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Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

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Creator Chose Not To Use Archive WarningsGraphic Depictions Of Violence

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Characters:

Tanya von DegurechaffEmilia (Re:Zero)Reinhard van AstreaFelt (Re:Zero)Roswaal L MathersNatsuki SubaruCrusch KarstenRem (Re:Zero)Petelgeuse Romanée-ContiRegulus CorneasBeing X (Youjo Senki)

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CrossoverOpen for suggestionsOther Additional Tags to Be AddedIllustrationsMild GorePost-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSDPoliticsMagicCross-Posted on FanFiction.NetAuthor Is Sleep DeprivedOne Day I will probably rewrite this but who knowsCanon-Typical ViolenceMysteryMemory Loss

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English

Series:

Part 1 of Isekai Adventures of a Salaryman Next Work →

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Published:2021-04-07Updated:2022-08-24Words:132,758Chapters:67/?Comments:1,654Kudos:1,699Bookmarks:279Hits:99,104

Tanya starts from Zero

A_Morte_Perpetua_Machina_Libera_Nos

Chapter 40: Conversing with madness

Notes:

First I had to go to a prom, the a second one, then I had to pack and unpack our camping equipment and go hiking...

--> delay

EDIT: 15.000 Hits!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Chapter 40

Tanya had not expected to find one half of the mansion encased in ice. Spikes, more than twenty metres long were bursting through the walls and roof and a thin blanket of snow laid on the surrounding area.

Another, thankfully smaller part of the building seemed to be on fire if the smoke was anything to go by and many of the windows in the lower floors were destroyed. The signs of an attack on a comparatively massive scale were so obvious that even a Russi general couldn´t have missed it.

Waiting in front of the slowly crumbling manor stood a lanky, green figure surrounded by familiarly dressed cultists. Based on his different attire and his central position she assumed him to be higher up in the hierarchy. Even though he was a maddened terrorist the fact that he represented some kind of authority should give him more brain capacity than his drone-like underlings. So maybe he wouldn´t immediately attack on sight? It was worth a shot at least.

Soon an identical illusion of her floated over to the edge of the forest and hovered in the air above them while she hid inside a nearby tree. The less distance between her and the illusion the more convincing her trick would be. But she didn't want to be directly in the line of fire should the cultists possess a super weapon of some kind.

"Greetings. I have come with peaceful intentions."

Her optical clone opened her arms in a non-threatening manner.

The green man spun around and showed his sickly pale face to her. His eyes were bloodshot and bulged out of his skull while his skin stretched too tight over his skull. For some reason he visibly sniffed the air and broke out into uncomfortable laughter.

"What is this? Could it be? Could it be? A fellow believer in love! Are you the one who was awaited? Hmm?"

The madman was talking and although his words should not be trusted on account of his clearly dysfunctional mental state, it was still a brilliant opportunity to fish for more information. These people were hardly the whole witch´s cult after all. Wherever the other members hid themselves she needed more intel to combat them in the future.

Denying his ramblings could anger him which would terminate the conversation, but pretending to be whoever "the one who was awaited" was could end equally as bad. Just dodging the question should work fine though.

"Perhaps. Awaited by whom, should be the question. You have not yet introduced yourself."

"Of course! How could I be so forgetful, so lacking, so slothful!"

He began to punch himself so hard that she could hear bones break. Suddenly he stopped his self-mutilation and stood ramrod straight only to sink into a bow so deep that it couldn't be healthy for his spine. His minions followed suit in perfect unison as if they were lifeless puppets strung along which strengthened the theory of them being mindless.

"I am the sin archbishop representing sloth, Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti – DESU!*"

Disgusting. If there were any doubts that she was speaking with a madman then they were now out of the window. That crazed gleam in his eyes as he screamed his own name couldn´t be faked. A maddened fire burned in them that she remembered all too well from her encounters with Mary Sioux.

"And what, if I may ask, are you doing here in my domain? I have a special interest in this place you see."

What would he want from Emilia or Roswaal? That was the crux of the matter.

"Ah, my love sent me here! It is the will of the witch that we have met today! Can you not feel it? It was destined to be this way!"

What a fool. Humans made their own destiny. By entrusting his fate to the jealous witch he robbed himself of control and evaded responsibility for his actions. That made him not only coward but also an idiot.

Nonetheless she would need to fish deeper after that non-answer of his.

"Mmmhhh" she raised her hand to her chin as if deep in thought. "Could it be that we are indeed here because of the same thing?

"Yes! It must be! The ordeal will commence! Now tell me, are you perhaps pride? The seat has been vacant for some time you see and the scent of love clings to you as thickly as it only would to a sin archbishop!"

Was he insinuating that she had the potential to become a sin archbishop? How dare he! As if she would ever join such a retarded club of lunatics! Especially as the representative of the sin of pride! When did she ever indulge in prideful acts?

Yes, she had pride in being a mature human being with a sense of independence and self-worth, but everybody healthy should treat themselves with dignity like that. All of her decisions in her past two lives had been aimed at being of optimal service to her employers or the population at large. Never had she tried to acquire power simply for becoming more powerful or because she deluded herself into thinking that she was the best possible ruler! She had always just been the least terrible alternative!

How dare he call her prideful after everything she had sacrificed!

Tanya calmed herself by remembering that Petelgeuse was a madman after all. His words were as nonsensical as they were confusing. Still, it would not be good to underestimate his intellect or ruthlessness. He had become a leader figure among a group of people who were undoubtedly as deranged as him or else they wouldn't have accepted him as the one in charge.

"What do you know about the ordeal? I am not sure what exactly you mean by that? You would share your knowledge of love with me would you?"

She desperately hoped that she had sounded like one of his cult members even though she had no clue what "love" he was talking about. He had mentioned it multiple times so it had to be important.

"You don't know! YOU DON´T KNOW! How indolent, how ignorant, how SLOTHFUL!"

For a moment Tanya feared that she had wasted her opportunity and would have to kill him before he had depleted his usefulness, but he suddenly seized his angered flailing.

With a strangely empty expression he began to sway from side to side until he threw his hands into the air and deceptively softly proclaimed: "But I will be forgiving of your misdeeds this once! The great witch loves us all after all. Yes, you shall be enlightened by her divine intellect so that you may marvel at how genius the plan is that she has laid out for us."

His mood swings were so irritating! How anyone would want to work under a boss like him was beyond her.

"The ordeal is a sacred ritual to decide the worth Satella´s next vessel! Only a Halfling of elven descent could be the carrier of her glorious form, so I have been diligently seeking them out wherever I can find them and subjected them to her judgement. If the girl in these walls survives then that proves that she is the chosen one. If not then she was obviously a disgusting, worthless, wicked impostor! Can you see it? The simple brilliance of the ordeal?"

