Chapter 140: What I Do Know
At the door of this quaint little cottage in the center of the meadow, two visitors had arrived in the dead of night for an audience with none other than the Margrave.
Roswaal: Myyyyyy what a strange happenstance this is. Just when someone wishes to be alone to collect their thoughts... troooooouble always seems to be lurking just around the corner.
Looking to YN as he said that last part, Ram was not perturbed by this tactic of Roswaal's.
In fact, for the first time since arriving at the Sanctuary, she felt no conflicting in her heart, especially as she stood between the two who had been at the epicenter for that feeling. Ram was now solid in both mind and heart, as she was grounded by the newfound support YN had promised to give her, as well as the trust she already had in him, which now had a new basis for its reasoning unlike before.
No matter what the Margrave might say to try and change her mind, Ram had everything she needed to not be deterred. She was intent on saving him from his Gospel.
Roswaal: —Now, to what manner of business do I owe this moonlit meeting?
Stood in the doorway of the cottage at their arrival, dressed in his regalia and makeup, Roswaal's tone commanded a foreboding presence, one that was laced with grand intimidation.
Ram: Ram is here to make Roswaal-sama forget his Witch-Delusions.
Raising an eyebrow to her choice of words, his expression went now to one of a sad frown, which this was greatly exaggerated by the clown makeup he still wore.
Roswaal: Ah, tis sad to hear you call her by such an uncouth name... Twas it this anooooomaly that told you to call her as such?
Solemnly, Ram shook her head to the question, and calmly answered.
Ram: No. Ram has always been inclined to think of her in that regard.
Roswaal: Hah.
Smirking at the jab being given to him, the Margrave readjusted his posture.
Roswaal: Ahh, so it iiiiiiis disdain. That is why at the first sign of things finally going against the Gospel, you rebel by following Subaru-kun and aiding in his subjugation of Garfiel. I still find it rather unlike your usual self to risk violating the contract between us by doing something so raaaaaaaash.
Snorting in reply to the Margrave's retort, Ram folded her arms.
Ram: Ram did not simply gamble with something so sensitive. What she did, did not go against Roswaal-sama. In fact, Ram's entire purpose of doing so was to serve Roswaal-sama, per the contract. By rectifying Garf's idiocy, an obstacle against the grander dream of Roswaal-sama's was removed; the dream of seeing Emilia-sama on the Throne.
Like a tactful lawyer, Ram circumnavigated the fine print of the contract between her and Roswaal.
Ram: As long as Ram is working towards your dream, which is as the Gospel ultimately dictates, she has not been in violation of the contract's terms.
Smirking once more at the oni's ability to dance around the fine print, Roswaal replied.
Roswaal: And yet this entire time, you've been anticipating things diverging from the Gospel's writ still, haven't you?
The Margrave, now taking a step forward, out of the small cottage's doorway, held his arms out to his side with an almost sympathetic, pitying look on his face.
Roswaal: It must have been truly awwwwwwful for you... Having waited so long for a chance like this to come along... All the while being forced to serve a man who's partially responsible for the destruction of your home...
Now with a wry grin on the corner of his mouth, he looked with only his eyes over to YN.
Roswaal: Fufu... Was YN privy to such information yet, I wonder? I truly wonder how much you've really been earnest with him about.
Without giving Ram a chance to answer, he laid on his manipulation with more intensity as he bent his torso forward slightly, closing his blue eye now as just his yellow one looked more squarely at the maid.
Roswaal: Have you spoken to him of the squabble inside of you? How you lusted for revenge for that night, but how you also longed for fulfillment of being useful—, something I alone could only offer you? How aaaaaagonizing has it been to endure that for so very long?
Ram: — — —
Silent to his words of antagonization much like she had been when YN had confronted her on her feelings of conflicting not even but an hour prior, the Margrave it seemed was speaking of yet another, different, deep divide in Ram.
To her silence, Roswaal stood back up straight, and spoke as if he truly lamented what was before him.
Roswaal: And for now of all times, to be whisked away by an anomaly... The pain I feel for this betrayal must now match even the heights of your own.
Speaking not only of the pain Ram might have in her heart, but also physically, the maid now gallantly shook off Roswaal's words as no more than an empty accusation.
Ram: Ram is not here simply because YN told her to defy Roswaal-sama, so get that silly assumption out of your head.
Adjusting her hair, she went on.
Ram: As if Ram would be moved by anyone or anything other than her own feelings and heart. Preposterous.
Reaching to her side, Ram removed her wand from concealment, and held it within her hand.
Ram: Ram is simply tired of the Gospel dictating every facet it seems of Roswaal-sama's life. Nothing more, nothing less.
Unexpectedly now though, Ram began to cast her eyes downward, and spoke in a lower tone.
Ram: It should be obvious that Ram's devotion to her employer is waning, and in truth, that has been going on since we arrived in Sanctuary...
Roswaal: — — —
Unchanged, as if he was already aware of this, Roswaal simply looked on to Ram as she went on, as if waiting for her to slip up.
I guess he already might have gotten a clue about that simply based on the fact Ram left his side when we all first got to him when he was still bedridden.
Recalling how Ram had suddenly shown up next to him of all people in Roswaal's shack, YN couldn't dwell on the memory for long.
Ram: Roswaal-sama was once the source for Ram's sense of a relief, but now that entirely rests in someone else. Ram can only feel that hope for a better tomorrow lies in them, and now that they are aware of it too, she must protect that and be of use to him.
