Capella? Who? The sudden shift in demeanor and name-drop launched the couple into a whirlwind of questions. They had been strolling peacefully through the city, and now Subaru turned on his heel to warn of this Capella person's appearance?

"Are you sure, Subaru?" Beatrice spoke up with widened eyes, recovering quickly before a solemn expression dawned on her face, Emilia was much the same. She furrowed her eyebrow when she heard that Capella was arriving, but that was all, no mention of how, who, or why.

"Yeah that's right, she'll be here soon, and she's bringing company."

"And you can't explain how you know this, I suppose?"

Subaru's head hung low at that. "Yeah…sorry Beako."

What? Why wouldn't he be—

"Understood...let us go, I suppose"

Eh?

The couple were baffled, they knew from the groups facial expressions alone that Capella was someone they had encountered before and potentially, was a danger given how serious the atmosphere had grown Even so, right now that not their main concern, it was that no one questioned why or how Subaru came to that revelation.

"Subaru, what are you—" Kenichi, wishing to know more, spoke but was cut short by none other than the son he was so worried about.

"Sorry dad, not now, we really need to move."

Kenichi moved to speak, stopping half-way with pursed lips. He saw how urgent and fidgety Subaru was and decided to listen to him for now. Giving Naoko a glance, she simply nodded at him, in the situation at hand it would be best to find out everything later.

He nodded at Subaru before they started towards where the rest of the camp remained. Entering the inn, they saw colleagues from yesterday and a blue-haired maid that looked exactly like Ram, though her features were softer in comparison—the hair covering her face ran parallel as well. Beside her stood a little girl with deer antlers on the top of her head. Their conversations scattered into uneasy silence as Subaru rushed in, leading the party.

Everyone present had concern etched onto their faces when they saw the state the group was in.

Ram narrowed her eyes and heaved a heavy sigh, "What trouble have you gotten us into this time, Barusu?"

"Nee-sama says that as if i am a troublemaker," He grumbled, "but we can have our silly banter later, we need to get ready, Capella's on her way."

On that name, the atmosphere grew to a crushing intensity.

"How long do we have?" the girl, presumably called Rem asked

"Not long, her timing is random, but we do have enough time to prepare"

Garfiel smashed his knuckles together, cracking them as he stepped forward first, "Aye, so what's our role, Cap'n?"

"Have to grab Anastasia-san first, kinda counting on her here."

"Anastasia-san, Natsuki-kun..what are you planning?"

"I will let you know once we find them Otto"

"Do you know where she is located at Schwartz-sama?"

"Yeah, we need to get moving now, the faster the better."

With the short questioning done, they started to follow him as Subaru led them outside, parents followed close behind, and they saw that, just like how Beatrice and Emilia did, the rest of the camps believed him outright.

Was this a common occurrence? Subaru had not shown this kind of random outburst of knowledge back in their world. Wilds thoughts ran in their mind as Otto slowed down to their pace.

"Kenichi-sama, Naoko-sama, I suppose you have not seen Natsuki-san like this before?"

Kenichi shook his head "No…this is the first time I've seen Subaru like this, does this…?"

"Happen often? Not really, but when it does, it's usually a serious situation and Natsuki-san is spot on correct with his information, as unreliable as he usually is, this is one of those times we should trust him"

So it was something that occurred randomly, and it looks like everyone was used to his…intuition.

"Otto-kun, do you know who Capella is?"

He sighed, "Did Natsuki-san not explain anything to you?"

The parents shook their heads.

Seeing their reaction, Otto nearly facepalmed. "Natsuki-san does this way too often! I wish he would explain things clearly before he starts running off to do whatever he wants!" Using this as an opportunity to complain about Subaru, Otto shook his fist in rage at Subaru from behind. "Anyway! Capella is the Archbishop of Lust, an extremely dangerous person that wreaked havoc on this city two years ago, her victims are still here, we haven't found a solution yet. She's someone you should actively avoid, and should you come across her, just run as far and fast as possible."