Really that was the plan? Throw everything he could at Emilia to kill her and see if she survives in spite of it? Well, to be honest it kind of reminded her of her own days training her battalion with sustained artillery bombardment and daylong treks through ice and snow. But in her defence, back then she had been closely watching them to ensure that nobody died and she had needed a lot of capable soldiers quickly to shield her from enemy bullets!

Her recruits had received a proper education beforehand and been repeatedly warned of the dangers that they were about to face. None of them had been surprised; or at least they shouldn´t have been!

This man was just wasting the lives of most likely civilians who were in no way, shape or form expecting a surprise attack from dozens of highly capable fighters! At the same time mind you! Even a veteran of her calibre would struggle against that, as worrying as the thought was. This moronic "ordeal" proved absolutely nothing other than civilians were not capable of defeating an overwhelming ambush!

Not to mention, what if he succeeded? What if Satella really received a new body? Wouldn´t she just destroy the other half of the world? The same world that this idiot was unfortunately living on? The jealous witch would kill him too!

At least his delusional screeching had indirectly confirmed that Emilia was still alive. Probably.

"What a sophisticated plan! Truly, you have been blessed by her that she would share something so refined with you."

"Yes, yes, yes! You understand! Will you now come down to watch as we..."

She had no time to squander with his pointless rambling. Her business partner was in imminent danger.

"No." she said before an enhanced bullet ripped through his skull, leaving a small, red crater in the lawn behind him. It might have been overkill, but she wouldn´t want to risk it. For good measure she squeezed off a second shot straight through his heart which finally toppled the near headless corpse over.

"Eight bullets in the magazine left." her subconscious pointed helpfully out.

As she evaded the various fire, ice, earth and air projectiles from the cultists below she wished she had taken her rifle with her. Hopefully her explosive formulas wouldn´t overload the small barrel of her sidearm.

Four average explosions later and her gun was indeed slightly glowing at the very tip. On the plus the side, the ground was now largely cultist (and grass) free. Reinforcements would soon arrive so she would need to make haste. With some luck the other terrorists in the mansion would come to check on their leader and she would have enough time to extract Emilia and possibly the maid before she met up with Rem´s carriage and retreated to the capital. Roswaal should sort out the rest of this mess.

Explosions indoors wouldn't do her any good though so she holstered her pistol (vainly hoping that the hot metal wouldn't burn the leather) and drew both her cutlass and her knife. Melee was not her speciality, but she was optimistic that her talent would suffice. More power went to her shield to counteract any ambushes in the enclosed spaces and she was ready to go. Exactly fifteen seconds after she had eliminated Petelgueuse she sped up and smashed through the nearest window.

Where was that damned half-elf hiding?

Note: *= Desu means apparently "I am" or something similar. I had to look it up, because I never understood that part of his introduction.

Notes:

Check out my new fic "Paid in Blood" (yeah I´m sorry)! It´s a Bloodborne x Youjo Senki crossover, because as far as I could find nobody (with 1 exception) has done that before! Feel free to leave your ideas and wishes for that story in the comments.

(I have literally 0 self-control so I had to write it now!)

You can find it in the link below :)

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Rating:

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Archive Warnings:

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive WarningsGraphic Depictions Of Violence

Fandoms:

Characters:

Tanya von DegurechaffEmilia (Re:Zero)Reinhard van AstreaFelt (Re:Zero)Roswaal L MathersNatsuki SubaruCrusch KarstenRem (Re:Zero)Petelgeuse Romanée-ContiRegulus CorneasBeing X (Youjo Senki)

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Language:

English

Series:

Part 1 of Isekai Adventures of a Salaryman Next Work →

Stats:

Published:2021-04-07Updated:2022-08-24Words:132,758Chapters:67/?Comments:1,654Kudos:1,699Bookmarks:279Hits:99,104

Tanya starts from Zero

A_Morte_Perpetua_Machina_Libera_Nos

Chapter 41: (Not) Giving up

Notes:

Can you blieve it? This work sits currently at place 6 of the most read Youjo Senki fics!

Incredible.

EDIT: 15.500 Hits!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Chapter 41

Where was Emilia? That question got more urgent with every corridor she slaughtered her way through. Hooded figures were streaming out of doors left and right and threw themselves at her with reckless abandon. They truly had no survival instincts. It was as if they were attempting to slow her down regardless of the cost to themselves.

The deeper she ventured into the manor and the redder her clothes were dyed by the oncoming hoards, the colder everything became. Tanya had to layer multiple temperature conservation and isolation formulas over another to keep herself from freezing. How any cultists moved here without supporting magic was an enigma to her.

Another head was parted from its neck and another dagger was reflected to the side when she heard a familiar sounding scream. Raising her tempo she sped around the corner to find the two people she was looking for.

However they were not in a condition she was hoping them to be. Surrounded by literal mountains of corpses Ram was laying unconscious in a corner where the frost was suspiciously not crawling into and Emilia...

Tanya would have never imagined the half-elf to look so... unhinged?

Blood was splattered all over her face and white dress, probably staining it forever. Her eyes were filled with equal parts hatred and fear if her shaking limbs were anything to go by. Although that could also be a result of the crippling coldness in the air. Countless smaller and a few greater wounds littered her body. As soon as her wide eyes spotted Tanya all her energy seemed to vanish and her posture immediately slumped.

"You... Someone... Came..."

And with these words she promptly collapsed to the floor which Tanya bolstered with a lazily conjured barrier formula under the girl´s head. It would be pretty frustrating if she made all the effort to rescue her only to lose her business partner at the last moment because she hit her cranium too hard.

Mana fatigue had most likely taken its toll on the poor girl due to her expending ludicrous amounts of it too freeze half the mansion. Tanya had to admit she was impressed by how long Emilia had managed to uphold such costly spells even though at the end here she seemed to be purely running on spite. Her own mana pool would have definitely not been able to accomplish anything remotely similar without relying on the Type 95.

Cooling something was harder than making it explode after all. One played against the natural entropy of the world while the other sped it up. Not to mention that controlling a small superheated bubble of metal and air was far easier to handle than a whole field of fluctuating temperatures and moisture levels. Emilia was more gifted than she realized. With some training she would be a fine asset and some day... maybe more.

That led to question: Where was Puck? Wasn´t he a great spirit or something? And contracted to protect Emilia in cases like this? Was he dead? Irrelevant for the moment although she would have gladly received some assistance with transporting two injured girls. She was no medic and dead tired on top!

Huffing heavily she lifted Emilia over her shoulder, carful to check if she had any broken ribs beforehand. Even with several enhancement formulas the strain on her body was becoming hardly bearable when she gripped Ram by the collar and attempted the same. There was no way she would be able to run, not to mention fly, like that. Even if she had been in optimal condition that would have been no easy feat.

