-Roswaal's Mansion-
"We're here. Thanks Patrasche." Subaru reaches down and affectionately pats the ground dragon's head for a job well done. She closes her eyes and nuzzles her head against his chest in response.
"Barusu, I've been wondering something." Ram says as she exits the carriage. "Why is a fierce ground dragon like Patrasche-san so attached to you? Not only are ground dragons in general typically unaffectionate like that, but you display no strong traits that ground dragons typically look for in an owner."
"I've wondered that myself. But truthfully, the moment I laid my eyes on her I knew she was the steed for me. I suppose she thought the same way! Think of it as an undeniable fate between master and steed!"
Patrasche snorts in seeming approval.
"Alright Patrasche, you can go rest over there for a bit while we check on the maids and Beako. We'll be back shortly." He points a small grassy area off to the side of the main road to the front doors of the mansion. She does as she's told. Once arriving at her destination, she settles down and closes her eyes.
"Heh, always looking to rest her eyes when she gets the chance." Subaru teases. "Well, she worked hard, so she deserves it."
"Let's hurry Barusu." Ram says as she walks up the steps to the front door, a sense of impatience clearly emanating from her.
"Yes, coming, coming." Subaru huffs as he chases after her and walks past her. Reaching the door knocker, he lifts and brings it down three times in quick succession.
"Huh, you have the basic courtesy to knock before entering someone's home." Ram says.
"Don't sound so surprised! Who do you take me as? A stalker?" He replies, feeling a little irritated.
She doesn't attempt to clarify her thoughts on the matter. Rather, she and Subaru silently await for anyone to answer the door. After about half a minute:
"Let's go in, they're likely asleep by this point. We'll just do a quick run through and confirm everyone's status." Ram suggests.
Subaru nods in agreement and opens the door. The inside of the mansion is rather dark and is eerily silent. He unconsciously gulps as he darts his eyes back and forth, attempting to find any source of light. Then to his left a soft warm glow registers within his pupils.
He sees that the light belongs in a small lantern that is being held by Ram.
"I didn't expect all the lights to be off." Subaru says. "Should we turn them on?"
"Don't." She replies instantly. "Too much of a hassle, and it may wake them up. This lantern will suffice. Here, I went through the effort to get you one too. Thank me later." She tosses a lantern over to Subaru.
Due to putting in quite a bit of force into that throw, the lantern flies over Subaru's figure. He is forced to sprint backwards in an attempt to catch it. Initially catching it in his right hand before fumbling it into his left, he continues to fumble it a few more times before successfully clutching it to his chest.
Holding it out in front of him, it's only then he realizes that there is no light being emitted from within the lantern.
"I appreciate the effort you went through to grab it for me and all but…I can't really use it if there's no light coming from it. How do I turn it on?"
"Haaah. As expected of the incompetent Barusu." Ram sighs as she puts her free left hand to her forehead. "To not know how to operate even a simple lantern such as this. How have you survived all this time?"
"Hey! I know I'm clumsy, an idiot, and unreliable at times, but aren't you going a little too far?!"
"Shut it. Here, let me show you." Holding her active lantern next to the inactive one, Ram proceeds to show Subaru how to operate it.
"See this hole?" She points to a small semi-circle hole engraved into the bottom of the glass separating the inner part of the lantern from the outer part. "Pour a tiny amount of your mana in here. That mana will activate a small fire magic crystal inside that will allow the lantern to operate for a period of time."
"My gate is pretty defective and I've been told to not use it for the next few months. Wouldn't it be a bad idea for me to start it up? Can't you do it?"
"Even with your gate as broken as it is, this lantern requires so little mana that it practically makes no difference. It's like you never even released any mana in the first place. Now hurry up, we don't have time for useless idle chat like this."
Following the advice Emilia and Puck have said to him in the past in regards to releasing mana, the lantern slowly lights up and illuminates his surroundings. He smiles with pride at this accomplishment.
-Hallway-
The two quietly travel throughout the mansion, their destination being Frederica's bedroom.
"Oh yeah, I should mention since this happened while you were gone, but Petra-chan is now working here as a maid." Subaru says, suddenly remembering that Ram doesn't know about Petra's new job.
"Huh? That village girl? Why?"
"She's been really wanting to work here for a while. Though even if you ask me I don't fully know why she wants to. It's really hard work after all. Beyond that, I would've felt awful for Frederica-san to have to tend to the entire mansion by herself. Roschi really should've hired more maids to ease the workload of the existing ones." He lightly complains.
"I think the amount of maids and butlers we have at the moment is quite enough. We don't need any more incompetent workers to arrive." Ram gives a bit of a stink eye to him.
"Come on! I'm not as bad as I once-"
"Barusu! Look out!" Sensing a sort of dark impending presence not far behind them, Ram quickly launches herself towards Subaru and they both fall to the floor. A blade flies through the air where Ram was just a moment before. Like a boomerang, it eventually flies back in the direction it came from.