He spoke of her like she was a natural disaster. Was she a serial killer? A terrorist? They wanted to ask more but noticed they were very far behind. For now they swallowed the vortex of unease pulsing in their hearts. How Subaru looked at them when he said he couldn't explain since there was no time, the forlorn look on his face when he looked at Kenichi, the way he avoided the topic about his knowledge and how everyone accepted his things. They were aware they didn't know anything about Subaru in this world, but for their son to hide things from them, it felt terrible…or was it because it'd been so long that he'd rather not tell them, to avoid all the ensuing worry?

Following Subaru who ran decisively through alleyways, they reached a very expensive looking inn similar to the one that they had been staying in.

Subaru flung the door open with a loud clamor and waltzed straight to the stairs, seeing the receptionists bewilderment, he spoke. "Sorry for the racket, I need to see Anastasia-san, it's an urgent matter."

Without waiting for a reply, Subaru went up the stairs. The poor receptionist could only look around confused, not knowing what to do. Her eyes darted around to her other colleagues who looked as clueless as she was. While everyone went after Subaru, the parents spotted Otto talking to the receptionist with a defeated smile, bowing slightly to her and said receptionist waving her hand wildly at what he was doing. The couple wanted to wait for him, but noticed Otto waving at them to go ahead, they nodded and followed the rest.

Reaching the next floor, they spotted everyone huddled near a door at the end of the corridor, they walked to them and noticed Subaru impatiently banging on the door yelling "Julius! Open up! I know you guys are in there!"

The door opened and Julius was standing at the door, surprised to see Subaru and everyone else. He raised his eyebrow at Subaru and before he could open his mouth, a voice called out to him.

"Julius! Who's at the door?"

Julius looked behind him, and stepping into view was a young woman dressed in a white kimono, her long purple hair tied into a side tail. Emilia, seeing said person, quickly closed the gap between the two, sauntering between Julius and the wedge of the door. The woman widened her eyes and before she could say anything. Emilia gave her a huge hug and cheerfully called out. "It's good to see you again Anastasia!"

Almost as quickly, she separated from Anastasia and held her shoulders, looking at her seriously. "We need your help Anastasia, Capella is coming"

Anastasia could only open and close her mouth, flabbergasted and then shook her head. "Emilia, it's good to see ya too, but how are ya so sure?"

"Because Subaru told us!"

Hearing that, Anastasia turned her head to Subaru who nodded solemnly, she put a hand on her forehead and began to rub at her temples, mumbling, "Of course he did"

Letting out a small cough, she continued,"Ahem! Well, Natsuki-kun, I suppose time is limited given how stressed ya look?"

Subaru answered with a defeated smile and Anastasia sighed. "Come on, hit us with what ya got."

As Subaru was explaining the situation, Anastasia and Otto would occasionally interject on the matter, especially Anastasia, suggesting multiple methods to handle Capella and ensure her death with as few civilian casualties as possible.

"But if Capella makes her way to the shelters then…"

"It would be hard to trap her there, especially since she won't be alone. The Iron Fang would not be able to stop her either, it'd be a massacre."

"What about—"

"Julius alone can't hack it either." Subaru leaned to look at the knight, giving an apologetic nod, "She has her minions and demi-beast roaming around and the town hall needs protection."

Hearing that, Anatasia narrowed her eyes and sighed "Natsuki-kun, it's been awhile since i saw this side of ya, what do ya suggest then?"

"Right, I was about to get to that..."

Allocating the role of nurse-caller to Anastasia, who would use the townspeaker to efficiently usher residents towards evacuation shelters splitting her Iron Fang members to protect the shelters. Once the citizens were in the shelter, they could vouch for anyone late to the shelter, so if there are any suspicious people, the Iron-fang can handle them. Capella shouldn't be going to the shelter, knowing her and their previous experience, they would expect Capella to go to the town hall instead.