Which meant that she would need to needed to either both distract and delay the witch´s cult until Rem´s carriage arrived or she would need to kill them before that.

Two seconds was all it took for a decision to form in her enhancement fuelled brain and she sat down the two unconscious girls she was carrying. Going over to a nearby sofa she attempted to pull it, but the legs were frozen to the floor and subsequently splintered at her forceful tug like paper. Well, that was not really an inconvenience for Tanya.

Her living cargo was transferred to the couch where she did her best to staunch the worst flesh wounds so that they wouldn´t immediately die on her. Rem´s healing would have to do the rest. Afterwards she started pulling the makeshift stretcher along the hallway which was thankfully pretty easy due to the thin layer of ice everywhere. Hypothermia would kill the girls before blood loss at this point.

Clearing cultist bodies from her path with powerful kicks left and right was slowing her down, but she was making good progress in her opinion considering that she had to keep an eye out and a hand free for any stragglers that she had missed.

The window to the front lawn (and thus the road to the village) was just a few dozen metres away when a lone figure stepped in front of it. He wore the same unmistakable manic grin as the archbishop she had just killed minutes earlier. Furthermore he differentiated himself from the other cultists by not wearing a mask as well. Was he a different sin archbishop? Reflexively she drew her pistol and shot, but the bullet seemed to halt mid air until it all of a sudden exploded.

"False apostle of her love, we meet again! Do not think you could escape me so easily. You dare to insult her by trying to stop me? How foolish. To let death come in the way of duty would be most slothful."

Ok, the guy rambled way too much. Had he already forgotten how she had killed his colleague? This invisible barrier that he was now using was a problem though. Her next response to circumvent the barrier would be to fire above his head and collapse the ceiling, but the building was unstable enough and she really didn´t want to dig her way through tons of stone and wood right now.

Retreating down the hallway was also not an option, because of her cargo so she did the next best thing and aimed her weapon at the floor.

Ice, burnt carpet, wood and marble splinters exploded against her flaring shield formula while she did her best to get away as far as possible under the cover of the smoke. With haste she dragged the two bleeding girls behind her to the next door and threw it open. Only, one of them couldn´t be moved. Perplexed she looked down and saw Ram´s foot unnaturally dangling in the air.

"What?" was all she could think before the maid was brutally yanked backwards, out of her grasp.

Something formed a tunnel in the dust cloud, but what it was she could not discern. Then the smoke was blown away as if it was fanned by invisible hands. What was happening? Another two precious shots were wasted when they uselessly detonated in mid air without ever reaching their target.

"I see... Such conviction, such determination... But at the end you couldn´t save your little friend here." The lunatic said as Ram dangled by her ankle in front of him.

"Do you see that her gift, the power of love, trumps all your pathetic attempts? To try so hard, but ultimately fail... How slothful." he grinned as Rams entire leg twisted in his invisible grasp.

Tanya needed to get out of here fast. The maid had become an unfortunate casualty.

Canon Omake: Where is the Colonel?

"Where is she? Where?"

The general staff room was in uproar. Worry and tension were written clearly on all faces present.

"I don´t know Sir. Nobody has seen even a glimpse of her since she went to her room in the Aurdé Hotel." the messenger reported.

"I want every available mage of her battalion to search of her. Turn the whole city upside down if you have to!"

"But Sir, they´re already doing that! Our scanners aren´t picking up her magical signature and her personal frequency has been inactive since forty seven hours!"

"Of course you aren't going her that way! She is the best soldier in the damn Empire!"

"If you can´t find her that way then monitor all train stations and airports in the country. She can´t be staying in the air forever if she is indeed using magic to hide from us."

"It´s probably too late for that. She could be anywhere at this point! Who knows what she has been up to!"

The thought of an unsupervised Tanya von Degurechaff gone rogue made Rerugen´s stomach churn.

"Remember the Dacia campaign? She ended the war on that front in one day! In one fucking day! Whatever she has planned cannot be stopped by the likes of us."

"Yeah. Degurechaff has a nasty habit of delivering uncompromising results. We will only be able to react to her actions afterwards. Only god himself has any chance of beating her in real fights or strategy games."

"Then maybe we should focus more on what she could be doing right now."

"I reckon it´s a secret mission from the Kaiser."

"What makes you say that?"

"Oh come on Rerugen. Isn´t it obvious? She is loyal as a dog, battle-crazed as a valkyrie and smart as a fox. She is the darling of the Empire, our greatest asset. So much so, that the men have began calling her the imperial symbol of victory even! She´s a one man army! Of course the Kaiser is gonna send her on a mission he doesn´t want us to know about. Who else? If it's more than a few people then there´s a risk that it's going to come out. A secret is only a secret as long as only one person knows after all."

Rudersdorf took a deep, calming drag from his cigar and slowly exhaled the smoke.

"She just recently got promoted to Colonel. Has more medals than fit on her coat and has shown time and time again that she would sacrifice her own life for our nation! Someone like Degurechaff wouldn´t run away and desert in the last few minutes of war. If we´re being honest, she is basically responsible for ending it in the first place! The Kaiser is only one with higher authority than ourselves so he must be the one who ordered her to disappear."

"Mmmm... I can´t quite disagree, my old friend."

"Ha! I'm not that old."

"Of course that would only be the most logical conclusion if we assume that Colonel Degurechaff has gone AWOL voluntarily."

"You don´t mean..."

"Yes, indeed. The Colonel has always been remarkable professional and level-headed despite her age. Even if the Kaiser had personally sent her on an urgent mission she would have left a note to detail her absence. This is completely unlike her."

"Are you saying she has been abducted?"

Zettour nodded solemnly.

"Preposterous! Who could kidnap the White Silver? Those Russy Dogs and the damned Republicans couldn´t do it when they still had thousands to throw at her! How would they manage to accomplish the impossible so deep in enemy territory?"

"They didn´t." said Rerugen.

"Huh?"

"Gentlemen, it seems we have a traitor among our troupes." he continued gravely.

"No..."

"The Argent has been betrayed and sold out by one of our own men. Most likely the Unified States have pushed for this, because they are getting desperate and want to make up for their losses by holding Degurechaff at ransom. They could even try to execute her for supposed war crimes should we not agree to their conditions in the upcoming peace treaty." Zettour explained.

"That would be insane! She is just one soldier!"

"Yet at the same time they know that she is much more for us than that. Morale would plummet should we lose our symbol of victory. Maybe the Russy would even try again now that their most feared enemy is no longer able to crush them. As much as pains me to say, we need the Argent until the war is officially over." Rerugen answered while adjusting his glasses.