Activating her wind magic, Ram fires a wind blade into the dark hallway they just passed through.
"Huh-wah?!" Subaru exclaims, confused as to what's going on.
"Oh my, I didn't expect you to dodge that. You've got good reflexes, I'm impressed." A female voice says from within the dark hallway. Her voice could be described as like a sweet poison of sorts.
Subaru shivers upon hearing her voice, finding it familiar for some reason.
"Who are you? Reveal your face!" Ram stands up and gets into a battle position while holding her lantern as far in front of her as possible.
"How lovely! Already filled with such hatred, I really look forward to seeing what sort of bowels you have!" The voice responds with glee. "Alright, for exciting me to this degree already, I'll listen to your request."
Stepping forward calmly, the woman eventually comes close enough to Ram's lantern that both her and Subaru are able to see her face clearly.
"Y…You're…!" Subaru points his index finger at her face in horror.
"Oh? We meet again, little boy!" Holding two purple and black blades within her hands, the woman cruelly smiles. "You're quite the lucky one, not many get to see my beautiful face twice in their lifetime. Well, unlike last time, I'll make sure to carve that knowledge straight into your bowels!"
Ram fires another wind blade at the woman holding the blades at a dangerously close range to them. She almost completely evades, but a tiny cut on her left cheek draws blood. After a moment, the wound closes up.
Her smile grows even wider than before, "You're a feisty one. How wonderful! This is going to be so much fun."
"Wait a minute." Ram says as she brings out her wand from one of the pockets in her maid outfit. "You're the infamous Bowel Hunter, aren't you?"
"So you have heard of me!" Elsa licks her lips.
"Why…" Subaru, trembling on the ground, mumbles softly. Lifting his head, he shouts, "Why are you here Elsa?!"
"Why you ask?" She gives a single chuckle as she prepares her blades. "I could say I want to see and taste your delicious bowels."
Both Subaru and Ram grimace at how disgusting that sounds.
"Which is quite true. However, the initial reason I came here is because I'm on a mission."
"El Fura!" Ram shouts as she shoots another wind blade at Elsa. Unlike her previous wind blades, this one cannot be deflected with a physical attack. Unfortunately, in exchange for it being more powerful, more mana must be consumed to cast it.
Elsa, successfully predicting the trajectory of the new wind blade, jumps up high into the sky and dodges it. With a single frontflip, she gracefully lands back on the ground.
"Tch. As expected of an assassin feared throughout the world." Ram bites her lower lip ever so slightly in irritation. "Barusu, get Beatrice-sama."
"But what about you?!" Subaru counters as he's quite worried about her. He's seen how she's fought in the past and she doesn't have that great of a track record of keeping up in a fight. Unlike Rem, Reinhard, or even Julius.
"I'll be fine. The quicker you go, the better."
"But you won't last long in a fight!" He shouts.
Ram, now irritated with him, shouts back, "I'm well aware of my limits Barusu! Now GO!"
Subaru leaps up with his lantern and runs down the hallway.
"Hm, how noble of you little girl." Elsa says upon observing their interaction. "Allowing him to run away while you stay back and fight, you must really like that guy."
"Hmph. I think you're misunderstanding something Bowel Hunter. I could care less about that lazy, helpless boy." Ram jumps back to gain a bit of distance. Raising her wand, she continues, "I needed him to get out of the way so as to not interfere. Besides, if he dies, then Rem will cry. I cannot let that happen under any circumstances."
"Oooh! I see. Well, my apologies for misunderstanding the situation." With that, Elsa advances at a rapid pace in an attempt to slice Ram with her extremely sharp blades.
"Fura!" Ram shouts as a wind blade comes out and forces Elsa to turn to the left and slice at it, successfully dispelling it.
That split second delay from Elsa is all that Ram needs to jump to her right. "Also, I don't appreciate you calling me a little girl. I'm a proper adult."
Ram evades Elsa's oncoming attacks and continues to fire more wind blades periodically.
"Ah, playing with you is so much fun. So many barely put up any resistance that it's no fun to carve out their bowels. You though, you're putting up quite the fight!" Elsa again licks her lips in excitement, finally having found a worthy opponent to fight. "Sorry, but I must wrap it up now."
Moving at nearly supersonic speeds, Elsa approaches Ram once more.
"Ul Fura!" With Ram's strength beginning to run quite low, she activates one of her stronger wind spells in hopes that it'll be enough to defeat her. A barrage of wind blades surround her body like a shield. If anyone were to try to enter, they'd get their entire body lacerated with little hope of survival.
And that's exactly what Elsa does. She enters Ram's wind barrier before exiting just a few milliseconds later. But a few milliseconds is all it takes to severely wound Elsa's body with hundreds of cuts all across her body.
"What a fool. You foolishly entered my barrier of wind blades. Nobody enters this space and comes out alive. You're finished, Bowel Hunter." Ram mocks Elsa.
"Oh? Are you quite sure about that little maid?" Elsa cruelly smiles as the numerous deep and shallow cuts on her body all close up at once.