Julius would be guarding Anastasia and the town hall inhabitants, especially since Capella or her underlings might have intentions of going there to use the speakers. If Capella did show her facet here, Julius was to send out a signal flare with his magic to inform everyone outside who would be fighting.

Tanza would be helping Anastasia with anything she needed, alongside evacuating the citizens.

Anatasia folded her arms and closed her eyes, tapping her arm with her index finger for a while, then she reopened her eyes and smiled slightly. "I understand your plan Natsuki-kun, that's a pretty decent idea ya got there"

"Natsuki-san, regarding the civilians, I understand that we need to protect them, but what about the demi-beast that would be roaming around?"

"Right, that belongs to you and Garf"

Garfiel's role was to stand guard near the city borders, patrolling it to clear any demi-beast that would appear and prevent as many as possible from entering the city, Otto would be supporting him with his divine protection alerting Garfiel ahead of time.

Otto furrowed his eyebrow.

"..the outer layers of the city are huge, there would be alot of them entering the city"

"An empty city with no people"

Otto folded his arms. "If that's the case, the-"

Subaru wagged his finger "that's why only you guys would be outside making the most noises, so they will go to you guys and you will take care of most of them, with Garf around, you should be fine"

"Wha ab-"

"If Capella does go to your area, send some bugs to inform those in the town hall and then Anastasia-san will carry the message onward, not including the Iron-fang. Make as much noise as possible once you hear Anastasia-san's notice, all of them will collate to your location"

Otto kept silent and continued to think before Garfiel slapped his shoulder and grinned, showing his sharp teeth. "Otto-nii, don't overthink too hard, my amazin' self will protect ya, Otto-bro, we'll be fine s'long as your heart doesn't give out."

Otto smiled bitterly "i know you will Garfiel, its just-" he stopped after locking eyes with Subaru, Otto sighed again and continued. "nevermind, let's continue"

In the midst of Subaru giving out his strangely airtight concise orders, the parents kept silent. They had no intention of interrupting him as it was obvious that everyone was taking his instructions seriously, but they had a gnawing feeling in the back of their minds. This was too much information, he knew about these 'demi-beasts' appearing from outside the city, he knew of Capella appearing with her underlings. They were desperately waiting for someone to ask him where the information was coming from, yet no one did. All of them believed him wholeheartedly.

"What of Crusch-sama camp? Are you not going to enlist their help? Ferris would be useful to have around." Raising his hand, Julius asked.

"There isn't any time to get to their camp, their inn is way too far and Ferris would not separate from Crusch-san, especially if Capella is in the picture"

"I see, so we are unable to count on their help, how unfortunate, however, your plans always work out for us in the end, so I have no fear."

"Stop teasing me Julius, and no, they will come, once they hear the announcement anyways. Crusch-san isn't one to sit still when there's conflict at hand. Ferris will be with her."

Clasping his hands together, Suabru's grin turned into a large confident smile. "Two years ago, we didn't manage to kill Capella, and left in her wake, there had been almost too many victims to count, too many people left alone and afraid." Clenching his fist "This is our chance to turn it around and reclaim what was lost and stop that crazy bishop from doing any more harm."

With that uplifting statement, Julius went up and put a hand on Subaru's shoulder, reassurance and a promise were spoken to life in the quiet and Julius nodded, retreating to the entrance as Subaru lightly tapped his arm. With that done, the Anastasia camp left with Tanza who wished Subaru the best of luck in his battles.

Otto grimaced at the exchange, moving forward to talk next, prompting Subaru to slap his back, laughing lightly as Otto told him off with annoyance. Garfiel joined soon after with a grin and slapped Otto back as well, causing Otto to turn his annoyance to Garfiel, who simply shrugged it off. The parents who were curious about the talk, moved closer to listen in.

Subaru's facial expression turned serious and then told the both of them "Otto, Garf, I told Julius the same thing, but if you feel you need to abandon your spot for a situation that requires your attention, please do so."