"Ow, I think I'm getting a headache."

"Don´t we all."

"Damn it you monster! Causing me trouble even when you aren´t even there!" thought Rerugen.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile the Salamander Kampfgruppe was in a similar state of unrest.

"Where could she be? Where would the Colonel hide?"

"She has probably found a nest of rebels or insurrectionists and is singlehandedly rooting them out. You know how she is. Thos poor sods are going to live through hell on earth! Ha!"

"I'm telling you! She´s been kidnapped!"

"That doesn´t make it better!"

"Yeah but..."

"I don´t want to hear it!" roared Victoriya. "Silence, you all!"

Her voice had an edge to it that instinctively quieted everyone down who had seen her "Mr. Shovel" in action.

"What would the Colonel think of us if we were running around like a bunch of headless chickens? She would be disappointed!"

Everybody shivered. Nobody wanted to disappoint their commander.

"We have searched every room in the hotel and have flown over every quadrant of the city. The woods nearby have been combed through by me personally and no one has picked up even a hint of her magical signature."

Many frowned or nodded grimly.

"That is why we must widen our search. Take provisions for a week and form pairs of two. Patrol above main streets and cities in a one hundred kilometre radius. Stay in frequent contact and keep an eye out for any people that look like her or show any other sign of suspicious behaviour. Just like she taught us: Code Alpha 3766 – Scatter and Observe. Is that clear?"

"YES MA´AM!"

Strictly speaking Viktoriya had not the ultimate authority to order such manoeuvres, but as the Argent´s aid and the one person who knew her the most they accepted her judgement. It wasn´t like they didn't want to find their leader as soon as possible after all. Even though they feared her, they also trusted their Colonel with their lives. She was the woman who had made them who they were today; the elite of the elite, the best combat mages in history.

"Don´t worry Tanya, I will find you. Even if it takes my life. For without you I am nothing." vowed Viktoriya to herself. If she had to rip the whole world apart to get to her love, so be it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Schugel whimpered silently in his bed. The past few days he had been inconsolable. They told him to stop moping and get back to work; to eat and smile, but how could he? The comforting presence at the back of his head was gone. The light of god that had gifted him with divine inspiration was absent. His soul felt like he was being swallowed by darkness never to return from it.

Later historians would link his life-ending depression to the disappearance of the Argent. How right they had been, they would never truly know.

Notes:

The Omake is for "SunlightOverdrive" who whished for a short reaction from the Youjo Senki cast.

And no, Visha will not come to Lugnica if any of you are wonndering that. :(

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Entire Work ← Previous Chapter Next Chapter → Chapter Index Edit Bookmark Mark for Later Comments Share Download

Work Header

Rating:

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Archive Warnings:

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive WarningsGraphic Depictions Of Violence

Fandoms:

Characters:

Tanya von DegurechaffEmilia (Re:Zero)Reinhard van AstreaFelt (Re:Zero)Roswaal L MathersNatsuki SubaruCrusch KarstenRem (Re:Zero)Petelgeuse Romanée-ContiRegulus CorneasBeing X (Youjo Senki)

Additional Tags:

Language:

English

Series:

Part 1 of Isekai Adventures of a Salaryman Next Work →

Stats:

Published:2021-04-07Updated:2022-08-24Words:132,758Chapters:67/?Comments:1,654Kudos:1,699Bookmarks:279Hits:99,104

Tanya starts from Zero

A_Morte_Perpetua_Machina_Libera_Nos

Chapter 42: Defeat and retreat

Notes:

Roughly half way done with this arc! (If my plans for the story don´t change.)

EDIT: 16.000 Hits!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Chapter 42

The sounds of bones crunching and dying screams were still ringing in her ears as she threw Emilia through the door and jumped after her. This hasty retreat had obviously been the right decisions as no later than a heartbeat afterwards the doorframe was reduced to splinters by the same invisible force that was tearing Ram apart at the moment.

Whatever magic the presumed brother of Petelgeuse was using was strong enough to break a human body and stop her bullets. Emilia was still unconscious despite her rough landing on the carpet so that meant she would be of no use in a fight due to severe mana exhaustion.

Overall Tanya´s chances weren´t good in the confrontation that would no doubt ensue in a few seconds. Her overworked, overcharged brain was desperately searching for a solution to a problem that she had not the time to even fully describe.

If directly attacking the super-cultist was not effective than she just would have to do it indirectly. Had she had a moment to prepare, she could have perhaps initiated a hot enough fire to burn the oxygen in the hallway and suffocate her enemy, but such a death would take too long anyway. Collapsing the building was no option with Emilia directly behind her. A thrown knife had no guarantee to penetrate his invisible shield, even with a mage blade.

Suddenly a stray idea from the depth of her subconscious hit her. Years ago she had once discussed it in a theoretical paper about guerrilla warfare as a last resort for undersupplied mages. It was risky and stupid and overall horribly inefficient, but she was desperate. Hastily she fished a spare magazine from her pocket and drew a basic heat array around it.

The madman outdoors was spouting some arrogant bullshit, but she had no time to listen as she completed the spell and charged it with as much energy she could muster in a pinch. All that excess mana was held inside a purposely shoddy storage formula that instantly began to rapidly degrade. This was it, an improvised hand grenade.

With exert precision she threw the slowly overheating magazine outside so that it would slide over the floor in the direction of the still babbling cultist.

"But you can never hide for long from the... Huh? Is that supposed to be a –"

"BOOM" thundered the sound of a dozen bullets simultaneously going off in several different directions. One even ricocheted off her own mage shell.

Tanya didn´t wait to confirm if she had gotten him, but instead reloaded her pistol lightning fast with the last clip she had on her person and pushed the most powerful penetrating formula she could into the next shot. To maximize her potential of hitting him she aimed for where she calculated his torso to be and fired blindly. Once again desperation led her hand.

Faintly she registered that the inside of her mouth tasted of blood, because she pushed herself too hard, but the logical conclusion of that thought was promptly ignored. A basic optic formula reflected the light around the corner and showed, to her immense relief, that she had at least partially succeeded. No one was standing upright in the corridor which was a good sign. Nonetheless did she send an illusionary clone out first to check if he was just faking his demise.

Only after a few moments of tense waiting did she finally step out into the destroyed hallway to look at her handiwork. She really had not needed to fear a trick from her enemy.

As a side effect of her wall-penetrating shot the flesh in the area where he had been hit had completely been evaporated from the ultra-high-temperature beam. Because the fluids inside his body had instantly been vaporized which had led to his blood vessels expanding and rupturing, he was now a nearly unrecognizable pile of steaming meat. It was genuinely hard to tell his inside and outside apart.