"Gah!" Blood suddenly pours out of Ram's mouth as she makes a disgruntled cry of pain. Feeling an intense amount of pain from her bowel area, she looks down.
Blood begins to leak from the gigantic cut made right below her stomach. She can only stare wide-eyed at what is occurring. A moment later, the cut opens up completely and both a huge amount of blood as well as her intestines spill onto the floor.
"H-How…" Ram gasps, short of breath and not really having any energy to scream despite being in excruciating pain.
Knowing she's only seconds away from death, Elsa smiles wickedly. "It's quite simple. While you had your oh so prideful barrier up, I went in and sliced you up like so." She makes a horizontal gesture with her blade, mirroring how she actually cut Ram.
With a single tear flowing down her right eye, Ram whispers haggardly, "Rem…"
Elsa kneels down before Ram's intestines, which are out in the open freely able to be seen.
"What wonderful bowels you have." She happily licks her lips. "Very pink, just like your hair. Thank you for showing me these terrific bowels of yours. I'll remember them forever."
Ram wants to curse her, but her body is now lacking a sufficient amount of blood. Her intact internal organs are unable to get the oxygen they need to continue functioning due to the blood carrying said oxygen not reaching their destinations anymore. She dies a few seconds later from blood loss.
-Another Hallway-
Meanwhile, Subaru runs down and turns at a corner in the hallway to run down another one. With the entire mansion dark and only having his lantern to rely on for light, it's hard to see very far ahead.
"Aha!" He shouts as he finds a door directly to his right.
-Forbidden Library-
Throwing the door open, he comes across the Forbidden Library. For as many doors as there are in the mansion that could potentially lead to the Forbidden Library, Subaru seems to have some strange ability to get the right door on the first try every time.
"Ack!" Beatrice, currently sitting atop a small stool, nearly tumbles over backwards onto the floor in response to Subaru's sudden entrance. "What's wrong with you, I suppose?!"
"Beako! Sorry, but I really need your-" His mouth stops moving as a sharp sound permeates throughout the library.
"Um, why did you stop, I wonder?" Beatrice's expression is a mixture of annoyance and concern.
A few silent moments pass before Subaru begins to scream. A giant cut appears on his stomach and blood drips from it at an increasingly accelerated pace.
"Ah…aaahh!" Beatrice likewise freaks out and frantically looks everywhere for the attacker. Upon finding no one, she gets up and rushes to him.
"Don't die! Don't die, in fact! I won't let you die here!" Nearly placing her hand on his stomach, she begins to heal him as fast as she can.
A sigh can be heard right behind Subaru. "How annoying. Still, to see her care so much about you, it warms my heart a tiny bit."
Pulling back her right hand, Elsa thrusts her blade into his back. With how she positioned her blade, it strikes right through his heart. The thrust happens so quickly that Subaru has no time to react.
-Trial Ruins-
"Ack!" Subaru, upon awakening in the trial ruins, clutches his chest where he was pierced through. Pulling up his tracksuit, he sees that there is no such wound there. It looks good as new.
I…I died again. It happened in the blink of an eye so I barely registered it but…
He remembers getting stabbed in the heart by Elsa as Beatrice was trying to heal the stomach wound he received just seconds earlier. There was hardly any pain when she pierced his heart due to dying immediately after it happened.
Beatrice looked so distraught. I don't think I've ever seen her like that before. I'm so sorry you had to see such a sight. But…she really does have a soft core underneath that indifferent face.
"And Elsa…"
Why in the world was she there? Was she back for some sort of revenge since she couldn't kill Subaru the first time?
No, she said she was on a mission. But who sent her, and why? I didn't see Frederica-san or Petra-chan. Were they hiding somewhere? Or were they already…
He gulps. Beako was there safe and sound. Maybe they were hiding with her in the Forbidden Library. Surely she wouldn't abandon them.
Regardless of whether they were able to successfully hide away or not, knowing that Elsa will show up to the mansion puts their safety at an extremely high risk. He has seen how good of a fighter she is. Emilia and Rom struggled immensely against her when they were decent fighters in their own right. As for Felt, she seems to have honed in on her ability to escape from situations in which she needs to fight rather than face them head on. If it hadn't been for Reinhard saving them, they all would've died.
He thinks about asking for Reinhard's help once more, but quickly realizes he both doesn't know where he is at the moment and even if he did know, he's likely way too busy with tending to Felt. Seeing how the two interacted with each other at the Royal Selection, Reinhard must have a lot to put up with. Subaru can't help but feel a little sorry for him. But then again, he did bring it upon himself to raise Felt into a proper lady fit to compete for the throne when she clearly doesn't want to. So Subaru's sympathy can only go so far.
Maybe if I brought both Rem-tan and Ram…Rem-tan!
His eyes widen considerably upon realizing that since he Returned by Death, Rem must be back at that field where Meilli is about to attack her!