Scowling now as it was obvious who Ram was speaking of, Roswaal it seemed was about to say something to YN, but it was the maid's words again who cut him off.
Ram: —That is not to say however, that Ram is not both duty and honor bound to be of use to her employer, whom she is still immensely thankful towards.
Roswaal: —?!
Regaining the former resolve in her voice, Ram now looked back up the Margrave who's eyes had gone wide at the sudden words of platitude being spoken to him by someone who he was sure had just cast off any loyalty towards him.
Least to say, to YN, this was the most surprised he'd ever seen Roswaal.
While it might have sounded like that there, —that Ram was fully casting off any allegiance to the Margrave, YN already knew that wasn't the case, whereas Roswaal it seemed truly hadn't grasped that.
Ram: Ram is thankful that Roswaal-sama took her in, and gave her not only a place to rest her head, but also a purpose and the skills she has today.
Looking over to YN for a moment, Ram turned her gaze back to Roswaal now and continued.
Ram: —It is also worth saying too, that Ram is also thankful to Roswaal-sama for taking Rem in as well, even if we both bear no memory of it.
Now looking back and forth between YN and Ram, as if he had some new suspicion growing, Roswaal still stayed his hand as Ram wasn't done yet.
Ram: Regardless of Roswaal-sama's own involvement in the destruction of the oni village... had he not done exactly as he'd done, —following his Gospel, Rem would have never met YN.
Saying that as she did, the groundskeeper felt his heart take a larger than normal beat, and then sink down into his gut. He knew that Ram wasn't wrong when she said that. In fact, he knew if that village still existed to this day, he'd likely have never crossed paths with Rem at all.
Could he even imagine his life here in this new world without Rem by his side? Or even just not ever meeting her, period?
His mind a mess now, Ram carried on this argument as he listened on.
Ram: Had those two never met, it would mean that YN could not be the strength Ram feels now when she has none of her own.
Shaking her head, she closed her eyes.
Ram: It has all led to this moment now, where Ram can save Roswaal-sama from his delusions... —A moment where Ram can be useful for being herself now because of it, and not just by being a vessel for someone else's hope!
Taken back by her words, the Margrave regained his composure to his usual self, even though it was apparent he struggled to do so.
Roswaal: I see then, I see…
Almost as if he lacked a proper rebuttal, he turned his gaze off Ram and angled it towards YN, closing his blue again as he did.
Roswaal: With all these deeeeeeep revelations coming to light, —how it was that I had a hand in shaping the worst moments of their pasts... that YN-kun here isn't destroying his body to take that anger I know he has out on me riiiiiiiight now?
YN: — — —
While it was true there was a newfound fury in YN for Roswaal's sins of the past, he knew it wasn't his place right now to open old wounds. That was solely on the ones who had been trespassed upon.
Seeing YN's calm temperament though, the Margrave scowled. Much like how Garfiel was more tenured in his own control of self, when he had gone to Roswaal as an ally of Subaru's before they had departed to the Mansion, the Margrave was disappointed his assumptions of their character had changed.
Neither of these two acted like he hoped and expected them to. At this second occurrence of such a discrepancy, he reopened his eye of blue, and looked keenly at Ram again now.
Roswaal: Perhaps I was incorrect to assume the anomaly had corrupted Ram. It would seem more likely now that it was Ram who coerced him to heeeeeer side.
Highlighting again the lack of violent retaliation against him from YN for his hand in such a horrible event in the twin's past, it was Ram who answered for YN, again shaking her head.
Ram: To change the past is not something Ram, YN, nor even Barasu can accomplish.
Her eyes making contact with Roswaal's again, Ram continued.
Ram: —However, make no mistake. Ram still has her own anger at you over the events of that fateful night. The lust for revenge has not just suddenly vanished. But it is that Ram's sense of duty to save Roswaal-sama from his Gospel simply takes president.
Ram, with her conflicted maiden heart of her own, had come to this conclusion. As old feelings clashed with new ones in her heart still, her words of determination were sent forth.
Ram: —Ram vows, she will destroy that Gospel.
To this, there was a silence that now grew between all here in the night-time meadow. Seeing there was no impasse to be found now, Roswaal took a series of steps forward, and now fully left his most recent temporary residence.
Roswaal: Ram... you have served me faithfully for years... but your actions now in trying to guide events to diverge from the Gospel's writ have come at the cost of insubooooooordination.
His tone turning darker, he levied what his prerogative was now.
Roswaal: —I shan't let such things go unpunished.
To this ominous threat, Ram answered, unphased and unperturbed.
Ram: You fool. Had things truly diverged from the Gospel, we wouldn't be speaking right now. Barasu has left for the Mansion already, leaving only Emilia-sama to take on the Trials to liberate the Sanctuary. Without the Great Spirit-sama at her side any longer, she will be unable to bring about this prophesied snowfall.
With only a wry smile at first in response to Ram's defiance, Roswaal held his hands out wide to his sides, and looked up at the starry sky above now as a cloud moved to cover half of the full moon.
Roswaal: What you say is not wrong. But if that should be the case, it will be I who brings about the snowfall then. The Gospel's writ shall be followed.
Admittedly, YN could feel the temperature had definitely begun to drop whilst this confrontation had gone on. Still, to hear this would be Roswaal's means of following his Gospel predictions, it sounded weakly justified. That was something that the groundskeeper expected better from his employer about. Although he had remained silent this entire time, he couldn't let such a discrepancy past him.