Although this technique had been effective at killing Petelgeuse´s accomplice, it had also taken up a considerable amount of mana. She wouldn´t last much longer if anymore of those super powered freaks showed up.

"What a mess." Tanya sighed.

Slinging the unresponsive half-elf over her aching shoulder once more she made her way over to the blown out window and jumped straight down.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If Rem had been panicked before she was now outright catatonic. The emotions she had been feeling from her sister had gradually gotten weaker and weaker, but now they had turned to pure pain and fear before completely cutting off.

Her beloved sister was d-

No! She would not think about it! As long as she breathed she would not give up her only family. There was still hope. She owed to Ram to not write her off as d- ... lost.

Thanks to her driving the ground dragon ragged they had finally reached the village and the sit made her nauseous. Corpses upon corpses of innocent villagers lined the streets. The hl had been violated in the worst ways imaginable. Even the children.

Rem had never known them well or particularly cared for them, but the horrid sight reminded her of her own past.

Burning houses.

Whenever she had come here to buy supplies the elders had smiled at her.

The smell of blood from her dying parents.

Subaru had gathered all the kids around and they had played a game together.

Cries of despair in the starless night.

Petra had laughed so much when she caught her.

Her sister getting hurt.

Now they were all dead.

Because she had been too slow.

Too weak.

Too selfish.

She was damned to repeat the sins of her past over and over it seemed. Again everything had been taken from her and despite all her growth she was still powerless to stop it. The shame, the fury, the misery were becoming too much to suppress.

Her hands shook from rage as she finally lost control over her instincts.

Hatred and anguish pushed her humanity aside and forced a glowing, white horn out of her forehead. All the mana in the vicinity was sucked in and only further fuelled the raging Oni. Like a swirling vortex of vengeance her mind revolved entirely around violence. Her whole being became a weapon without the capacity for clear thought or compassion.

She didn´t care anymore that the carriage was threatening to topple over from all the corpses in its way. She didn´t care that Subaru was sobbing from somewhere behind her. She didn´t care that she was breaking her promise to remain level headed.

All that mattered to her was to punish the villains who had sullied her life with their evil. Nothing could be more important to her than to hear them scream in agony, crush their bones and bathe in their blood.

If seen from the right angle her eyes would have looked like they blazing with crimson light to an outside observer.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subaru had never felt so ill in his life. He thought that he had sunken to the deepest pits of hell before, but as always destiny loved to prove him wrong and subject him to something even more horrible. The first "worst moment of his entire existence" had been slowly bleeding out in an alleyway after a couple of thugs had robbed him blind. Then the next had been getting tortured by Rem in the woods. The one after that had been when he was forced to watch as the mabeasts ripped the village children apart.

But none of them came close to the soul-crushing dread he felt upon witnessing the massacre of Irlam village. It was... indescribable. No words could do it justice. Bile rose in his throat and he retched out of the window. Directly the next moment he felt even worse, because he had probably just vomited on a dead person. How much more disrespectful could you get.

All his hard work to save them had been meaningless. All the happy hours he had spent with Petra and the others were now a thing of the past. He would be the only one to remember them. Their hopes and dreams had been extinguished before their time. They would never laugh and squeak in joy again when he told them funny stories or showed them magic tricks.

Unbeknownst to him tears had begun to steam down his cheeks. He was far too shocked to register his surroundings anymore.

Everything was his fault. If he hadn´t been so reckless in using his gate then he wouldn´t need healing and Rem and he would not have left the mansion. He could have been there to save them all! Now it was too late!

Too late...

But...

He could prevent it, couldn´t he?

Bit by bit an ice-cold realization set in.

With Return by Death he could make it as if it never happened. It would be alone his responsibility. Only he would need to suffer.

His hope was short-lived however as he really thought about it. Would he even be fast enough? They had needed several hours to travel here and they already went as fast as they could. How could he be even quicker than that?

Tanya! Yes, she could fly! She would be able to reach the village in time and evacuate it! She already believed that he had some sort of foresight ability so she would definitely trust his word! It was the perfect plan! At least the best he could come up with at the moment.

Would the villagers believe her though? They had been hesitant to believe him at first too, because he was a stranger at the time. They wouldn't recognize Tanya and that would cost them precious time. Time they most likely didn't have.

Maybe Rem could fly with her? She would manage to convince the elders seeing as she was a trusted employee of their liege. Provided that Tanya would be able to lift her. How much did the Oni girl weigh anyway? Hopefully she wouldn´t misinterpret the question.

"Rem, do you... Rem? Where are you?"

The driver seat was empty.

"Oh no..."

Notes:

Question to all of you Re:Zero lore experts:

Is Reinhard allowed to leave the capital or does he require permission to do so?

Because I remember reading somewhere that he does, but I am not entirely sure. I know that he can´t travell near the border, because that could be seen as an act of war. He is basically a one man army after all. But does he have to stay in the capital?

And as a second question: Does the capital have a name? If so I never heard it.

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Tanya von DegurechaffEmilia (Re:Zero)Reinhard van AstreaFelt (Re:Zero)Roswaal L MathersNatsuki SubaruCrusch KarstenRem (Re:Zero)Petelgeuse Romanée-ContiRegulus CorneasBeing X (Youjo Senki)

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Published:2021-04-07Updated:2022-08-24Words:132,758Chapters:67/?Comments:1,654Kudos:1,699Bookmarks:279Hits:99,104

Tanya starts from Zero

A_Morte_Perpetua_Machina_Libera_Nos

Chapter 43: Unexpected interruption

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Chapter 43

Despite her taking Emilia´s weight into account the landing on the grass below was a hard one. The front gates were only a stone throw away and then she would be out of here. Technically, flying towards Rem would be the safer alternative compared to walking on the ground, but Tanya was not sure if she could reliably carry Emilia in her state.

Should the cultist have hidden snipers in the forest to intercept her retreat then she would not be able to dodge them while carrying a payload far heavier than herself. Yes, the half-elf was only around twenty centimetres bigger than her, but a lifetime of healthy nutrition made one hell of a difference. Normally that wouldn´t be a problem, but Tanya was fatigued and was constantly wasting more mana than she was comfortable with just to lift Emilia.

Her shields might be able to tank the damage, but she would not risk the wellbeing of her business partner after everything she had suffer through today. As soon as she reached the forest she would be able to hide herself anyway with the use of illusions and other optic formulae. So she wouldn't be at a disadvantage for long.

A problem with that however were the dark silhouettes seemingly growing out of the ground. How many more witch cultist were there? The strength that they had mustered to attack one person was obscene. In a way it reminded her of the "good old days" when allied mages had started similar witch hunts on herself. (Only with less success.)