"And Emilia-tan too…"
Hearing some moans of distress, he turns and sees that Emilia is currently squinting her eyelids and frowning deeply, as if she's having some sort of nightmare. "Puck…"
"I'm sorry you keep having to go through this Emilia-tan…" Subaru places his arms underneath her body and picks her up princess style.
"S-Subaru?" Emilia opens her eyes and gazes into his with a terrified expression. His heart shatters a little seeing her in such a state.
Regardless, he smiles at her, "It'll be alright. Come on."
With that, he swiftly exits the ruins and meets up with everyone outside. The three are surprised to see them exit so soon.
"Is Emilia-sama doing alright? Did something happen in there?" Otto asks.
"Not exactly." He responds dismally. She's holding tightly onto him while lightly sobbing. He turns to Ram. "Ram, can you take her to Roswaal's place and give her some herbal tea to calm her nerves? I have something I need to do."
"Is it that urgent that you can't take her yourself?"
He nods vigorously. "Yes. Sorry, I entrust her to you."
Ram sighs and nods. "I understand. She doesn't look that well. Go do what you need to do quickly."
Handing Emilia over to Ram, Subaru dashes over to Patrasche and deattaches her from the carriage.
"Patrasche, we need to get to Rem, will you help me?"
She snorts in approval and appears to give a smile befitting of a proud ground dragon. He figures she really likes being relied upon like this.
"Thank you." He smiles widely and pats her head. "Let's go then!"
Patrasche lowers herself as her master climbs aboard and grabs the reins. "I'll be back!" With that, they take off.
-Small Plains-
"Y'know, this is weird. Why are you so uneasy with me?" Meili puts her hands on her hips and looks at Rem with a perplexed expression.
Rem ignores her and is overwhelmed with fear and anxiety with the very likely fact that Subaru just died and Returned by Death. What else could possibly explain her teleportation back to this field and Meili repeating the same lines of dialogue with her?
Meili sighs, "Whatever, I'll just-"
"You killed him, didn't you?"
"Huh?"
"You killed Subaru-kun, didn't you?!" Rem repeats, with rapidly increasing hostility.
"Are you really that stupid? I just said I've never attacked him before!"
"Liar!" Her horn protrudes from her forehead, flashing a dazzling pink before settling into a simple glow of the same color. "You killed him!"
Meili is forced to dive to her right as a pink spiky ball barrels in to rip her body to shreds.
"Ack!" Landing and rolling once, she quickly stands up and looking through the tree branches, she is able to make out that Rem is wearing a hateful expression on her face.
"You killed him!" She throws her Morningstar again, forcing Meili to dodge once more.
"She's crazy! Mabeasts, get her!"
A bunch of Wolgarms come out of the shadows and attempt to lunge at her, maws outstretched with the intent to bite hard.
With a roar, Rem quickly does a 360 spin and hits every single Wolgarm, piercing and killing them instantly.
"You killed him! You killed him! You killed him! You killed him!" She shouts furiously, throwing her Morningstar in every direction.
A Wagpig comes out and attempts to ram into her with its massive body. However, unfortunately for it, Rem jumps high into the air and with every fiber in her being, descends as fast as she can. With the intense amount of momentum she is able to create with such a short distance between her and the Wagpig, she lands right on top of its back and crushes it with the intense force. Its entire body splits open immediately, sending blood and internal organs flying everywhere.
The ground below crumbles and a shockwave is sent out to the surrounding forest. It travels about thirty feet before dissipating. Some tree roots become exposed or snap apart due to the rapidly moving dirt.
"You killed him! You killed him! You killed him!" She continues to shout with fury. Then, her expression switches to a wide smile, "Hahahahaha! You killed him! You killed him!"
Gripping her Morningstar tighter than ever before, she chases after Meili at speeds no ordinary human can go at.
Meili is forced to run for her life while sending out various mabeasts to block her path. "This girl is absolutely crazy! Why did Onee-san send me on such a dangerous mission?!"
Meanwhile, as this wild goose chase occurs:
"Rem-tan! Rem-tan! Where are you Rem-tan?!"
Subaru shouts her name as he arrives with Patrasche. To his utter shock, he doesn't find her fighting off the mabeasts like last time. The field is completely empty, with only the light rustling of the wind moving the grass and branches.
"R-Rem-tan?!" His voice grows ever more anxious and worried. He commands Patrasche to continue forward in hope of finding her. "I'll find her, no matter what! I won't let her die here!"
-Forest-
After about half a minute, he hears a faint scream, "You killed him!"
He recognizes the voice, "Rem-tan!" Gripping the reins as tight as he can, he flaps them up and down in a quick motion to let Patrasche know that she should speed up, which she does.
The screaming becomes louder as he approaches the source. Additionally, the gruesome sounds of bodies being torn and mutilated fill his ears as he gets closer, causing him to winch a little.
"You killed him! You killed him!"
"She sounds furious! What does she mean by that? I have to get to her!"