YN: Can you say that truly counts as following the writ if you just turn it into a self-fulfilling prophecy? To me it sounds like you're already coping with the expected loss.
Turning only his eyes down to look at YN, as if he were truly beneath him, Roswaal was short with him.
Roswaal: Your words mean nothing. As an anomaly, your threat to the Gospel's writ is already known.
Finally managing to get a flair of anger to show up on YN's face, his fist tightened at his side as he yelled out in reply.
YN: Stop calling me an 'anomaly!' I'm sick and tired of hearing people like you, or the Witch, or Sloth, or Beatrice even... —Anyone who has one of those damn books, call me that! You all hide behind mentioning it to me and then just shoo me away when I start making problems for any one of you!
While Ram at first was tempted to halt YN's burst of annoyance, she trusted he still wouldn't do anything rash. She could hear the emotion paired with his words as he voice yelled out at Roswaal.
And to tell the truth as well? Ram was curious too as to what this 'anomaly' business was that YN kept being labeled as.
YN: What the hell does it even mean?! Why is it such a big deal?! Answer me now, Roswaal!
Yet, even to his words hollered out in passionate upheaval, the reply YN got was one of disinterested lament.
With an expressionless face and half-closed eyes, the Margrave answered YN's shout with pure apathy to his feelings.
Roswaal: Are you truly so ignorant of your own place in this world?
YN: —tch.
To hear such a reply, while it was a legitimately asked question for an answer, it was spoken with such ill-contempt for the other, it only made YN's blood boil more. Yet, if he didn't answer the condescending inquiry, he knew he might never get more of a clue as to what the title of 'anomaly' truly entailed.
YN: Sloth had said I was mentioned in it, but that was all he said. It never told him what to do with anything about me, or what my purpose was...
Through clenched teeth and shaking, tightly closed fists at his sides, YN answered the Margrave's question lowly and with anger still imbued in his breath.
Unchanging in his expression though, Roswaal replied.
Roswaal: How pitiful. To only know what you are from the ramblings of a mad spirit. Yet, how fitting at the same time.
With a second lashing of malcontent for YN with his answer, it was the maid whom he had helped set straight that spoke up in support for him now.
Ram: Ram would suggest Roswaal-sama informs YN of what this label means, and what else the Gospel might say about him before she destroys it. Or else.
Going as far to threaten her employer now, it seemed that even Ram had grown tired of Roswaal's unwillingness to answer.
Roswaal: Oh? And here I thought you were saying you cared not for what was in it.
Ram: Ram cares only for what you have planned for YN. It is imperative to know so we can make sure Roswaal-sama cannot harm YN simply because that Gospel might have told him to.
Amused by the assumption of her concern, Roswaal surprised them both with what he said next.
Roswaal: Ha! Oh I assure you, it says nothing of the sort. In fact, it says so little about him, it's insignificant!
YN: Then what the hell makes me an 'anomaly?!'
Angered YN was not satisfied with any of his answers as of yet, Roswaal actually gained an air of annoyance to his voice now, as if he was offended by the groundskeeper's ignorance.
Shutting his eyes, he reopened them with a scowl on his painted face.
Roswaal: In a text where every action has a purpose, —every detail, every word, is carefully said to deliver concise meaning... —Where every instruction and condition levied are all written with the closest attention paid, your simple mention with no other strings attached, —no constraints stated, and no purpose added... It all sticks out like a horrendously unsightly footnote.
YN: — — —
Definitely accosted by YN's very existence now, Roswaal's tangent didn't end here.
Roswaal: You are the only part of this entire Gospel that appears as such. In a sea of otherwise uniform teaching and lessons, statements and prophecy, your mention is the one thing that does not belong.
Reaching into his coat pocket, Roswaal revealed the miniature grimoire he spoke of.
Roswaal: There was a day once where you simply began to appear in the words of these pages. —Blended into the fabric and ink of its pages like you were originally there to begin with... yet the bluntness it spoke of you with only exaggerated the obvious fact you cannot be of the same origin as where the rest of the Gospel's wisdom stems from.
Putting his hand back into his coat pocket, Roswaal withdrew his Gospel now as he went on.
Roswaal: As far as my own opinion can be said, this anomaly is a strain upon sensei's hallowed words. It is unfortunate there was not a clause anywhere in the text of what I should be called to do if the writ of the Gospel becomes compromised.
Looking again to YN with his hands free, the dark aura left Roswaal's words as he threw more condescending questions his way.
Roswaal: Do you feel your existence here with us is only possible because you are manifested through a need to make the world align and be in compliance with the Gospel? Perhaps your own existence is a self-fulfilling prophecy for the same purpose.
YN knew from the bottom of his heart there was no way that could be true.
YN: I'm...
Recalling how he felt before first arriving in this world, —to how he felt his life was just before even reaching that final fuel station, to which later he'd be teleported to this world, YN had a distinct emotion in his chest he couldn't quite identify.
YN: I'm here because before, I had no place left to go. I had no purpose. I had no meaning.
Forced to set out to places unknown, all on his own, and with so few of his own belongings, simply because that was just the way his life was turning out, YN also recalled the desperation he felt during his First Trial, when he was forced to relive that experience.
Looking down into an open palm, YN slowly closed it.
YN: I might not know how I ended up here... But I'm staying because I've found a purpose that will let me. —And with that purpose? I also intend to stick around because I want to. Not because some gospel says I do or don't. I reject the existence of these chains that you seem to think I'm shackled by.