It almost appeared to become a pattern with these lunatics when the terrorist in the middle stepped forward and took off her hood.

"There you are! Most shamefully you are disrespecting her gift by stopping the ordeal! Killing my fingers, destroying my vessels! It is UNFORGIVABLE!"

The maniac began to bite harshly on her fingers and quickly tore the skin away. She had the same hyper-energetic voice and similar deranged mannerisms to the other two abnormal cultists Tanya had encountered. Could it be...?

She had spoken about her killing "vessels" of some sort. What if the first sin archbishop she killed hadn´t really been dead, but instead transferred his consciousness into different hosts? Back in the Empire she wouldn´t even have thought about such a possibility in her wildest dreams, but the magic of this world was pretty ludicrous.

Considering that the psycho in the hallway had spoken to her with some degree of familiarity this theory made startlingly much sense. If Petelgeuse was indeed transferring his mind from one body to the next how would she be able to kill him in that case? Tanya herself would have always hidden away at least a dozen possible hosts in protected or hard to reach locations if she possessed an ability like that. That way her survival would be reassured even against impossible odds.

Petelgeuse on the other hand was a screeching madman with an unhealthy fixation on the witch of envy. He was certainly not a complete idiot, but his rationality was fairly limited. So she made a calculated guess that he wouldn´t act on what was the most logical strategy in battle. The way all these hooded cultists had nearly thrown themselves on her blade minutes earlier was the proof of that.

His obsession was his greatest weakness and she intended to exploit it. Combined with his unquenchable desire to monologue she would stall for time until the perfect moment to attack presented itself.

"And who are you to say that what she has told you is the truth about the ordeal? Could you ever truly comprehend envy´s plans? No, of course not! Can´t you see that we all are playing our part here?"

She had just indirectly called herself a witch cultist which disgusted her to no end, but the only person present who could accuse her of treachery was Emilia who was still knocked out cold. Hopefully Petelgeuse would take the bait and construct the rest of the story in his head without her input. A typical fallacy for untrained minds.

"No... It can´t be... You were a believer all along? What game is this... I will have to consult her wisdom."

His host body stuck her arm into her robes and began to search for something. Much to his apparent dissatisfaction he couldn´t find whatever he was looking for.

"Where is it? Where is my Gospel?"

He grabbed a nearby goon and shook him as if he knew the answer to his problem. It was quite pathetic in Tanya´s opinion how he blamed his own shortcomings on his staff. Only a bad boss would do something like that instead of looking inwards and searching for self-improvement opportunities.

"Where is my cherished, treasured, wonderful sign of her love? WHERE?"

Petelgeuse had shaken the cultist so hard that his neck broke and he lifelessly fell to the floor. If he already had so little self-control then riling him up further shouldn´t be difficult. Whatever he had lost was probably important. His personal prayer book perhaps?

"What? Do you have lost your Gospel? And you call yourself a sin archbishop? What would she say about that?"

Judging from the way his vessel´s face went pale and he froze mid motion it seemed to have worked.

"No... No, no, no, NO, NOOOOOO! I am unworthy of her love! I have failed her!" he screamed so loud that she wondered how he hadn´t ruptured the vocal chords of his host.

His words soon became incoherent as he mutilated himself in a sickening fashion. Pieces of flesh, hair and blood were falling around him on the grass. If Tanya hadn´t already seen far worse during the war then she would have had to avert her eyes from the repulsive sight.

Instead she used all her known search and detection spells to find out more about the nature of his mysterious invisible force field. He was so distracted that she even dared to use the most obvious to detect ones, because he certainly didn´t look like he was running counter interference at the moment. Bafflingly all the results she got back were either negative or inconclusive.

Either Petelgeuse was a far better mage than she had given him credit for or he was completely defenceless right now.

This continued until he suddenly froze in place and slowly turned his head to the side. There a few dozen metres away laid the remains of his original body surrounded by body parts and craters from Tanya´s first battle on the mansion grounds. Like an animal he fell on all fours and crawled with frightening speed towards the corpse before he exclaimed gleefully:

"Yes! I have not failed! I still have it! Forgive me, forgive me, forgive me!"

Excitedly he held a small black book into the air as if that had been a huge achievement. Honestly, if Petelgeuse went through this whole body-switch routine every once in a while then he should have known that his material possessions didn´t carry over. His incompetence was bordering on Being X´s level.

"Had it not been for your reminder a terrible catastrophe would have come over me. You are truly inspiring me with your diligence! How thoughtful!"

Would you look at that.

She had a fan.

Her hand twitched over the grip of her pistol reflexively.

"Let´s see... Um... I cannot find anything the foretells of a different plan..."

Oh no. Had she been exposed so easily? Was he receiving his instructions through this book? Tanya wanted to punch something. Why was the magic of this world so stupid? Nothing here could be taken for granted, because literally anything was possible thanks to lack of common sense in the universal rules. Being X must have designed it that way in order to upset her scientific mind. He would do that, spiteful bastard that he was.

Alright, time for damage control.

"Not to disagree with you, but don´t you think a secret plan can only be secret as long as nobody knows about it? You have your orders and I have mine. Obviously your gospel wouldn't tell you what mine has told me."

"Indeed... Then you wouldn´t mind showing me yours, would you?"

Crap. Deflect! Fast!

"You also haven´t shown me yours."

...

Tense silence filled the air and Tanya prepared herself for combat.

...

"Ha! How true! Hahaha ha. I apologize for doubting you. As someone of your rank you obviously wouldn´t show your gospel to anybody else. You have proven yourself and I humbly ask for forgiveness for not believing it sooner."

Huh? That easy? If she should convince him to let her go they might even end this conflict without further bloodshed.

Like in their first meeting he nearly bent in half as bowed to her.

"Welcome sin archbishop representing pride."

Tanya would have used the situation to her advantage by further strengthening the narrative had not suddenly a metal ball on a chain narrowly missed her location. Only precise dodging saved her passive shields from suffering a massive hit. What the hell? Who was...

Rem?

"TRAITOR!" shouted the enraged maid.

Tanya hadn´t even time to wonder what the glowing thing on her forehead was before she had to leap backwards in order to avoid the next strike. Not an easy feat to accomplish with an unconscious half-elf on her back.

This whole mess had just become a whole lot more complicated.

Notes:

If you could have the abilities of any character from Re:Zero (excluding Reinhard for obvious reasons) who would it be?

And would you still want them if you gained the respective enemies of that person as well?

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Published:2021-04-07Updated:2022-08-24Words:132,758Chapters:67/?Comments:1,654Kudos:1,699Bookmarks:279Hits:99,104

Tanya starts from Zero

A_Morte_Perpetua_Machina_Libera_Nos

Chapter 44: Crucial mistake

Notes:

The chapter I have been waiting for since the beginning. Only took 78.000 words to get here haha

Now the story has properly started.