A moment later, he sees a pink glowing object and a giant ball and chain being flung around half-hazardly. Subaru forces Patrasche to slow down so that they don't get caught in the crossfire.
"Rem-tan! It's dangerous to fight all of them like that! Come on, we need to get out of here!"
Rem turns to him, whom she can now see. The mabeasts likewise turn their heads towards him. Then, unanimously, everyone roars and charges towards him, including Rem.
"Ha…ha…" Meili pants a few hundred feet ahead. She's been on the run for her life ever since Rem begun her rampage. Now, for some unexplained reason, she appears to have lost interest in her. As much as she wished to know why that is the case, she can't let this opportunity go to escape. Rem has killed dozens of her pets by now and while she could attempt a counterattack now that she's distracted, she figures it's not worth the risk.
"Tsk! You got lucky! I'll remember this!" Summoning a Wolgarm to her side, Meili climbs aboard and takes off in an unknown direction.
Meanwhile, Subaru quickly realizes that Rem is chasing him down not with the intent to protect him, but rather to destroy him instead. He is forced to take off running in a direction that is not filled with mabeasts.
"Why, why, why?! Why is Rem trying to attack me?!" Thinking hard, he recalls the first two times he ever saw Rem enter her oni form. Back then, she was consumed by her desire to kill and nearly lost all rational reasoning. Both times, he was forced to bring her back to her senses. The first time was by pushing her out of the way of oncoming mabeats The second time:
"That's it! Just like that time!" Running by a large tree branch, he uses every ounce of strength within his body to snap it off. Turning around, he sees that Rem is leading the charge, with at least a dozen mabeasts following behind her.
Subaru sighs and closes his eyes for a brief moment, "I'm sorry Rem-tan. This might hurt you a bit, but I promise it's for your sake!" With a loud cry, he charges towards Rem and attempts to hit her horn head on with the tree branch.
With superhuman reflexes, Rem tilts her head to the far right and successfully dodges the blow. Due to missing, Subaru travels further forward than he intended to and is about to fall into a pile of mabeasts. He braces for the worst, but he hears a sharp sound pierce the air. Before he knows it, the heads of multiple Wolgarms fly off the bodies they were attached to.
"Hit it, now!" A female voice commands Subaru.
Without any delay, he turns around and faces Rem, who has likewise turned to face him once more.
"Alright Rem-tan, please hold still for just a moment!" He rushes in once more and again aims directly for her horn. Rem dodges once more. And then, with her Morningstar in hand, she launches it at Subaru.
He kneels down just in time to avoid the spikes of the iron ball with inches to spare. Then, in one quick movement, he grabs both of her legs and knocks her to the ground.
Dazed by the fall and letting out a small "Oomph!", Subaru wastes no time in hitting her horn with the tree branch. He makes sure not to hit too roughly as to break it, but also not too softly that she wouldn't exit her berserk state.
Her horn retracts back into her forehead. Opening her eyes after being forced to close them by the sudden hit, she gazes longingly at Subaru.
"Subaru…kun?" Moaning his name, she falls unconscious and allows her body to relax itself in his firm embrace.
"Barusu, how is she?" Ram enters the scene and kneels down beside both her sister and Subaru.
"It looks like she's resting now. I'm sure that was really stressful for her." He frowns as he shifts her bangs around to expose the skin where her horn was just a moment ago. "I'm surprised that you showed up when you did. If you hadn't, I'd definitely been a goner."
"Of course you would've. You can't fight to save your life. Even a cockroach would be more skilled at fighting than you."
"Sheesh, you really can't go on without throwing some sort of insult at me, can you?!" He shouts and sighs. "Still, thanks for helping out. How'd you know we were here? And how's Emilia-tan? I thought I entrusted her to you."
"Hmph." She crosses her arms. "Are you insinuating that I abandoned her?"
"Um, well, I…"
"I did no such thing." Ram keeps a steady gaze on Subaru, as if trying to keep him in his place. "I took her to Roswaal-sama's home and made her herbal tea as you suggested. Currently she's fast asleep in one of the spare bedrooms."
"I see. Thanks Ram. I've got it from here." Picking up Rem and slumping her over his shoulder, he and Ram begin the journey back to the village.
"How'd you know we were here?" Subaru asks again as they walk as she didn't answer this question last time.
"I picked up some abnormal feelings of rage from Rem. I was concerned, so I came after her. One of our abilities with Synesthesia is we're able to locate one another. The position is not fully accurate, but it's more of a large range of where she could be."
"Oh, so like a GPS system!" Subaru remarks.
"What nonsense are you spouting now?" She clicks her tongue in annoyance at being unable to understand Subaru's weird comparisons. "Anyway Barusu, it's clear that Rem lost control of her oni form like she did about a month and a half ago. What happened to cause her to enter that state? Leave absolutely nothing out."
"Stop staring at me with such serious eyes! You're really freaking me out here!"
Her eyes narrow and her gaze somehow becomes even more threatening.
