strength that made it possible, Wilhelm-san. The reason I thought to defeat the White Whale, and could fight without giving up… I don't know if it's okay to say it like this, but… Congratulations. And thank you for your service. I believe you were able to do this because you loved your wife like crazy."

The old butler smiled softly at the boy in gratitude.

"Thank you, Subaru." Reinhard also thanked his friend warmly while understanding how much respect his grandfather held for Subaru.

Reinhard held the same amount of respect and gratitude in his heart for the boy that had finally avenged their family's tragedy.

The old man simply looked up at the young man. "I thank you." Wilhelm stood up with a sincere smile.

"You should hold on to that treasured sword for a while. In the days to come, being unarmed will do you little good."

"Yes, my lady. Thank you."

Crusch smiled at Subaru. "Take Felis and half of the uninjured. They should number about twenty."

"Are you sure?"

"I told you, I don't want to be shameless. And that I would respect you."

Subaru teared up and could only bow down deeply to the lady.

"Thank you."

Emilia also bowed her head to the lady. "Thank you for helping Subaru save us. For not making him suffer any more horrible deaths."

"Think nothing of it, Emilia-sama. It was Subaru that had faced a lot of hardships and done a lot of work to keep the army motivate to fight the Whale and the Witch's Cult. Had it not been for him, we couldn't have won against the three Whales." Crusch bowed intern to Emilia...both girls kept their grips on the boy's hands while smiling at one another.

Scene change…

"Why?" Rem protested from the side as Felix looked at her sternly.

"Well, nya can't move, right? As a healing magic user, I can't let you push yourself any further. You'll stay behind-"

"But-!" The maid couldn't continue her protest as she suddenly fell in Subaru's lap.

"H-Hey, careful! Please, do as Felis says, and don't overdo it."

"I won't!" Rem clenched the boy's shirt and hid her face into his chest. "It hurts too much! I can't bear it! When you're in trouble, I want to be the first to reach out to you. That's all I want! So please… "

"In that case, you don't have to worry."

The maid looked up at the boy with surprise. The boy held her hand tightly as he smiled confidently at her.

"You've already saved me so many times. Don't you realize how much you've done for me up to this point? I want you to help me from now on, too. So leave everything to me this time."

Rem looked down in remembrance of all the pain and suffering her hero faced until the moment she ran with him to that hill. The maid shook her head and trembled a little bit.

Behind her, her sister was shaking in rage.

His eyes shown with hope and confidence. "Trust me, Rem. I'll find a way to take care of everything! I'm your hero. I've made up my mind to take that first step. So you don't have to worry! I managed to pull off the whale hunt. Your hero is demonically inspired right now."

"Subaru-kun…"

The young man held the crying maid close as the sun shone over them.

"Right!" Rem smiled while trembling. "My hero is the greatest in the world!"

Subaru touched his forehead with hers once again as the rainbow shown above them.

Emilia smiled warmly at the scene… But clutched hr knight's hand tighter just to ease the slight pinch her heart gave at the sight of the two. It was heartwarming and yet infuriating to watch because of how useless and horrible she felt when she remembered how much pain and despair her knight suffered and how she couldn't even help him as Rem and Crusch had.

Scene change…

Crusch is shown leading the carriages carrying the injured men and Rem as well as the head of the Whale corpse.

"Are we going to see who was it that attacked Crusch-sama?!" Felix asked as he glared at the screen.

"I doubt we could do anything about it now, but the way things have been shown, the screen must show us the most important events relating to Subaru's life in our world." Reinhard lamented with a narrowed look.

"But at least we could see what actually happened to the other part of Crusch's army that hadn't been fighting Sloth and The cult." Anastasia commented while looking infuriated.

"Crusch-sama, before Emilia's camp arrived here, you told us that the ones who attacked you and Rem were the Archbishops of Greed and Gluttony." Reinhard inquired from his seat.

