Just as a warning, this is supposed to take place after Arc 7. It just makes more sense that way, but there won't be heavy spoilers for that. Just some stuff from Arc 5 at the most, but even then it isn't overly monumental.

Also, the title might change. Who knows. The cover definitely will.

Enjoy!

The Kingdom of Lugnica finally managed to get through to the Witch's Cult! After trying for so long, the cult finally agreed to peacefully meet with a representative from the kingdom.

Now, one might ask: why? Why would the Kingdom of Lugnica even attempt to do such an outrageously incredulous thing?

Well, in simple terms, they were all sick and tired of the cult.

The Sage Council had spoken amongst themselves multiple times, across many days and weeks, before coming to a rather reluctant agreement. A back and forth struggle between the kingdom and the cult would only result in more deaths.

Priestella was a prime example of the potential consequences that awaited, if the struggle continued. They had won the battle but, despite that, their losses were significant in more ways than one. Many people had either fallen victim to Gluttony's power, gotten infected with some kind of unknown disease, or had died.

If anything happened on that type of scale again, the potential destruction would be insurmountable.

That was why the Sage Council went ahead with this, despite its absurdity. None of them liked it, but what choice did they really have? It was beyond their authority to simply order their destruction, despite what it may seem, and the council hesitated as to whether they were even strong enough to do so.

So, at this point, if they could only manage to convince the cult to leave them alone, that would be enough for them.

Currently, they were able to initiate some semblance of peace talks, even with how unhopeful things seemed to be. Over time, both sides agreed to a neutral location and the council dispatched a representative to meet with them, sporting a battalion escort, just to be safe.

Thus, nearly two weeks went by. Each member of the Sage Council let out an exasperated sigh. Though things seemed to be going well enough, the cult was still being … difficult. That was to say the least, anyway.

Apparently, according to their representative and some of the knights, the Archbishop of Lust was an insufferable brat.

The Sage Council had first believed her to be a child, only to be corrected by the representative, who cowered at the mistake.

"… She doesn't like to be misidentified as a child. She doesn't like not having attention … She craves it … constantly. She doesn't like being interrupted; it's difficult to even speak," the representative had said. After that, he'd continued, spiraling into muttered ramblings about his experiences with the Archbishop of Lust.

The antics of this woman had given the council numerous headaches. Unfortunately, they could only grin and bear it. If they wanted this madness to end, they would need to endure the necessary hardships.

A sacrifice for their people, as they liked to put it.

There was good news, however. Their representative had come back one day, informing them that he had successfully managed to have a proper discussion with the Archbishop. The council had been ecstatic at the news, praying to Od Laguna that some progress had actually been made, only to have their heads spin in the very next moment.

"I have finally made a breakthrough in the discussion," the representative had said, pausing for a moment, awkwardly clearing his throat with a cough. "She … She acknowledged our offer to make a deal, but …"

Their representative paused, hesitant to continue. Most of the council grew uneasy at his silence while other members grew increasingly irritant. Bordeaux Zellgef was one of the latter.

"Well? What happened?" he questioned with a noticeable frustration. "Out with it!"

The representative had hardly looked up at the Sage Council, his lips forcibly parting to continue with the report. "The Archbishop acknowledged our offer, however … she mentioned having to discuss the terms with her 'leader'."

He coughed. The representative had once again averted his gaze, knowing that the Sage Council would have varying reactions to such a revelation.

In truth, Capella had used much more colorful words to describe this supposed leader. The representative was only lucky — or perhaps unlucky — enough to understand everything that was said. Thus, he was forced to summarize her words in a much "friendlier" way during the report.

The Sage Council, meanwhile, was floored. Her leader? What kind of sick joke was that? The Witch's Cult has a current and active leader amongst them? A leader that was above the Sin Archbishops in authority, and supposedly even commanded them?

Further pondering the question, both inwardly and amongst themselves, had only yielded more questions than answers. Despite that, the council had come to a single, definite conclusion: this leader must be immensely powerful.

The Witch's Cult was composed of many powerful figures, namely their Archbishops. Each Archbishop seemed to have personalities just as chaotic as their unnatural powers.

If this leader could control them, keeping them in line and organized within the cult, then they knew that this individual was someone that they did not want to mess with. It was extremely imperative that they did not make this leader upset, lest they want to potentially suffer their wrath.

Following that discovery, there was a continuous back and forth for another week, with nothing really changing. Suddenly, one day, their representative returned in a chipper mood, catching the entire council off guard. In haste, the representative revealed that their talks had finally resulted in a reasonable stance!

The Sage Council questioned him on what had happened. The representative quickly told them that the cult agreed to have peace, but only under one condition.