Roswaal: So then, by your answer, and how I may interpret it; if you reject your own existence, would you allow me to rectify that for you?
With his answer spoken to the Margrave, Roswaal replied not only by speaking another question, but also by holding his hands back out to the sides of him, summoning a green flame of magic into the palm of each glove.
Roswaal: —Or will I simply be destroyed because I am going against the Gospel's writ of saying you exist?
Flames now danced on Roswaal's fingertips as things began to become more and more intensified. At the light of these flames, Ram more steadily readied her wand, ready to retaliate should she need to.
Roswaal: I truly wonder... Any time I've tried to have you removed from the picture, I've faaaaaailed. I am only left to wonder now; does the answer lie only if the writ of the Gospel is gone against? We can only assume we'll learn something if it all comes unraveled by that.
With a wisp of wind magic circling around her, Ram spoke back up again.
Ram: Roswaal-sama misunderstands. Even if the Gospel were to readily state that he should fail and cease to be by combating YN's existence, —or any other meaning for that matter, Ram will not allow it. She will not allow Roswaal-sama to lose his dream, or his life.
Fully at an impasse with words, the flames in Roswaal's hands grew and burned with a new intensity.
Roswaal: — — —
Ram: — — —
Squarely moving to face the maid, there was silence between them now as Ram's own peach hair and bangs began to waver in the stillness of the night-time air, the motion stemming only from her own wind magic.
Ram: — — —
Roswaal: — — —
YN: — — —
A standoff was brewing, and in this moment, it was eventually broken by a single word.
Roswaal: —Come.
And meeting that challenge—
Ram: —As you wish.
In an instant, Ram's magic was unleashed on none other than her employer. Fully cresting and surmounting the event horizon of this utterly unexpected confrontation, YN watched as the blades of wind were easily evaded by the Margrave, moving to avoid them.
Roswaal: Is this all you have to offer for this challenge?
Leaping up into the air, the Margrave, with a single delayed backflip, landed atop of the house that was behind him just a second ago.
In his hands still, he had kept the two fireballs. Pushing them together into one larger one, he then pulled away his hands, and pulled from the one larger fireball, two others, one on each side, folded out of it.
Remaining red in the center, one hand was now blue, the other, green.
Roswaal: —My turn.
Sending out the three projectiles towards them, Ram met them with another flick of her wand.
Ram: El Flula!
Slashed with wind, all three differently colored fireballs worked differently.
The red one, exploded on impact with the blade of wind, which, with the force that had still, blew the closer YN off his feet and farther out from the meadow, as far as towards the tree-line.
Ram: —tch.
Having not expected that, Ram cursed at herself for putting YN so blindly in harm's way. Still, it was better than watching it directly hit him and end his life.
Yet, she was also frustrated with how the wind magic had affected the remaining two orbs of fire.
As the wind-blade intersected the blue flame, like a cell under mitosis, it split into two, whereas the green flame seemingly absorbed the wind magic and had now transformed itself into a slithering serpent of green fire.
Still, with how far YN must have flown from the blast, Ram was worried about him first and foremost now. Jumping to evade the two blue orbs of fire now, Ram had wanted to sprint in the direction of where her ally was, but the green flame snake intercepted her.
Leaping, Ram was forced further away from YN, but using her wind magic again, she changed her trajectory midair and propelled herself in a descending arc over to the treeline.
As she fell though, the other blue orb of fire had moved to where she was set to land. Not one to be caught in this trap however, Ram used her wind magic again, this time though, less gracefully. At the last second, her momentum shifted and she was able to avoid the blue flame orb by tucking and rolling away across the flowers of the meadow.
Her problems had yet to cease however.
Recovering from her fall and roll, the snake of green flames was hot on her heels. Needing again to jump to avoid this, Ram brought herself to the perimeter of the meadow now. Except this time, she had anticipated the first blue orb of fire's next move. As it waited for her to land, Ram's momentum was aimed rather at the trunk of one of the trees along the edge.
Ram: —Hup!
Kicking off the tree, she projected herself far to the side, hopefully near where she believed YN was. Ram knew she'd need him if the fight was ever to come to a worthwhile conclusion.
As she landed here now though, near a thicket of trees to her side, she spent only a moment looking for YN before she realized the flames had tactically out-maneuvered her again.
On one side, the orbs of blue flame, both together now, and on the other, the incoming green flames in the form of a snake.
Her only choice now it seemed was to try and leap over the green flame snake again, but if she did that, with both orbs of blue so close now, they'd each cover any prospective landing spot she might try and reach.
Out of options, Ram readied her wand again. She feared if she lashed out at either flame with her wind again, she'd only end up making one more difficult to evade. It was that simple fact though, that was keeping her from acting.
—Which would she go after?
Near paralyzed from her continued fatigue, her recent magic use, and the stress of the already onerous battle going sideways with YN getting blasted away, Ram's hesitation was prolonged. Almost as if sentient and noticing this too, the blue orbs of fire now charged in at her. With the tree to her rear, and the green fire snake waiting in her flank Ram was out of options.
Just as those traveling fireballs reached her though.
?: —Jiwald!
Cast with the intensity of two hands, a cascading light of heat lit up the darkened area like a flood light. Wider and greater than normal, the Yang magic enveloped the two blue fireballs.