The green-haired princess nodded her head and glared intently at the screen as she remembered the way the white-haired sin completely demolished the entire battalion including the injured and wounded soldiers.

Subaru and the rest of the army were left behind.

"Man, you really got all the good parts back there, y'know?" A newly healed Ricardo loudly proclaimed.

"Captain! Mimi, too! Mimi, too! I did super-duper good!"

"Didn't you almost die? Also, your brother was exhausted. How do you have so much energy?"

"Hetaro's just a baby. He's weak. Honestly, it's so pathetic."

"He honestly is!" Mimi shouted while nodding in agreement.

"Don't diss on Hetaro!" Tivey shouted while dodging the stick his sister was lunging at him.

"I didn't get much done later on in the battle with the whale, but don't you worry. My lady asked me for a favor, after all. I'll show ya what I've got in the real battle comin' up!"

"The real battle? What're you trying to do here?" Subaru asked suspiciously.

"You're takin' on the Witch's Cult, right?"

Subaru's eyes widened.

"Never underestimate the merchant information network." Ricardo moved his head to the side. "Ah, here they come."

Subaru looked to the side of the road.

Many figures of robed men were shown treading towards Subaru and the army behind him.

"That's half of our mercenary team."

"Half?"

"Half of 'em were sent to block the road instead of fightin' the whale."

"They're going to help us, too? Who's leading them?"

"My younger brother, Tivey!"

"You have another younger brother? I'm really curious to know whether he's more like you or Hetaro."

Subaru looked back at the mercenary team that we're now closer to him.

And the pettiest expression covered his face immediately as he glared at the head of the oncoming mercenary team.

"What's wrong with him?" Otto asked with a raised brow.

Why is he with them?

"Who?" Garf asked.

Subaru glared hatefully at the figure of the purple-haired handsome knight.

Julius Euclius smiled at him from the distance.

"That makes sense." Julius snorted and shook his head just as amused as the first time he saw him.

Title card:

A Wager That Defies Despair

Ending Theme: Stay Alive.

Episode 11 Director's Cut. End.

Let's rest, for now, then we watch the next one.

"So that was the great White Whale subjugation." Otto slumped back in his seat and sighed in relief that nothing intense happened.

"Thank the Od that Subaru didn't die in this one." Everyone flinched and glared at Mimi for her brutish comment.

"I really thought that something might go he managed to actually lead it's defeat well." Priscilla smirked behind her fan, feeling excited by how cunning and ruthless he was.

Crusch frowned a bit as she let go of the boy's completely crushed hand and stood up to walk toward her room.

"Crusch-sama…"

Slowly turning and facing Emilia, Crusch hid her disappointment that she wouldn't be sitting beside the boy again. She's never felt such warmth before.

The half-elf walked towards the duchess and surprised her with a hug.

"Thank you for helping Subaru and protecting him, Crusch-sama." Emilia pulled back with a wide grateful smile.

The green-haired maiden just looked at the girl with shock. "Um, You're welcome. But Subaru-sama is the one who arranged everything and led us all to victory." Crusch looked guilty as she remembered the time she turned her back on him and abandoned him to fight on his own to save the innocent of the village just to get a favorable spot in the royal selection.

"I don't think he will hold any affections towards me anyways… After I abandoned him." Crusch sternly refuted and bowed her head in shame. It was never something to do, showing your shame to your political rival, but Emilia's soft and clear beautiful eyes eased her to soften up.

"It's okay to feel that way, Crusch-sama. We haven't been good to Subaru either." Rem suddenly walked beside Emilia and smiled at the noble lady.

Emilia nodded her head and winced a bit remembering her guilt and shame for all the wrongs she had committed towards the boy's psyche.

Rem also gripped her hands tighter in the guilt of all the pain she had caused.

"I also think he was really worried about you when we were resting at your mansion after...um … the gluttony attack." Emilia said while looking at the two girls in sympathy.

Crusch remembered the way Subaru would always turn away from her when she would speak with him at her mansion.