I literally got no sleep today so please forgive typos.

EDIT: 17.000 Hits!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Chapter 44

Well, her attempted covert operation had failed in the most spectacular fashion possible. By pretending to be a witch cultist in order to escape Petelgeuse and his minions she had led her own ally to believe that she was actually part of the enemy´s faction. How unfortunate.

Tanya still supported her initial decision to deceive the sin archbishop, for it had been the most logical option at the time. Ideally she would have avoided facing a numerically superior force in relatively unknown terrain and a priority target strapped to her back. Not to mention that their leader could apparently revive himself near infinitely and she was running low on bullets.

Now though her plan had backfired, but was not completely unsalvageable. She doubted that she could realistically convince Rem of her innocence in a timely manner while simultaneously escaping. Even if she could, she had good reason not to try. In the worst case Rem wouldn´t believe her, but Petelgeuse would and she would need to defend herself against both parties as a result.

Seeing as there were far more witch cultists than maids on the battlefield she would not risk souring her relations with the deranged psychopaths. Still, she could not allow them to kill Rem or that would paint her as an accomplice in their crimes. Tanya could already hear the voice of the judge in her ear asking her why she didn´t save her ally if she wasn´t actually a criminal.

So she needed to find a way to both not blow her cover and keep the madmen from killing her. (At least until she was out of eyesight.)

"Don´t kill her! She is part of the plan!"

A statement that was made all the more ridiculous when said person was busy slaughtering cult members in droves right in front of their eyes.

"Huh? Truly? Sadly I fear that I cannot allow her to further destroy the loyal tools of her will. If they are all dead they will not be able to serve her. And to not repay her love would be most slothful!"

Dead workers were the worst kind of worker. It seemed he could realize the worth of his subservient employees after all.

"Then only immobilize her. I will handle the rest."

Hopefully Roswaal would forgive the possible mutilation of one of his servants. Although this unpleasant affair was arguable his fault for not protecting his land properly. He had the duty to make sure that nothing major like a full blown invasion happened in his domain. A duty he had outrageously neglected by not leaving behind a single guard to care for a royal candidate out in the woods! Honestly, in the Empire he would have been court martialed for gross incompetence.

Petelgeuse´s host body turned sharply to face the rampaging maid and Tanya´s sensory formulas went haywire. However only the motion and pressure based ones detected anything, but the purely magic focused ones didn´t pick up any signals at all. Tanya had only a few seconds to wonder about the strangeness of whatever he was using before she could see some of the dust particles in the air mysteriously divert their path.

The blue haired maid was truly a ferocious fighter who moved far faster than a normal unaugmented human could. Her strength and control were also extremely impressive which she masterfully demonstrated through the use of her Morningstar. Honestly if the girl had sufficient magical aptitude and switched to a more sensible weapon then Tanya would have welcomed her with open arms into her personal battalion. Although her anger management perhaps required some work.

Nonetheless was she no match for Petelgeuse´s strange (somehow non-magical!) force field. She was just about top swing down the massive spiked ball on some absolutely deserving cultist´s head when she as well as the chain stopped in mid air. Just like Tanya´s bullets had done a couple minutes ago.

Tanya´s current theory classified his ability as a computation-less, chant-less projection of an unknown, seemingly not mana dependent force. The easiest way to imagine it was as if he had invisible arms surrounding him that could shield him and grasp solid objects. They were almost definitely semi-solid as Petelgeuse could conjure and dismiss them at will.

When they were active they presumably connected back to his body, although that could also be a misinterpretation of her extremely limited data. Observing the dirt particles in the wind was hardly the best way to define the outlines of his invisible projection.

Regardless of how his ability functioned she didn´t want to make contact with it the same way poor Ram had done. In the likely event that he would make an attempt to grasp her or Emilia with his "arms" she needed some sort of smokescreen to make his position visible. Without a smoke grenade...

Ah...

All the stress had made her forget Beatrice´s lessons already. Under the many spells that had been mentioned in her books an "Shamak" was ideal for this role. Not only would it reveal his "arms" but also blind and disorient him if hit. It was literally perfect.

With resolve in her voice she called out to the grinning Petelgeuse before he could start a new tirade: "Please just knock her out. There is no need to harm her. That would be a waste."

She could have sworn he pouted for a moment before his grin returned. A seemingly random jerk of her head ended her struggle and the maid went limp in his imperceptible grasp.

"Indeed, indeed. Such diligence. Perhaps she has not understood how loved she is? Her diligence could serve our cause well."

Tanya resisted the urge to roll her eyes. The lunatic was annoyingly persistent with his platitudes.

"Yes. I will take her under my care and explain to her to the truth. After a while even the most stubborn mind must understand reality."

She didn´t even need to lie. That was exactly what she intended to do. After a good night´s sleep of course. If Rem spread misinformation around then nasty rumours could develop that damaged her reputation.

"Marvellous! So thoughtful! So attentive! Bringing more souls into her service is a noble goal."

So far everything had gone extraordinarily well. Rem had shown up not even a minute ago which meant that the carriage was somewhere nearby. Her escape was almost in arms reach.

"I would appreciate it you could set her down. I am going to handle her from now on."

He complied and Tanya tentatively made her way over to the madman. Even if he believed her to be on his side she still didn't trust him. Petelgeuse could snap at any moment and decide to kill her for any number of idiotic reasons. Careful not to let her precaution show on her face she picked the maid up and hefted her over her other shoulder. Her eyes did not leave his position as she slowly backed away towards the front gates.

Despite her relaxed smile she was inwardly shaking from both exertion and anxiety. What could go wrong on the last few metres?

"Forgive me Pride, but you cannot leave with the vessel candidate. Leave the half-elf here."

Shit.

Plan B.

"Petelgeuse! Oh no! Look over there!"

He twisted his neck to look where she was pointing and was promptly turned into a human piñata by her trusty sidearm. Truthfully Tanya was not even surprised that he fell for the oldest trick in the book. She guessed that carelessness was a side effect of practical immortality.

The game was up and deception would no longer work so she bolted as fast as she could to the exit. Simultaneously two less than photorealistic illusions rushed out in different directions. They were hastily made and would not hold for long, but their function was only to divert the initial fire of the remaining cultists.

Her muscles ached and burned, but she pushed on with as much strength as her enhancement formulas could give her. Mana was being used up fast. Time was running out. Where was the damned carriage?

Fireballs and daggers were largely missing her, but a few managed to hit which consumed more energy than normal, because her shields were already weakened from having to cover two more bodies. The situation was getting direr by the second.