Scorching the ground and the flowers beneath into a cinders of white, vaporizing the green matter of the innocent plants, a thud was heard as a figure dropped down in front of Ram.
Falling from the tree branches where he must have landed, YN brushed himself off of the tree leaves and needles he had all over him.
YN: You good?
Realizing things could have gone extenuatingly bad had YN not been there, Ram quickly regained her composure and nodded in confirmation.
YN now looked back to the area he had vanquished the fireballs from. Around twenty paces or so in width, he was thankful he was capable of pulling off the spell in time.
That took some time to build up, and I can tell I really was inefficient with the mana I used for that as well...
Frustrated, YN knew his slow and wasteful magic usage was only due to one factor.
—Algol still isn't around...
Absent for his fight with Garfiel, and now still no where to be found for this confrontation against Roswaal, YN wasn't afforded much time to dwell on this, as the green serpent of fire now was going after Ram yet again.
Unsure what he could do to help, YN wanted to see if his Yang magic could do the trick again, but before he could—
Roswaal: I must ask, for how much longer do the two of you intend to mock me with this pitiful display?
YN: —Tch.
Having casually walked over from the cottage, Roswaal calmly, and confidently asked this to YN while Ram continued to evade the fire-snake.
Roswaal: While it is true I'm currently diminished since so much of my mana and concentration is going towards bringing about the snowfall, did you both really believe that I would just leave myself defenseless?
YN: — — —
Unable to answer the extremely talented magician, YN knew that if Roswaal came at him now, he'd stand no chance against him still.
Roswaal: If either of you truly had any hope against myself, you wouldn't have exhausted yourselves out after subjugating Garf-kun. Twas a fool's errand though and though on your end; for it matters not if I'm diminished if the both of you are as well!
As Ram's evasive moves against the snake brought her closer to the two conversing again now, Roswaal halted his magic so that Ram could have a moment to hear his words without a distraction.
Roswaal: —And dear Ram, you're much more foolish than YN-kun in that regard. Only you are even less efficient in your mana usage than he is.
Ram could only respond to this by barely keeping herself upright as she offered labored breathing in reply. What Roswaal said, though, baffled YN.
Huh? How is that possible?
YN knew Ram couldn't regenerate her own magic, but as he tried to think of what it was that he meant by that, Roswaal's continued words, now to Ram, cut off his thoughts.
Roswaal: In your battle against Garf-kun, you tried it, didn't you? Using your oni blood's truest potential... And yet here you are, thinking you'd still have enough strength left to fight...
Shaking his head as if he were disappointed in Ram's judgment, Roswaal's venomous words went on.
Roswaal: Did your confused heart blind you enough to think that the anomaly would make up the difference for you? How far has he pulled the wool over your eyes?
YN: —Tch
Roswaal is still using his old trick of trying to isolate his foes from one another.
Just like he'd done countless times before with him and Subaru, it seemed as if Ram too was perturbed by his words, but that may have been due to her own continued exhaustion, as she was still breathing heavily.
Still, what Roswaal had to say surprised YN, and kept his mind fixated on Ram.
I had no idea Ram could do what Rem could do... to transform into that 'oni mode' or whatever you'd call it like Rem could...
Trying to picture how ferocious Ram could really be if she did change like Rem could, YN also could only imagine how painful that would end up being for her own body.
—Especially how taxing it might be on her mana reserves since she doesn't have a horn...
At being the subject of not only the conversation, but also being ridiculed for her choices, Ram let her anger get the better of her.
Forcing herself to stand up straight as if she were at full strength, with a wave of her wand—
Ram: Ul Flula!
—Ram scattered the green fire serpent across the meadow with her powerful spell.
With small remnants of green flames now raining down across the flower covered meadow, Ram dropped to one knee, as she had truly mustered all of her remaining strength into that devastatingly strong slash of wind.
To the hard fought efforts of YN and Ram though, Roswaal could only gaze on at them in pure disappointment, and from that look, a sequence of lights began to form around him in his nearby perimeter.
Spinning around him, all coming into form, were more and more orbs of fire. There must have been at least ten of each color that had been launched at them now in total, all orbiting around the Margrave, ready to overwhelm them.
Both YN and Ram could barely watch on at this pure lack of power they still had compared to Roswaal. The maid, on a single knee still, had a small stream of blood running down her face from where her horn's scar certainly was upon her head. And YN, near to her side, felt his hands continue to shake.
Roswaal: How either of you came to the conclusion you could hope to match me is baffling, especially when you both knew you were as exhausted as this.
Taking a glance over to YN, and seeing his hands shake, Ram looked back to Roswaal, still surrounded in a typhoon of his own fireballs, and laboriously raised her wand again.
Seeing Ram in this condition, still trying to fight on, determined to get her own way, YN sighed and reached one of his trembling hands into his back pocket.
That Ul Flula has pushed Ram to her absolute limit... Even as she's this exhausted, she's trying to fight on...
In truth, YN expected only such tenacity from Ram, given how she'd been in his car on that fateful, fargone Loop.
It's time we ought to use this then... I had hoped our moment of pivotal need wouldn't have come so soon in this fight though...
Truthfully, it wasn't lost on YN that they'd need to use this at some point, but he really did feel guilty relying on it.
With the item in his hand, Roswaal now had realized YN was indeed reaching for something. Seeing this, he took no further chances, and gave no more leeway or time to delay.
Roswaal: Can you not see it's useless?! You're both exhausted of mana!