"Okay, okay! I'll tell you! I was gonna tell you regardless!" Steadying his breathing, Subaru explains, "Honestly, I have no idea what happened. I was worried that Rem-tan might've gotten into trouble so I came here to look for her. When I finally found her, she was already in her enraged oni state."
Ram puts a hand to her chin in thought, "Interesting. So you weren't the cause of it this time. Is there anything else?"
"She was clearly fighting Meili-san and her mabeasts."
"Meili-san? Who's that?" Ram tilts her head in confusion.
Oh right, she forgot about that entire conversation. Subaru internally sighs at the fact that the entire conversation she, him and Rem had about Meili from the last loop has been completely erased from everyone's memories but his.
"She's that blue-haired girl with the braid from Arlam village, remember? The one holding the dog mabeast?"
Ram's expression briefly changes to one of realization, "Oh, that girl? I see. Is she after Rem?"
He nods, "I think so. But as for why, I have no idea."
Especially since the last time I went to save her, nothing like this happened! She was completely sane and was about to lose. Nothing should've changed without my direct interference in the chain of events. So why did she go berserk this time? It's so strange.
Subaru feels a deep feeling of dread within his stomach. As if something major happened that he doesn't know about yet and he has no idea what the repercussions of said happening is yet.
"The nerve of her." Ram's expression darkens considerably, "How dare she come after my precious little sister. The next time I see her, I'll properly let her know what I think of her coming to see my sister like this." Once she calms herself, she asks, "Anything else."
"The only other thing is that Rem was shouting something over and over again when I found her fighting the mabeasts."
"Well? Out with it!"
"'You killed him!' That's what she shouted over and over. Nothing else."
"Hm…" She looks towards the ground for a few moments before returning her gaze to Subaru. "Who is she referring to?"
"No idea…"
"Let's ask her when she wakes up then. Hopefully she'll remember why she got so upset in the first place. It's not like her to get seriously angry like this and lose control of herself. Outside of this time and last time, she hasn't entered her oni form and went berserk for several years. I can't shake the feeling you're responsible for this somehow Barusu. Apologize to her when she wakes up."
"Hey! Aren't you jumping to conclusions a little too early here?!" He shouts. "If I'm truly the cause of her going berserk somehow, then I'll make sure to apologize profusely when she wakes up."
How could I possibly be responsible for this though? He wonders to himself. Again, he has not interfered with Rem's herb picking or her encounter with Meili in the slightest. Why did their interaction completely change from before?
-Roswaal's Home-
Finding the only remaining empty bedroom within Roswaal's temporary home, Rem is placed into the bed by Subaru. Ram covers her with a blanket and smiles before backing away.
"I'm going to go check on Emilia-tan." Subaru announces to Ram.
She gives a nod, "Very well. Rem won't be up for a little while. She needs to recover from exerting herself too much."
With that, Subaru exits the room, but not before frowning at the sleeping Rem and wondering why everything happened the way it did. Deciding to push those thoughts away, he makes his way towards her room.
-Emilia's Room-
Subaru spends about fifteen minutes in Emilia's room, who's still sleeping. Knowing how late at night it is, he decides to not disturb her and to let her sleep. Despite that, he whispers to her about how he's sorry for leaving her and that he had to take care of some emergency business with Rem.
"I really hate seeing her so stressed and anxious." He mumbles. Three times now he's had to witness her in such a vulnerable and anxiety-induced state. Each time has been heartbreaking for him. He hates seeing her suffer like this. As of now, he's still been unable to get any clear answer on what exactly Emilia has been seeing in her trial that would cause her to act like this.
"Does she really have to go through these trials?" He asks himself. It's already obvious that he's qualified himself to take on the trials. What if he were to take them in her place? Sure, Emilia wouldn't exactly be able to get the credit for liberating the Sanctuary, but is it really worth all that pain and suffering for just a lone title?
"What are you doing Subaru Natsuki…" He facepalms himself. Emilia is struggling immensely with the trials. Rem is being hunted by Meili for some reason. And Elsa the assassin showed up at the mansion. She didn't exactly state her mission, but it's obvious that it's an assassination mission of some sort. Likely one to kill all the residents of the mansion.
Just how in the world is he supposed to tackle all of these issues at once? He could maybe take the trials in Emilia's place, but that doesn't solve the other two major problems.
He has no idea where Meili goes after escaping from him and Rem. She did not show up at Arlam village, and the odds of her being at the mansion are likely quite low due to Elsa being there.
Which leads into the final major issue, Elsa's return. He hasn't seen her since Reinhard forced her to escape back at the loot house. She said back then that she'd disembowel everyone in the future. However, he never anticipated her to return so soon. In fact, he'd largely forgotten about her threat to one day return.
"If I tell Roswaal, maybe he'd know what to do about her." It's his mansion after all. Perhaps he'd have some good advice on how to deal with her. Subaru would ask for Roswaal to assist himself, but considering his current damaged state, he's unlikely to be of much help directly. "Right, I'll do that."