"Was there any reason you couldn't have said that during the meeting, Natsuki-san?"

"Bringing that up will just make Anastasia-san worry, no point in unsettling her right before the speech.

"Even thinking that far huh, Natsuki-san."

"Cap'n? If that guy goes, wouldn't Anastasia-sama be alone?"

"Oooh! Garf, I am proud of you, thinking more like this" Subaru smiled happily at Garf, who scratched his head, slightly embarrassed and happy about the praise. "Julius won't leave Anastasia alone, if he does, it will be because Wilhelm-san is there to protect everyone else"

"And what would you be doing Natsuki-san?"

"My role is to win the battle, once and for all."

Before leaving, Subaru fistbumped with Otto and Garf. Then they leave, leaving just the couple, the twin maids, Subaru Emilia and Beatrice.

A moment of silence engulfed the room before Rem spoke up "Subaru, leaving just us here, is there something more important than dealing with the archbishop?"

"Yeah, it's leaving the protection of my parents to the two of you."

The parents twitch upon hearing that the maid's task is protection, while they were grateful for the suggestion, if the entire city were to go on lockdown like what Subaru had suggested, wouldn't that mean that the threat was much larger than they were? They could huddle up with the rest and hide till the threat was over.

"Subaru, we can just hide with everyone, it would be fine."

Subaru's face twisted as if he was wounded, "...That would be ideal but," with slightly wavering eyes he murmured,"Capella is too unpredictable, I don't…. I don't want to risk anything."

"I understand, me and Nee-sama will protect them and the rest in the shelter."

Subaru smiled slightly, "Thank you, Rem."

He turned to face Ram, whose eyes met his. "What is it Barusu."

Under his breath, Subaru muttered, "Cor Leonis."

—The moment that latin word was completed, Subaru hunch over slightly, he shuddered and beads of sweat formed quickly. On the other hand, Ram raised an eyebrow and she clenched and opened her fist a few times, as if experiencing something new.

"Barusu, wha-"

"Call it Insurance Ram, I have no idea what will happen so..." replying back with a slightly weakened voice, he gave a grin to Ram who only narrowed her eyes in return.

Rushing up to him, Emilia grabbed his arm in worry, "Subaru, is this really needed?"

"Yeah, it's not that I doubt Rem, bu-"

"Subaru what is going on?!" Cutting Subaru half way, both parents, after their initial surprise, rushed over in worry, when he was running to this inn, he hadn't been sweating even a bit, and yet after muttering that word, he seemed so terribly exhausted. Naoko snatchedhis freearm and felt the sweat that had crept down to his wrist. "What happened to you?"

Subaru shook his head and gave a smile of reassurance, it would have worked, if not for the pained look on his face. "Don't give me that, Natsuki Subaru. Explain. Now." with slight tightening on his arm, Subaru bit the inside of his cheek and caved in.

"I am taking Ram's pain, so she can fight."

"Ram-chan's pain? What..?"

"Ra-"

"Dont say more Barusu, Ram will explain it herself." Raising her hand, she stopped Subaru from talking, "Barusu is, without permission, taking all of Ram's burden, the burden of being a hornless oni."

The burden of a hornless oni, disregarding the news that Ram was not human, which meant Rem wasn't either, Subaru said pain. The burden of a hornless oni is pain.

"..I have a lot of questions," Kenichi spoke, "what is this 'power' of yours? How can you just tak—"

"Dad, not now, I need to go."

"Go? Where do you plan to go in your condition?"

"There's a dangerous person—not Capella nor her children—on the loose. Me, Emilia and Beatrice need to stop her from causing damage."

"What? Then why didn't you tell the rest?"