With the maelstrom of magic now thrown at them, YN held the item from his pocket as high up as he could. Wasting no time, its occupant entered the fray.
?: —Not all of us are!
Answering Roswaal, this new voice set about defying the attack of his.
Suddenly, as if from nowhere, large chunks of crystallized ice fell from the sky, and extinguished the flurry of flames; —red, blue, and green, that had been hurled at them.
Catching both Ram and Roswaal seriously off guard by the sudden conjuring of ice made of mana, it was the maid that recognized what YN now held up in his hand.
A crystal itself, it was blue and jagged on one side, as if it were a broken off piece of a much larger crystal. Its glow indicated it was a pyroxene crystal filled with an exorbitant amount of mana, which, for its occupant, was fitting and needed for this moment now.
This crystal, Ram realized, was the one that had been mentioned as being used to rob Garfiel of mana, and thus, his stamina in the fight he had with YN.
But as to why this crystal was brought out now, and where these large ice blocks had come from as a result, quickly made sense to Ram as the voice sounded out again, this time, getting a panicked look to fly across Roswaal's make-up encased face.
?: Next to my beloved daughter, it's girls' hearts, filled with love that I'll always side with!
His eyes going wide, and his pupils narrowing at the recognition of this voice, Roswaal's voice was but a whisper, audible to only himself.
Roswaal: No... No... It's... Impossible... How were they able to...?
In his dazed stupor, seeing his magic be so utterly thwarted, Roswaal was late in his reaction to magic now being flung at him.
Roswaal: —!
A barrage of ice crystals were now bombarding the Margrave, and given his already pre-admission of being diminished himself, all he could do was brace against the incoming blizzard.
It was now that everyone, not just Roswaal went snowblind from this intense attack. Lambasted by the snow and ice, the Margrave dug his heels in, and using his magic—
Roswaal: Ul Goa!
Freed from the growing prison of ice, the blizzard was made to subside as flames erupted from around Roswaal. All around him now though, with the whipping winds of snow gone, were countless structures of ice. The tall, formidable crystals, all reflecting off their smooth, icy surfaces, created a hall-of-mirrors effect against the Margrave.
As he looked around, trying to spot a foe he knew was here and would pose a great threat to him, YN took this opportunity to kneel down and try and help Ram.
YN: Nee-sama! Let's—
Ram: —We have no time to waste.
Forcing herself to stand despite YN's concern, the oni had begun to run towards the grouping of ice crystals surrounding Roswaal. As she got near to them, her figure, running directly towards Roswaal, could be seen by him, repeated in every single crystal that surrounded him still.
With countless apparitions of the maid closing in on him from all angles, the Margrave, unsure of where she truly was, conjured more fireballs in his hands.
Roswaal: Such petty tricks!
Haphazardly firing them, Roswaal sent out blast after blast at each ice crystal. Where one would fall though, two more would take its place. In a battle of mana-attrition, it was unlikely for him to win at this game whilst also trying to bring about his own blizzard.
Dozens of fireballs now expended in such a short period of time, a thick, smokey haze had now surrounded the Margrave in his ice-mirror prison. While he regained his bearings and took a single labored breath from his volley of fire magic, he knew Ram was using this illusionary trick against him. All the while though, desperately in his mind, he tried to rationalize how it couldn't be whom he feared was using these ice-based attacks against him.
There's just no way... he should be gone! Powerless, without his contractor!
Cutting off his thoughts though, the Margrave quickly adjusted where he stood, as a single beam of white light in this smokey area shot past him.
Roswaal: —?!
But as the smoke cleared more—
Roswaal: —?! —?! —?!
—More of these light beams were coming into existence, shooting out in all directions, but primarily focusing in on Roswaal's approximate location. With less of the smoke around him though, the closer each beam got until—
?: El Jiwald!
Naming the spell that he was being targeted by, a sudden shift could be seen and heard in the ice crystals this light was bouncing off of and through. As they shifted in their pitch and angle, so did the multitude of light beams surrounding Roswaal. Adjusting, the crystals focused these beams of Yang Magic in on the Margrave himself.
Closing in, Roswaal was left with only one choice, and that was to leap upward to avoid being vaporized.
Even as he went airborne though, the ice crystals continued their adjustment, and simply had this focused point of their lights follow him upward.
On the ropes now, Roswaal did again what he only could do, and targeted the source of these reflected beams.
Roswaal: Ul Goa!
Casting a huge fireball forward to where he had just been standing, the center of all these ice crystals, the magic impacted the ground and bust open, destroying the ice, and thus, eliminating the medium responsible for chasing him with the Yang magic.
Not about to land in the ongoing inferno below now though, Roswaal gingerly used his flight magic to observe where his previous two foes had gotten to from a bird's eye view.
He wasn't afforded long to observe though, as a boomingly loud voice could be heard from behind him, as if coming from the sky still, even at his higher altitude position.
?: Hey! Just where do you think you're looking, huh?
Freezing up as he still remained in the air, Roswaal's pupils narrowed again as he kept his vision aimed downward.
Roswaal: No...
He knew to whom this voice belonged to. There was no mistaking it.
Turning around, its figure was obscured by the still rising smoke of his fire magic, but just as he remembered when he had seen them, two piercing yellow eyes could be seen from the gargantuan form still behind him.
The last time Roswaal had fought his beast, the maps had to be redrawn from the aftermath of their battle. What now genuinely frightened him though, was that he stood no chance against it while he was also gathering the mana needed to bring about a genuine change in the weather.