Getting up from the wooden chair he was sitting in, he gives a smile to Emilia, "Rest well Emilia-tan. I'll check on you in the morning."
Then I'll head out right after. He completes in his mind. If he gets to the mansion sooner than last time, there's a high chance he can intervene and save everyone.
-Rem's Room-
"Hah…Ah! Ah…no…no…No!" Panting and sweating all over, Rem eyes shoot open as launches the upper half of her body forward. Blinking a few times, she looks around the room she's in.
"Ah…just…just a dream…" She sighs in relief. Unfortunately, that does little to calm her nerves. Just now Rem was experiencing a nightmare that involved Subaru being slain by her. The method she used was a small knife she took from the kitchen and while he was fast asleep, she quietly murdered him. The reason being that she believed he was a part of the Witch's Cult. Subaru cried, screamed, and begged to know why she was doing this to him. She coldly replied that he was a Witch Cultist and there would be no room for salvation. Stabbing him a few more times, he died shortly after. She would not allow him to explain himself.
Rem slowly cries as she brings her hands to her face, "In dreams and in real life, I'm such a monster…"
Wiping her tears, she notices that she's now in her simple blue nightgown. I need to leave before anyone sees me. But…if Subaru-kun dies again…I'll just be sent back there again.
Realizing what she just thought, she slaps herself hard in the cheek. Idiot! Why are you selfishly thinking about your own problems?! Subaru-kun literally just DIED! I want to help him…but…
Her mind is very conflicted on the issue regarding assisting her hero. On one hand, she wants to do everything within her power to prevent him from dying again. On the other hand, she wants to get as far away from him as possible so as to never potentially hurt him again.
Ugh, my head hurts. She caresses her forehead. It hurt not just from the slap, but also the fact that she feels her memory is foggy. I saw Meili and then…I don't really remember what happened after that. What was I doing? If the events repeated themselves, then Subaru-kun would've came looking for me.
At this thought, she takes a deeper look at the room she's in. Why am I here? Did…someone carry me back here? Did Subaru-kun find me and bring me back to the village?!
Gasping at this realization, she frowns deeply and smacks herself again before laughing pitiably at herself. "Haha…I'm such an idiot. I made Subaru-kun worry over me again and made him take care of a monster like me. Haha…"
Deciding to get up and take a peek out into the small hallway her bedroom is adjacent to, she hears a couple of voices chatting with one another in a nearby room.
"Subaru-kun? Roswaal-sama?" Recognizing the voices, curiosity causes her to quietly step out into the hallway and tiptoe down towards the room they are in. As she tiptoes, she hears the words they are speaking more clearly.
"What is it you wish to tell me about Subaru-kun?" Roswaal says.
"Well, um…" She hears Subaru trying to respond with a nervous tone, "Do you know of any assassins that may be after your life? Or the lives of the mansion residents?"
Rem's eyes widen considerably, now having finally reached the door but stands beside it next to the wall. Assassin?! He got killed by an assassin?!
"Weeeeelllll, with Emilia-sama as a candidate for the Royal Selection and the fact she looooooks just like the Witch of Envy, of course there would be multiple people aiming for her life."
"If you knew that, then why didn't you come to our aid when the Witch Cult attempted to attack the village and capture Emilia-tan?! Aren't you the one officially supporting her candidacy for the throne?!" He shouts at Roswaal. "Not only that, but you hid information about the Witch Cult from her! Emilia-tan didn't know anything! If she had, everything would've been different! And if it had…that wouldn't have…" He trails off.
Rem, having experienced what Subaru has went through in the trial, knows exactly what he's talking about. Recalling the scene where all the villagers of Arlam died, along with Ram, she forgets to breathe for a few moments.
And he was then killed by Puck…
Subaru continues in an accusing tone, "You should've been there. If you had been there, that wouldn't have happened."
Rem gasps as she had never considered this before. If Roswaal-sama was there…Subaru-kun could've been saved? He…he could've avoided death? Is Roswaal…indirectly responsible for his death?
"If you had been protecting everyone…" Subaru's voice grows a little hoarse and frail.
"But you fulfilled my role in my absence. As a knight, your performance was commendable." Roswaal replies.
Rem can't believe how Roswaal could've brushed him off like that. Fulfilled your role in your absence? What sort of crap is that?! Don't you realize he DIED because of your absence?!
Of course she knows deep down that there's no way he could've known that. But still, she couldn't help but think that.
Subaru shouts, "Who gives a-"
"Calm down Barusu." Ram says. While Rem couldn't exactly see what is going on in there, from the sounds it seemed like Subaru was attempting to punch Roswaal. Then Ram stopped him.
"Ram, you're okay with all this?!" He replies, shocked that she stopped him. "You were left behind at the mansion like a sacrificial pawn!"
"As long as Rem is safe and sound, I condone everything Roswaal-sama does. No matter how I was treated, even if I was cast aside, that wouldn't change. Everything Roswaal-sama does is fine as long as Rem remains safe and unharmed."