"Distractions, the three of us are more than enough." Straightening his body and giving it a stretch, he slowly removed Emilia's hand and Naoko's hand on him and he looked at the twin maids. "Please protect them"

"Subaru! We have not finished talking yet!" Kenichi raised his voice, within it, a tangible anger that Subaru was hiding information from those he'd called his dangerous on the loose and he planned to settle it just with Beatrice and Emilia? In his current condition as well.

"There isn't much to say…We don't have the time, Dad." Not even flinching at the raised voice, Subaru turned to Kenichi and gave a saddened smile to his father's confusion. "Rem, Ram. Please." Turning to twins, he motioned at them as both narrowed their eyes in response.

"Subaru…"

"Kenichi-sama, no matter how many times you question him, Subaru will not budge." Seemingly resigning herself to this outcome, Rem sighed and caressed her temples. "Subaru, is this truly the best way to go about things?"

Subaru nodded, earning an exhausted sigh from Rem. She smiled bitterly as she did. "If that is the case, me and nee-sama will protect your parents with everything we have, just make sure to do what you have to do…as safely as you can."

"Rem is too nice to Barusu as usual. Barusu, don't keep us waiting for long, otherwise," her eyes wander to the parents for a moment before continuing her next words "Emilia-sama will have to carry you all the way back."

Grumbling, Subaru flinched slightly; and with a defeated tone supplied "Nee-sama, please don't get too crazy."

"That depends on you, Barusu."

With the two having come to an understanding, both parents could only feel bitter that this was happening. None of his allies had any intention of stopping him and from their initial conversation, this was not the first time Subaru took Ram's burden with his unexplained powers. More unsavory, they were expecting him to do well in his current state. If not for the fact that all of them had a look of worry on their faces, Naoko and Kenichi would have thought it intentionally cruel.

Subaru turned around with every intention to leave—almost hobbling as he did—but Naoko grabbed his arm, forcing him to look into her eyes. "M-mom?"

"Promise us you will come back safe."

Subaru's eyes widened,the edges of his mouth tugging slightly "I—"
"Promise."

"I will."

Satisfied with that, Naoko loosened her grip, fingers softly gliding down to his hand as she squeezed. Behind her, Kenichi crossed his arms together. Naoko made her decision, he would respect it— with his own condition as well "You are Emilia-chan's knight aren't you? Protect her and Beatrice-chan, best as you can."

"Yeah! Of course."

"Don't worry Father, Subaru always does his best to protect me, and I will do my best to protect him!" Emilia cut in, puffing her chest out with a serious look on her face.

Emilia's attempt at reassurance was met with a slight giggle from Kenichi and Naoko and a groaning Subaru, she tilted her head in confusion but Kenichi raised his hand, "Sorry Emilia-chan, its nothing, but please,do take good care of my son." In response to Kenichi's plea, Emilia smiled confidently, comforting him slightly.

"Beatrice-chan, please take care of yourself too."

"That is to be expected, do not worry, I suppose. Betty will protect Subaru per usual."

Despite knowing nothing of what Beatrice could do, and how childlike she was, those words filled with absolute confidence gave Naoko relief.

Subaru turned to both Emilia and Beatrice. "Let's go, we need to hurry."

"Do we have much time left Subaru?"

"Not much, Beako, we-"

"Uhm, if we don't have much time, please bear with me Subaru." With a growing red blush, Emilia went up to Subaru, the confused look on his face only lasting as long as it took her to scoop both him and Beatrice into a double princess carry.

"Em-Emilia-tan wha-a-a-?!"

"Sorry Subaru, but this is the fastest way! Especially since you are using Cor Leonis!"

"How troublesome, in fact.."

Their voices quickly disappeared as Emilia rushed out of the door with inhuman speed, they could hear a distant "Sorry! Excuse me!" and the inn's main door swinging open and closed.

In the midst of their son's exit, the parents could feel a sense of levity, seeing the interaction of a knight being carried by the person they were serving was…it was a very Subaru thing to have happen. He had changed, but he was still the boy they knew, atleast.