To Roswaal, he still couldn't contemplate just how this foe had appeared here of all times.
As a wind went by through, called in from the impending snow storm, the smoke was dissipated, and from behind it—
Puck: —Surprise! I just got taller was all! Probably not what you were expecting, huh? Sorry to disappoint!
Revealed now in full, the gray cat that under previous circumstances would only be found being doted on by Emilia, had finally shown himself since his involvement in this clash of fellow camp members.
Before him, shimmering in mana as they formed, were two more large obelisks of ice.
Puck: Why don't ya take these as an apology!
Launched over to Roswaal, he readied himself, and as soon as they reached him, both crystals were dispatched by a kick and punch each. At their close range destruction, the Margrave quickly descended into the creator he had made and landed on a pile of flashing crystal shards of ice. In both hands, he prepared a mighty fire spell, and casted it out back at this cat of gray.
Roswaal: Al Goa!
Meeting Puck's body with a direct impact, rather than his body recoiling in pain, his entire figure began to dissipate like it was just a big fancy cloud or smoke show. What he had just shot a powerful fire spell at wasn't Puck at all, but was more akin to another illusion.
Exhaling hard in frustration, the Margrave stood straight up again as he looked around himself. The area he was in, that was once a peaceful, moonlit meadow of flowers, was nothing more than a wasteland of shattered ice crystals and piles of scattered flames.
As he looked around, he knew not only was his Great Spirit adversary hiding somewhere, but also two others he had been in the middle of dealing with.
Roswaal: Insolent tricks and the tactics of craven bandits... Just what are they planning to do next—?!
Silently saying this to himself as he began to turn around and continue to look, he spotted two of them just beyond the tallest flames he was also responsible for.
Standing, facing him, was YN, and above himself, he held his two hands skyward. Just to his flank, Puck floated. With his two little paws facing the groundskeeper, a sparkle of magic could be seen above his up-stretched hands. Conjuring up a ball of ice, perhaps as wide as YN was tall, Puck let the creation fall down onto his hands.
Puck: Throw him a changeup! Right down the middle!
As the ice landed into his waiting hands, YN used his Yang magic to augment his strength and keep the ice above him. Steam and a wave of heat rose off his skin as he struggled to channel his mana into his muscles without the assistance of Algol still.
Secure in how he now held the ball of ice though, YN threw it at Roswaal with all the strength he could muster.
YN: Batter-up!
Lobbed at a relatively low velocity compared to how Puck could typically launch his, this projectile of ice now headed for Roswaal could be easily intercepted by him, posing almost no threat.
While still having enough interia to reach the Margrave, it's slow speed meant he had plenty of time to simply bat this one away, and intending on doing that, just as he already had done before, this method helped him conserve mana by not needing to counter it with a ball of fire of his own.
Ready to intercept it, Roswaal's stance was just as YN had hoped for it to be.
More than halfway to him though, the ice shattered, —exploded with an intense heat of pink rage.
Ram: —RRRAAAAHHH!
Launching herself through the ice, using it as concealment, was Ram, determined as ever to make this one shot count.
With an intense velocity Roswaal hadn't expected, he was much too slow to react to her now. Like a round fired from a cannon, Ram, with a demonic look in her crimson eyes, her fangs pronounced, and her horn's scar, glowing bright and gushing blood down her forehead, rocketed towards the unsuspecting Margrave with a fury of tenacious sense of purpose.
Using her nails, which in this form, thanks only to her oni heritage, were long and sharp, slashed at Roswaal's chest as she got close to him in this blitz of speed. Tearing apart his once blemishless royal regalia that matched his clown makeup, the fabric was ripped to shreds. Yet despite this lightning quick attack, the slashing nails never once broke through to harm him.
Ram flew past the Margrave now, and without colliding with him, skidded to a stop before dropping to one knee, several dozen paces behind him at the outskirts of this battlefield.
Shocked stiff, Roswaal's wide open eyes simply remained locked in to where they were when Ram had flown past him. With immense surprise, both hands began to pat the area that was damaged, trying to assess how serious an injury it was he had just sustained.
At the lack of any blood, or even pain, he now looked down at the tattered mess of threads and fabric on his chest now.
Roswaal: How..? How am I not injured—?!
Patting at his chest again, not as if he were inspecting a wound, but rather, like one would pat a pocket to check if an item was still located inside, Roswaal's surprised expression gained an air of grim realization.
Roswaal: Where—?! Where is it—?! Where did it—?!
Turning around with this horrified expression to where Ram was, he saw what he was looking for in her very hands now.
As if on queue, Ram spat up a good amount of blood from her mouth as more continued to gush from her forehead as the glow on it subsided. Looking back to Roswaal herself, with a melancholic expression she held up the prize she had snatched from the jaws of defeat.
Roswaal's Gospel, torn right from his chest pocket.
Realizing what she had in her possession, Roswaal was frozen in place, as if the book itself was teetering on the edge of a cliff, and any sudden movement by himself might cause it to fall.
Seeing this look on his face, Ram took the book in her hand, and held out over a pile of green flames she had skidded to a stop next to. Left over from when she had scattered the serpent of fire with her wind magic, it was convenient it was so close to her.
Ram now gazed at the book one final glance of contempt. However, she was also smiling, despite the blood running down her face and her clothes being more tattered than they had even gotten in the fight against Garfiel.