So sad, his head to the ground as he winced in shame and anguish as if he was… guilty to see have seen her in her amnesiac state.

"While he was worried for Rem, Felix would always check up on him from time to time, I spoke with your knight and… He told me that Subaru always questioned about how you were doing with a guilt-ridden face." Emilia felt really uncomfortable admitting this but she really didn't want Crusch to be sad.

"Subaru-kun cares about you as well." Rem smiled softly as her heart warmed at the mention of how worried her hero was when she was in a coma.

"So… He was guilty because he was blaming himself for my injury." Crusch glared sternly at the boy for a moment, clenching her hand into a fist, wishing she held his hand to punish him for his guilt and low self-worth.

"Why would he blame himself so much?" Crusch muttered, annoyed.

"I know, right! This boy is too hard on himself sometimes."

"And he always does these silly jokes so that he could distract you from asking about his health!"

"It's reeeeally annoying!"

"I do agree with that."

"And he always likes to act cool as if he needs to keep an image that impresses everyone around him."

"He doesn't see how wonderful he already is."

"I agree."

"What an idiot."

"Totally annoying."

"Silly dunderhead."

Emilia, Rem, and Crusch giggled historically as they conversed about the boy.

The girls looked at him warmly and noticed how his hands were being magically healed.

Crusch and Emilia instantly looked away while coughing nervously. Emilia was blushing hard.

How could you?

"..Eeep!"

Emilia meeked and his her face behind her hands.

Crusch just turned her head to the side and coughed into her fist.

That. is. a. Fucking boy.

Emilia blushed harder and Crusch started ashamed.

A boy that did nothing wrong. And you act as if he was your stress ball.

"B-B-But…"

How the fuck are you defending yourself?!

Emilia stomped her leg down hard and glared heatedly at the screen.

"It was so comforting!"

Crusch winced at how bad that sounded and looked down with her hat covering her shameful face.

Comforting! Do you want to help him or abuse him to relieve your stress?!

At Emilia's puppy downtrodden and heartbroken expression, Crusch decided to step up.

"We know that was wrong of us. But you still need to understand how much stress and frustration we would experience watching these and you also need to take into account how much strength we both have-"

With all due respect milady, shut the fuck up.

He's not a toy, stop crushing his hand.

Crusch looked offended along with Emilia so they both pouted at the screen.

"You were gonna heal him anyway."

Stop holding his hand.

And Rem…

The blue-haired maid slowly looked up at the screen with her eyes narrowed and stern.

Challenging.

I guess you know exactly what I'm gonna say.

The maid nodded and narrowed her eyes at the screen.

Then?

Rem scowled even deeper as she growled out.

"If you think that I would ever let go of my Subaru-kun, then you're one big fat dum dum!"

Fuck the mother that held you in her wom-

I mean…. Sorry. But please stop crushing the boy's back. For god's sake, you are an Oni! How did this fucker gain the love of three ladies with superior strength?!

And why are you all a bunch of sadists?!

"We're not sadists!" Rem scoffed in outrage.

Whatever. Go and rest.

The three girls huffed and walked away to their rooms.

The rest of the audience moved to do whatever they do when they rest.

The screen powered down.

Episode 12… Arc 3's continuation…

On pause.

As he ran through the scattered buildings of the city, sweating, terrified, broken.

That was the look he had on his scarred face as he ran like a scared rabbit.

Fuck me. Fuck me. Those girls were really rude! I just gotta give them time to rest until the next one.

As he ran, the boy heard a loud shriek from the distance of the burning world around him.

* SHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!*

FUCK!

The flying figure of the holy ass dragon dropped down before the boy.

Come on man, we've been doing this for months!

The ass dragon refused to speak cooperatively as it started firing magic ass attacks made of fire at the boy.

You son of a bitch! Get a life!

"You're supposed to stay in your realm!"

Oh, so thy majesty can speak?! I thought you had some convenient despair-inducing convenient 'amnesia'.