"Hmhe" A small uncontrollable chuckle left the mouth of the Natsuki couple as they were thinking about what they saw. "Does that happen often, Ram-chan, Rem-chan?"

Facing Naoko, Rem smiled slightly "no that often, Naoko-sama, usually Subaru would be the one to lead her, it is rare for Emilia-sama to be the one to take action"

"I see, -so"

"Ahem."

Similar to the first day that they arrived here, the speakers outside blared with life. The voice this time however, was quite familiar to them.

"All folks in Priestella, please listen up. A mandatory evacuation order has now been put in place. I need y'all to stay calm, and evacuate towards yer nearest shelter for the foreseeable future. I repeat: make yer way down to the closest shelter immediately. If ya cannot do so on yer own, guards are stationed around ta' help the evacuation effort. Strayin' from yer shelter is strictly prohibited til we can give ya the all clear to return home."

The speaker went silent, Naoko and Kenichi could hear the inn's workers grow restless in the minutes that followed. The world itself had gone deathly silent, sparking only with whispers.

"What's going on?"

"Calm down, Anastasia-san sai-"

"The guests! We need to-"

"Please follow us!"

Confusion, stress, urgency and various tones of voice were heard; the shuffling of footsteps mixed with heavy stomping on the wooden floor.. Their door was flung and they saw the receptionist at the counter. Despite her fidgeting, she kept calm and collected.

"Dear guests, please follow us to the shelter." The urgency of her voice conveyed how bad it was and the twin onis gestured for the parents to leave first.

Exiting the room, they came to realize that there were not many guests aside from them in the luxury inn,and it looked like the majority of the people leaving were staff. The staff moved orderly and calmly, like they had done before, they moved quickly as one group and soon found themselves lining the streets. Beyond the crowd they could see other lines of people moving with the same purpose and acting the same as the staff, moving like one. It was surreal looking at a crowd of people who were not pushing each other around and were even helping each other to move. –-the only exception being people donning white cloaks resembling that of scales. They were shouting out orders, directing the civilians' urgency towards the bunkers Anastasia had mentioned.

They joined in the crowd,moving at a decent pace between children clinging to their mothers and rowdier groups—some teenagers, probably, were snickering together., The maids were huddled close to them,paying extreme care to the distance they maintained with and making sure they had enough space to walk.

Things were going smoothly until Rem halted, her body tensed. Ram immediately responded, eyes darting to the alleys closing in around them before she mumbled, "Is there something wrong, Rem?"

"Nee-sama…the smell of the witch's scent, it suddenly appeared."

"Suddenly?"

"Yes, it's ge—Nee-sama, protect them!" Requesting that of her sister, Rem sprinted away from the crowd, ignoring the distant shouts telling her to wait—undoubtedly from Ram and Subaru's parents—but there wasn't time to explain, the smell grew stronger far too quickly to be ignored.. In the depths of the building's twisting alleys, were a dozen fleshy monstrosities.

Her mind wandered back to the meeting at the inn where Subaru informed Garfiel and Otto that the demi-beast created by Capella would be invading from the outside. Because the city was so huge, they would be swarming in from different points of entry, entry had been inevitable of course, but this was way too quick, and it wasn't like the smell had slowly gotten stronger. It felt sudden, an instantaneous appearance.

Subaru had once described the horrific sight of the demi-beasts' appearances, the image in Rem's mind did not do the beast justice. The grotesque sight of its flesh mixed with metal was haunting a four legged, twisted body that had metal spikes jarring out of it.

The beast had no feet, but pointed jagged bones that it walked on. Its head was an imperfect blend between rabbit ears, a dog's face and a human's jaw. It wasn't supposed to be anatomically possible, yet said creature was alive, and now was growling at Rem.

Taking out her morning star, the familiar weight of her beloved weapon was comforting to her. She swung it hard at the beast, slamming it against the wall. The chain whipped back and it felt like she was hitting someone with a broken armor.