Ram: As far as Ram is concerned... This book is the root of all evil.
Her words sent Roswaal's face in a twisted mess of pain and agony. She was much too far to do anything at this point, he knew he had no chance of getting it back now.
Letting her grasp of the book open, it was dropped into the green flames. With an audible "Foosh" the pages of the Gospel quickly caught the flames and burned up rapidly.
Ram: Finally... It's over...
At long last, Ram's goal had been achieved, and Roswaal was now forever severed from his connection to the Gospel's instruction.
Dropping to his knees, Roswaal had been defeated not with strength, but on the basis of mental fortitude, and morale.
What point was there to fighting when he had already lost what he held dear?
YN, unsure of what to do now though, given the tense air of the situation remaining, quickly had a sound enter into his ears.
*Ba-dum-Ba-dum-Ba-dum-Ba-dum-Ba-dum-Ba-dum—*
Audible only to him, YN gulped down a lump in his throat at the banging of this drum in his head. Still unsure as to what the cause of this sound was, he had noticed it always came with a sudden surprise; it almost served as an early warning mechanism.
YN looked to his left and his right, trying to guess where something or someone might leap out from or towards. As he did this though, the small, floating gray cat to his side said something rather strange not to him, but simply out loud to himself, or to someone YN hadn't noticed yet.
Puck: Hey! Now isn't the time for window shopping! He needs help!
While he was sure Puck wasn't speaking to him, YN couldn't dwell on whom he had been talking to, as the sound of the drumming seemed to focus on none other than Roswaal.
What does this mean?
Confused as to why the sound was changing, it was through this that YN more carefully looked at the defeated Margrave.
Slowly, while YN couldn't see his face entirely, the former look of hopelessness on the Margrave's side profile was gone, and only now did it start to look more like it was changing into someone who was immensely distraught.
But another, more crucial thing caught YN's eye.
The flicker of orange light on Roswaal's face as he cupped his hands before him.
Why is he preparing fire magic?
Tracing his eyes to where they were locked in on, they had Ram set as their target.
No... No this is bad!
Panic immediately set about YN's heart. Forcing himself to move, the groundskeeper broke out into a full sprint towards the peach-haired girl.
Trying to close the distance as fast as he could, a cool, white light appeared in his peripheral vision, and helped him lend augmented strength to his legs.
Algol... Finally, they're back.
This tiny relief was short lived unfortunately though, as another light began to grow in the opposite side of his vision. This light, starting out smaller, was of a warmer hue, orange, but quickly, it grew to outshine Algol's brightness.
Looking over to this, just before Roswaal was silhouetted by this incoming light, YN saw a look of tremendous vexation on his makeup-covered face.
In a last ditch bid of wrath, Roswaal had launched a fireball of considerable size at Ram. Perhaps in passion over seeing her destroy his Gospel, or perhaps out of vengeance for betraying him, Roswaal it seemed was ready to cast aside the life of the loyal maid.
YN: Ram!
Scooping up the maid with one arm, he held her limp body to his side and turned to face the incoming threat. His hand held outward, it was only thanks to Algol's renewed presence that his mana was charged as potently, and rapidly as it was.
YN: Jiwald!
Fired out, YN mustered the largest Jiwald he could whilst protecting Ram with the rest of his body. While it was definitely enough to mute the intensity of the fireball's might, ultimately the Jiwald of YN could not stand against something so masterfully casted by the likes of Roswaal.
*BOOM*
Like a bomb going off at close range, the fireball exploded, and sent YN and Ram upward with its force.
Now airborne, ragdoll-ing through the sky, while Ram was spared from any of the flames reaching her, she did see them kiss YN's face with their intense heat, searing away part of his flesh.
Despite her agonizing pain and exhausted energy, Ram's ruby red eyes went wide at seeing this, her breath catching in her throat.
YN had taken the fireball she knew was meant for her, all in a bid to keep her safe from harm.
Seeing this, and all that it meant to her, any remaining conflict, unease, or doubt in her heart was cleared, and fully came to a permanent end. Airborne still, Ram's heart now would come to a conclusion before either would hit the ground.
YN had already been the strength Ram needed for her to call upon her oni blood for a second time...
Calling upon the power of her oni heritage once was already extremely painful for Ram, but to do so twice in such a short period of time with no real rest between the instances was in the realm of impossibility before for Ram. Yet—
—because of YN... he made it so Ram felt none of it.
Now, in this moment, Ram's heart fluttered again.
Despite everything else... —despite Roswaal-sama being rendered a threat no more to our goal to liberate the Sanctuary with the destruction of his Gospel... YN still saw value in me... enough to risk his own life now.
Taking what was surely a lethal hit of magic, and if not instantly, surely one that would make him succumb to the resulting injuries, Ram gazed at YN while they still floated through the air.
—he still saw value in this broken, bloodied, poor excuse of an oni and a maid...
With absolutely no strength left now, Ram closed her eyes.
...Ram will honor what he wants. She will wait until Rem wakes up before 'deciding' what her truest feelings for YN entails.
A small, weak smile did creep across her face however.
...Really, Ram has already decided what that is... But will keep it a secret until the time is right to say.
Crashing into the cold, flowery ground, YN and Ram landed after being launched nearly halfway across the meadow by Roswaal's tantrum-fireball.
It was with this impact, Ram fully passed out, well and truly exhausted from all she had forced herself to do.
But, thanks to YN's value of her in her heart, not one scrap of pain did the maid feel still.