When the Sage Council further inquired, the representative wasted no time in opening his mouth to tell them, making all of their eyes go wide in shock. The news was so surprising that the council immediately began ushering off their subordinates to start making the arrangements necessary to fulfill the condition.

They almost couldn't believe how easy it was. Mentally, they were all elated. Finally, at long last, they wouldn't have to deal with the cult! Why, to the sages, this must've been their best day ever!

The opposite could be said for one particular young man, however. Soon enough, his whole world would start to turn upside down.

Elsewhere, in the Miload Mansion, Natsuki Subaru was having a normal day.

He woke up next to Beatrice, his cute, contracted spirit, and proceeded to give her as many hugs and headpats as she deserved. As usual, she yelled at him for surprising her, but she always melted into his affection in no time.

After that, the two got ready for the day. Subaru's morning routine was simple enough, allowing him to leave his room in only ten minutes. He greeted many others on his way to meet up with Garfiel outside, where the two trained together for a good amount of time. It was a nice, warm day — perfect for some workouts and training.

Subaru's favorite part of the day, of course, had to be seeing Emilia. Seeing her wave at him with such a blinding smile every morning always made his heart flutter with unimaginable joy.

The icing on the cake was when she'd say, "Good morning, Subaru!" She'd say those words with such a chipper voice, enchanted by the sound of silver bells. He always loved hearing it.

He'd always make a show of his feelings afterward, too. He'd clutch his heart, dramatically yell out in pain and fall to his knees, acting like he was losing his breath. "Emilia, your voice is too beautiful for me to handle! You've taken my breath away!" he'd exclaim, only for her to giggle into her hand.

She has long since been accustomed to his antics. They were something that she looked forward to every day. Well, in truth, she was always happy with anything Subaru related. In the midst of her darkest days, Subaru had come in and revealed the sun. In fact, to her, he was the sun, and he always would be.

In a sense, he was the light of her life. Funnily enough, Subaru thought the same way about her.

Neither knew that fact about the other, though. Well, maybe that wasn't entirely true. More accurately, both of them held their own doubts. Those doubts weren't about each other, but about themselves. A particular sense of disbelief was unknowingly shared between them. Both doubted themselves, neither ever fully believing that they could ever be the target of such love and affection.

That was why, after Subaru's antics subsided, the two proceeded onward as normal friends. They chatted away about nothing in particular, only happy to be in the presence of one another.

After everything they'd been through, it was only natural. It seemed like, ever since they met, there was always an abundance of crises. They had a one year break, sure, but that break had ended with a full scale attack on a major city by the cult. From then on, it only seemed to get worse.

Only recently did things finally seem to calm down. There were no attacks, no disasters, nobody in danger, and everyone was together again. A sense of normalcy was finally restored amongst the residents of the Emilia camp.

Little did they know what was in store for them next.

"Barusu!"

Subaru and Emilia both paused, ceasing their conversation. They simultaneously turned around, locking eyes with the pink haired maid, Ram. She looked at the two of them with an indifferent expression, but Subaru could sense that there was another emotion lying beneath it.

Ram's attention first went to Emilia, bowing respectfully, "My apologies, Emilia-sama, for the interruption."

Emilia shook her head, raising a single hand, trying her best to deny the maid's apology. "Don't worry about it, Ram. What did you need to speak with Subaru about?"

Having rightfully addressed Emilia first, Ram finally directed her focus toward Subaru. Her gaze was different, sharpening in an instant, as though it were a blade. "Barusu, were you expecting a visitor?"

At the inquiry, Subaru became confused. Emilia seemed to share the same sentiments, looking at him and raising a questioning brow. "Uh … I'm not," he answered, unsure. "Who is it?"

Ram's expression changed, her critical and piercing gaze softening. It seemed as though she believed him. "Two women. They request your presence. I believe it's best that we meet them, before they get impatient."

Subaru was not dense. He was not an idiot, and he knew Ram well enough by now. She was clearly apprehensive.

Ram didn't waste any time, turning around and motioning for Subaru to trail behind her. She may have been trying to hide it, but Subaru knew that Ram was in some kind of a hurry. He quietly followed along, with Emilia following him in turn. Emilia could only look between him and Ram as they walked, confusion laced in both her gaze.

Subaru, unfortunately, fared no better. He was just as confused as her. He could only ponder the situation as they got closer and closer to their destination.

Who could possibly want to see him, and only him, at that? Royalty, one of the candidates, or some high ranking noble, perhaps?

Subaru shook his head, denying the prospect. If any of those three possibilities were the case, why didn't they want to meet with Emilia too, or even Roswaal? Both were the main figureheads of the camp, so it seemed illogical to meet with Subaru without the presence of either of them.

Plus, Ram worried him. He could see through her mask of indifference; he knew that she was worried. Ram was never one to be so easily shaken. So, he had to ask himself: just who could manage to startle Ram like this?