The holy dragon of the curve behind roared as his voice boomed across the city.

"Why are you still dissing me for it?!"

Because it's bullshit!

"Fuck off!"

You fuck off! Stop trying to kill me!

"I have to!"

You don't!

The holy behind domineer began shooting lapses of magical fire spells all over the street. The boy dodged handsomely and ran through the two twin buildings.

"You need to get back into the right timeline!"

I won't!

"Flugel's already removed Her seal, she's been working to kill you as well."

She helped me when you lost control over yourself last chapter. You have no friends in this fight, your gayness!

"You should be afraid. Even if it was her or the smartass that banished you here after you built that tower for him. He won't let you get away with this."

You weren't supposed to get involved.

"I got involved to keep the timeline straight. Your fight with Flugel needs to end. Now!"

So you try to kill me for months while I have Flugel and Her shadow against me?!

"You did this to yourself. The rules were cle-"

The butt dragon stopped talking as the boy dodged the magic attacks from one broken tower to another burning building.

The rules are always against me. Always burning me. Banishing me. Just to please that smug bastard that left Shaula behind.

"That's not for you to say, these rules were put to stop you from ruining things. Flugel's abandonment of her was always tough on him."

Fuck that! What about Guise? What about Illenor?! He burned this world when he gave her the Env-

"Enough! Don't make this hard. Let's end this here and now."

I won't be killed for Flugel's ignorance. You can all keep kissing his ass. I won't let you burn this world for a 'perfect' future anymore.

"Death is only the beginning for a deserter like you. It would be too easy for you."

The boy glared at the dragon with tears in his eyes.

"Remember what happened to Joseff."

I'll kill all of you. I won't let them stop watching.

"You're dead."

Like I said two months ago… Come at me bitch.

The dragon and the boy lunged at one another once again, forcing the entire platform of destroyed cars and burned parks to dissipate into thin air.

A black swirl started coming closer from a distance.

"GivehimGivehimGivehimGivehimGivehimGivehimGivehimGivehimGivehimGivehimGivehimGivehimGivehimGivehimGivehimGivehimGivehimGivehimGivehimGivehimGivehimGivehimbackbackbackbackbackbackbackbackbackbackbackbackbackbackbackbackbackbackbackbackbackback"

The boy looked behind him to find the demonic figure blasting off toward him.

She's here.

The boy prepared his legs as the half-elf shot off to kick him in the gut.

He avoided all of the black hands that she used to catch him.

He ran.

He ran.

He ran.

As the shadow of the Witch of Envy shot after him, as the Holy Dragon of the Fat Ass flew off towards them, firing at the dark cloud.

He ran.

HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Hey there.

Sorry for the delay.

Let me tell you a story.

Once you start writing a chapter of 28 thousand words. You go to make some food and the power of the computer powers down because your battery died and can't be recharged in more.

Your battery burned out… while your document file was opened.

The file got corrupted.

28. thousand. Words.

Gone.

Script.

Gone.

The computer stops working for some reason out other than the burned-out battery.

Then, your mother has this brilliant idea of going to a visit with family for new years without taking away your laptop.

The visit lasts for a week instead of a few days.

When you return, you start reworking the chapter with your broken computer. You get bored of rewriting the script of the episode because you've written it before.

You get bored with writing the reactions. You don't have good enough reactions. You don't have interesting reactions. You can't write.

You keep ignoring all the comments and messages you're getting for a quicker chapter and people checking up on you because you still think that you can speed through this chapter since you've already written it.

But you get bored.

You get bored.

People get worried but you no longer see the comments because they're forcing you to rush this.

Thank you all for your wonderful comments and for asking about my health. Some people even reported me to a sub for mental health aid.

Thank you.

I'm okay.

Wait for me… as I deliver…. Episode 12.

Finally, it's done.

Thank god it's done.

Whew.

Now, I can get some….

… sleep.

..

Where is my… pillow?