"That's not true Nee-sama!" In a fit of rage, Rem slams open the door and angrily glares at her sister before walking to her. "As long as I'm 'safe and sound', you'll let Roswaal-sama do whatever he likes with you?! What about MY feelings on the matter, huh?! Does that not matter to you?!"
"R-Rem, that's not what I mean. Of course I care about your feelings! I'm just saying that-" Ram says in a rare anxious voice before she gets cut off.
"You're just saying what, huh?! You're saying that I'm far more important than you are?! That's the biggest lie I've ever heard in my life! And even if it were true, Subaru-kun would never want you to devalue yourself like that!"
"What does Barusu have to do with any of this? And-"
"EVERYTHING!" She screams.
Roswaal and Subaru stare wide-eyed at Rem, shocked at how loud she just screamed. They underestimated just how upset she is. Most of all, Ram.
"What…are you talking about?" She asks, again her voice is uneasy.
"Without him…" Tears flow down Rem's cheeks as her voice croaks. "Neither of us would be here right now."
Ram's left speechless at these words.
Subaru likewise is unsure how to take Rem's words at this moment. She's been really emotional this time for some reason…I just can't understand why that is. I need to talk with her after this and see what's going on. And Roswaal…what's his goal? He keeps getting more and more suspicious. I feel like I'm in a deep puddle of mud with no way out of this mess.
Rem then turns her head towards Roswaal and glares at him, "Now then, Roswaal-sama. I want a satisfactory explanation as for why you did not assist Subaru-kun in stopping the Witch's Cult. Now." The tone of her voice along with placing her hands on her hips shows that she is not playing around. She wants answers, and she wants them now.
-Author's Corner-
Not much to say this time. I'm a little surprised by how little of a role Garfiel and Otto have played so far. I hope to increase their appearances in later chapters. However, Subaru, Rem, and Ram will likely remain on the center stage for now.
SeerKing: Yes, poor Rem indeed.
Dovahking2023: Oh I see what you mean now. Yeah, scenes with Puck killing Subaru would've been absolutely devastating for her. She has no idea part of her contract indicates that if she's dead, then Puck will destroy the world. Personally I disagree with the theory that Emilia is partially responsible for how Subaru's RBD came about. From Echidna's explanation, RBD was given to Subaru so that he could never die and that he could never meet a true end. His desire to save others (like Emilia) was decided entirely on his own. RBD has no influence over that. Basically, Subaru would've died and respawned regardless of whether he wanted to save Emilia or not. Finally, it seems to at least be implied RBD was given to Subaru by Satella so that he could one day kill her (at least until Subaru declared he would save her instead). Anyway, thank you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
danielsantiago4545: Haha, thanks! Their banter is surprisingly easy to write despite how frustrated I am to see it happen in canon. We'll see about Rem meeting the other witches. I won't rule out the possibility, but don't expect it either.
Deathenglegamers1144: Thanks! Yeah, Rem has a lot of deep self-loathing issues. As for your question, Rem is fairly aware that Subaru forgave her. After all, the evidence she's been presented shows quite clearly he's forgiven her. However, she is having a very difficult time accepting the fact Subaru forgave her. If she was brutally murdered like he was, it's very unlikely she'd ever forgive her attacker. She's not that kind. So, due to that, she has a hard time seeing how in the world Subaru could forgive her for the exact same crime, even if he's shown that he is quite forgiving for what people do to him (generally, but not always).
lancehol144: Ram and Roswaal's relationship is…complicated to say the least. But, to answer your question, no, she does not hate him. She once did several years ago when she and Rem were first brought to the mansion. However, over the years her hatred has gone down substantially and began to truly love him. How exactly, I don't know. But I do know that in general she's very willing to do whatever Roswaal asks of her, and she generally approves of whatever he does. The only exception to this is if what he wishes to do will harm Rem somehow. In that case, she will not hesitate to turn on him. That's how I view their relationship anyway. If you have anything you'd like to add on to that or you think I'm wrong on, feel free to do so.
demon god noir: Yep! You're exactly right! Though it's only from the last loop. She doesn't remember any loops prior to that (so her direct memories of killing Subaru or torturing him do not come to her).
Maximum Rhapsody: You know, I haven't quite thought of it like that before, but you're right. Rem's mentality is quite similar to Subaru's from arc 3. Like Subaru, she won't be able to run from her problems forever and already she seems to be involving herself once more. Though note how she ignored Subaru here. As for WHDAAA spinoffs, I like the idea of having the cast reflect on arc 4 and deciding what to do from there. However, I'm hesitant to do something like that because first, I don't want to take away from Reactionist's version of the event when they're finally able to go through arc 4 and complete it. Second, I don't have enough confidence in accurately portraying secondary characters like Reinhard, Julius, Priscilla, and many others. Thanks for the suggestions!
Jason 4Rever: Thank you! Indeed, you're quite right that writing character's outside of their typical personality is difficult. But yep, you're right to say that Subaru and Rem are kinda connected by RBD in a way now.