A vicious growl bubbling from the creature's maw informed her that she didn't kill it, she applied enough force to kill a typical wolgarm, yet this one was still alive and full of life apparently. It stood up without any recognition of its wounds, foam from its mouth spilling outre as it rushed towards Rem with speed she didn't think was possible using its spiky limbs. Sidestepping to the left, her knee dented the monsters skull, finishing it off with the bulk of her morningstar crashing down upon its stunned body.

"Phew…" breathing a sigh of relief, Rem would've been glad if that was the end of it, however, she smelled multiple beasts from the same area. She sniffed, the scents were coalescing upon her location. She smiled slightly. At least this meant the other citizens would be safe along with Subaru's parents, though she knew even if they did meet one, Ram would take care of it in an instant.

More snarls and the sharp scraping of metal on the ground, screeching from everywhere around her. Deformed shadows, different from the ones she just killed, loomed over her. She looked up and saw different kinds of demi-beasts, some with tails, stretched limbs, the claws and fangs of wild animals. She glanced around—on the rooftop above her, some from further in the alley corner. Rem had no doubt that Garfiel was doing his job, but if this many were coming into the middle of the city, she'd certainly hear fighting or screaming from citizens. it was too quiet, for the quantity they were dealing with.

She shook her head, overthinking wouldn't help her. Kill the monsters first, then catch back up with her sister and Subaru's parents. A beast dropped, she rammedits head into the wall, killing it almost instantly. Another jumped, and in response she kicked it into a beast behind it;, hearing a growl behind her, Rem spun and threw her morning star at it, blowing its head to bits. A shadow cast above her and she redirected her focus in kind, a huge one. Despite that, she did not back off, channeling magic from her hand.

"Ul Huma." Muttering that spell, ice swiftly bloomed through the air, piercing its head and sending it rocketing down with a thud.

Three down, who knew how many to go. More of them were popping up and the ones she kicked were up, ready to pounce on her. She raised her morning star, fully intending on wiping every single one of them—When she heard the rustling of the air, followed by a wind blade rushing by her, instantly decapitating the two beasts she kicked.

That precise usage of wind magic could only mean one person, Ram, her lovely sister, but she didn't have a chance to turn around as the other demi-beast in the area caught sight of her, dashing forward. However, she didn't need to do anything, more blades of wind shot past her, targeting the necks of the monsters and swiftly killing them..

"Rem" a familiar voice called out to her. She replied back without looking back "Nee-sama."

"Rem, you shouldn't have run off by yourself."

A single Fula decapitated a few beast.

"My apologies nee-sama, this was too strange, the smell showed up almost instantly."

The morning star cracked the skull of two demi-beasts..

"Instant…?"

Another Fula.

"Yes nee-sama."

A Huma pierced the body and killed the beast.

A casual conversation held as if they were not strewn with the blood of countless monsters. Soon the coast was clear, as Rem could no longer smell anything in the vicinity. here were hints of smell far out and she assumed it to be outside the gate, which meant Garfied and Otto will be working their hardest. Her grip on the morning star relaxed as she turned to Ram.

"Nee-sama, where are Kenichi-sama and Naoko-sama?"

Ram turned her head to the entrance of the alley-way "Both of them are waiting outside, they didn't want to go to the shelter without you. In fact, they were the ones to rush after you first."

"...that way of action first."

"Yes, much like Barusu, although unlike Barusu, it doesn't feel unpleasant."

Rem smiled slightly upon hearing that, they both hastily made their way out of the alleyway and spotted Kenichi and Naoko anxiously scanning the city. After seeing the look of reassurance within the maid's eyes, with the maids, the parents smiled.

They went up to the twins, eyes wandering the bloodied morning star Rem held in her hand, Kenichi had a bewildered look on his face as he asked "Rem-chan?"

"Yes, Kenichi-sama?"

"That mace..?"

"Morningstar, Kenichi-sama."