By the time the group of three finally reached the front door, a small crowd had already formed. It seemed as though curiosity had killed the cat, in this case. Some, such as Petra and Meili, had come only to hide out of sight, clearly afraid. Meili was in a much worse state, compared to Petra, though. Otto stood with them, similarly shaken, but doing his best to keep the girls calm.

Garfiel and Frederica looked at the two women in the doorway with different expressions. Garfiel scowled, snarling as if he would pounce on them at any given moment. Frederica looked protective, ready to jump and defend her kin, her family, at a moment's notice.

Beatrice was the closest to the door, unblinkingly glaring without any loss of focus. Her eyes nor body refused to budge. She would not let these people out of her sight. She wouldn't dare give them an opportunity.

Subaru looked at the women. Neither seemed fazed by the hostility they received, not even in the slightest.

One of the women looked bored, her eyes nearly half-closed, looking off to the side. Her short, golden hair blew slightly, courtesy of a new breeze. She also wore an incredibly skimpy outfit, which gave Subaru nothing short of a very incredulous impression. Her arms were crossed over her chest, a frown occupying her lips. It really seemed as though she did not want to be here.

Subaru recognized her immediately as Capella, the Sin Archbishop of Lust. He recognized her from Priestella. He couldn't possibly forget her.

He was tempted to get defensive, but he stopped. The other woman, the one that Capella was with, drew Subaru's attention.

There was something off-putting about the other woman that he just couldn't describe. She looked directly at him, and only at him. Her eyes, as blue as the ocean, seemed to sparkle, as did the small smile that graced her lips. Her pale body gave off a glowing radiance, as did her long, platinum hair, which almost captivated him.

It was her outfit, however, what really threw him for a loop. It glowed, just as her body did, but that wasn't what stumped his mind.

It was a wedding dress. It was a small one, not having a big gown like most dresses that he'd seen, but this was no doubt a traditional wedding dress.

Looking back up to her eyes, he found that they'd never wavered. Those blue eyes of hers never once looked away from him, not even once. He wasn't sure if she'd even blinked.

Subaru gulped, his anxiety, confusion and nervousness amplifying. In truth, he wasn't even entirely sure as to why. All he knew was that he had a particularly bad feeling about this.

He had to shake his head, getting rid of those thoughts. Subaru chose to look at Emilia, trying his best to focus on something else, but that decision only made things worse. In fact, looking at Emilia had caused his stomach to drop, worry and fear overtaking him.

Her expression was blank, her pupils dilated. The atmosphere turned ice-cold as Emilia stood motionless, emotionlessly staring ahead at the platinum-haired woman. Subaru felt a chill run down his back, but he was unsure if it was from the temperature or his overwhelming anxiety.

Capella coughed into her hand, making everyone jump. Those that were already defensive only became more on edge, readying themselves to attack at a moment's notice. The ones that were apprehensive merely cowered back, afraid of a confrontation.

The Archbishop, surprisingly, didn't attack. In fact, she wasn't hostile at all, only keeping the same bored expression as before. Her eyes landed on Subaru for a moment, causing them to widen. Something within her changed as she looked at him, making her want to almost gravitate towards him. One quick glance at the other woman by her side, however, suddenly made Capella flinch and direct her attention elsewhere.

That reaction didn't go unnoticed. Everyone, either defensive or afraid, each asked themselves the same question: who was this woman? Who could possibly spook an Archbishop into flinching like that?

Only one of them knew the answer to that question.

Capella pulled out a rolled up document from somewhere, and Subaru didn't even want to know where she had been keeping it. Luckily, he didn't have to ponder on it, since Capella quickly unrolled the document. She looked it over once before turning it around for everyone to see.

"This is a signed document by your Sage Council, or whatever," she said, her tone slightly irritated and annoyed. "In exchange for 'peace' and 'non-violence,' they agreed to our single condition. From now on, we'll be living here! It's listed right here, for proof! You better treat this lovely lady with respect!"

Her attitude flipped around as she suddenly looked prideful, all while everybody else looked completely bewildered. Fear and disbelief consumed everyone in the room. "Why would they want to live here, and why would the Sage Council ever allow or agree to such a thing?" was what they all asked themselves.

After further examining the document in Capella's hands, Beatrice's eyes widened in horror. "That … That's not a lease, I suppose." She glanced back at Subaru, feeling both protective and afraid for him. "You are living here because that's … It's a …"

The platinum-haired woman took a step forward, locking eyes with Subaru. He felt lightheaded, as though he'd faint at any second.

"My name is Pandora. I am your new wife. I am truly happy to be with you. Thank you for your hospitality, and I look forward to getting to know you more."

Subaru's world shattered.

Then he fainted.