"Morningstar…why do you have that Rem-chan?"

"It's for protection."

"Protection?"

"It's for protection."

"I..i see…"

"Nevermind the weapon, are you two alright?" Naoko put a hand on Rem and Ram's shoulder, checking for any wounds on their body, almost motherly so. "We are fine Naoko-sama." Rem spoke, then thought better of herself, "thank you for your concern."

Naoko stood, dusting her hands off before she exhaled, "Rem-chan, why did you run off like that?"

"My apologies, Naoko-sama, if I allowed the demi-beast to form freely, they would've created trouble for everyone I'm afraid."

"Mmm…. I see...but please don't run off like that, what if you're not able to handle it yourself and no-one knows where you are?"

"Please do not worry, I can handle myself quite well."

Naoko held onto Rem's hand with the stern expression she assaulted Subaru with.

"Even with that, there are things that cannot be avoided, what happens if something catches you by surprise?"

"I-"

"Also, what would Subaru say if something happened to you? What would he do?"

"Geh…" Was all the sound Rem could muster when Naoko brought up Subaru's name, and it was true too. Subaru would be worried sick knowing she went off on her own, in spite of her goal to protect his parents.

"I-I understand, I won't go off on my own again."

With that said, Naoko smiled and nodded. Paying attention to Naoko's facial features. Rem noticed her eyes and Subaru's are pretty much the same, even with how their eyes soften whenever they smile, it was quite unfair.

Kenichi pat Rem's shoulder "My wife sure is powerful right? Not even a demon can go against her when she's going full Mother mode."

"I-I can see that Kenichi-sama..." Rem meekly replied back, causing Kenichi to smile.

After a moment, he whistled "Now then, we need to go back, do you guys know the way? This city feels like a maze." Ram walked up in front of them and spoke "Ram know the way, kindly follow me" With Ram's guidance they breezed through the now empty track towards the shelters they'd split from, only to see that it was completely empty. The nervous crowd migrating for shelter was nowhere to be found. An empty street in a lifeless city.

"...Has it been that long since we broke from everyone else?"

"Not at all, Kenichi-sama, it has been less than 30 minutes, that is just how efficient the evacuation process has been." Rem was impressed, there was no signs of anything dropped or any pedestrian rushing. How cooperative the citizens were.

"Ram knows the shelter location" gesturing to the couple to follow her once again, they continued down sets of intersecting walkways. When they first arrived, Rem had been in awe of how amazing the city looked, with its inhabitants going about their lives. Priestella felt warm and welcoming, but after the evacuation—those very same high stone walls that foretold its majesty from the outside, reached endlessly into the sky without disturbance. It felt like a prison, trapping them in a ghost town.

Rem shook her head, that negativity had no right to cross her mind right now, her focus should've been protecting Subaru's parents.

After walking for a bit, they soon entered a huge open area that looked like a square. The plaza. Ram walked towards the upper left of the district when they heard clapping from above them— behind them.

Turning to look at the source of the applause, they spotted a…petite woman in a skimpy outfit sitting down on the roof, happily nodding along with the rhythm of her hands. When the group locked eyes with her, she spoke in a high pitched voice.

"Hey, hey, I was wondering where everyone was! Wrapping up the party withou~t this lovely lady is pretty cruel don't you think? Kyahahahaha!" The woman cackled and leaned over the edge, as if spotting something rare in the wild when she leered at the group.

Rem could feel through Ram's synthesia, the unstoppable wracking of her nerves in the presence of this entity.

For Ram to feel like this, something must be wrong. She studied the girl on the roof, short rowdy blonde hair, an outfit that consisted of a bikini top and hot pants, red eyes, a wicked smile and a grating voice. Rem remembered Subaru telling her how even though Capella can change her appearance to anything she desires, she has an appearance that she usually dons and that look was…

"That is right Rem, that is Capella, the Sin Archbishop of Lust."

Hearing that, Rem shifted into high gear.