"El Shamak" she almost cried out.

Behind her a huge black cloud blocked the line of sight to her pursuers and gave Tanya enough time to reach the gates. There! The coach was rapidly approaching on the road. Soon she could load off her charges and delay the cultists afterwards until they got back to safety.

Subaru and her useless guard were sitting on the front seat and looked appropriately alarmed at the situation.

Nearly there.

Everything could still end well.

Nearly there.

Suddenly from one moment to the next her strained shield was shattered in an instant and she was thrown through the air. She made an attempt to stabilize herself with a flight spell, but before she got the chance her whole body was gripped tightly by an invisible power...

Oh no.

Petelgeuse had hidden away more vessels in the woods.

She was fucked.

"You are unworthy of her love. You thought you could so easily deceive me? Wrong."

Pain.

A scream.

Unimaginable pain.

Nearly all her bones were crunched at the same time.

Only her enhancement formulas allowed her to stay conscious and register that she was fling in the direction of the carriage.

A hard impact, but she barely noticed.

Subaru was saying something that she couldn´t understand over the rushing of blood in her ears.

A loud ripping sound.

More pain.

Was she dying?

After all this time...

This was how her existence would end?

Disappointment weighed harder on her mind than the agony of her crushed rib cage and failing internal organs.

"F-Fuck you..." she whispered with the last air in her collapsed lungs. If she could she would have laughed in Being X´s stupid face, but she lacked the energy for it.

The pain dulled...

Her vision dimmed...

And Tanya von Degurechaff died.

Notes:

What? How could you do that? What is happening?

Stay tuned for the next chapter :)

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Published:2021-04-07Updated:2022-08-24Words:132,758Chapters:67/?Comments:1,654Kudos:1,699Bookmarks:279Hits:99,104

Tanya starts from Zero

A_Morte_Perpetua_Machina_Libera_Nos

Chapter 45: From zero

Notes:

This chapter took a while, because I A) spent way too much time chatting on discord and B) was on vacation to celebrate my birthday!

Do you want to know what my birthday present was? Hard, menial labour in the garden. Yay! (And a book)

EDIT: 18.000 Hits! (and 444 Kudos)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Chapter 45

Subaru was frozen. It was as if his blood had turned into lead and his bones into stone. The whole world was spinning uncontrollably around him and he was stuck in the middle of it, helplessly watching.

He had already vowed to himself to reset this loop in order to save the villagers, but he had nonetheless hoped that he could make it out alive. Everything had gone – well, not good, but also not too bad. At least he had hope when he saw Tanya closing the distance between her and the carriage at incredible speeds.

Then out of nowhere she had been picked up and crushed! Emilia and Rem had both been ripped from her back and dangled in the air like puppets. His mouth was already open in a silent scream, but his despair suffocated any sound that he could have made as Tanya was thrown in his direction only to hit him full force squarely in the chest. Blood spluttered from her moth in alarming quantities and painted the right side of his face red (although he barely noticed that). He had to watch in detail how the cerulean energy in her big, expressive eyes dulled and her breathing stopped.

His head lifted like he was on autopilot to observe both the two most important people in life being torn to shreds mid air. Their bodies were twisted and bent in impossiple angles. Skin rippend and skeletons broke in the most vile ways. And he did nothing.

He could do nothing.

Only stare in absolute horror at the man who had stepped onto the dirt pathway and grinned in glee at the mess of flesh and bone he had created.

"Oi, why are you sitting there so unmoved? Why are you looking so slothful?"

He could only stare, because he was useless. He couldn´t have helped any of them. He had done nothing.

"No answer, mmmhh? The man besides you was clever enough to at least attempt an escape, futile as it will be once my loyal fingers capture him. We can´t leave witnesses after all, you see? Do you understand?"

Tanya was so much more powerful than him. Beatrice, Puck, Rem... They all were so much stronger – so much better – than him and even their efforts had obviously not been enough. What could he do to help? He was utterly useless.

Suddenly the man who had killed the love of his life in front of his eyes stood mere meters from him and was leaning forwards. How he had managed to cross the distance so quickly did not interest Subaru in the slightest. His eyes still stared unblinking and unseeing forwards.

"Mmmmhhh? Are you so trapped in your own pathetic grief that you cannot bring yourself to act? Hmhh? To squander the sacrifice of your compatriots uselessly... How disgusting..." the cultists hissed with contempt.

He was disgusting, wasn´t he? He had no chance to save those he cared about. Not all of them. Because he was a waste of skin. A true good-for-nothing. An absolute piece of shit.

"Are you blaming yourself for their demise? How strange... Instead of raging and protesting and fighting you sit here and wallow in your perceived pain. So sad, so weak, so SLOTHFUL!" he yelled directly in Subaru´s face. Spittle hit his cheek, but he made no move to clean it.

"I cannot understand that. However I know that your very existence is an insult to my diligence that I display every day to service my love!"

He was a disgrace.

"I will not suffer your wretched being any longer"

"Crunch"

And Subaru Natsuki died.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It´s sister!" cried a familiar voice.

Strange. Tanya had imagined the afterlife differently. Well, to be fair she had not expected anything to follow her death. Only endless nothingness and oblivion.

"I can feel her through our connection and she is... afraid."

What? What was happening?

She could feel the sunlight on her face and a cool breeze blowing over her skin. Everything felt so... real? And why was Rem here? Of all the people she had to put up with directly after losing her life it had to be the indirect reason for said loss. Typical.

"Ram is never afraid. Something terrible must have happened at the mansion."

WHAT? Tanya´s eyes shot wide open. She remembered those words. They were repeating!

On no.

Had Being X trapped her in purgatory; or whatever demented version of hell he had created for her? Was she damned to repeat the last moments of her existence for all eternity? Was this his sick punishment for not being a devoted little puppet to serve his every narcissistic desire? If so then she would not play to his petty revenge fantasy!

"Damn it!" she cursed.

Tanya looked around and saw that all eyes were on her. Crush and her army were watching with barely hidden interest and Subaru seemed to be in open shock.

"Again? That was the best you could come up with to torture me?" she asked exasperated.

They still stared at her like she was crazy.

"Umm... W-What?" said Rem. Subaru was gazing with strangely empty eyes at her.

That hadn´t happened before. They were supposed to be just apparitions of her subconscious to re-enact her last moments, were they not? Could she be misinterpreting the situation?

A terrifying thought wormed its way to the forefront of her mind: "What if this was reality?"

Oh...

However she couldn´t possibly prove that...

If this was real then she needed to act accordingly or else be labelled as a madwoman. After all this could be a ploy of Being X to drive her insane. If this was truly an illusion then she would need to find a way out if such an exit even existed. Before that however she would need to look like she was playing his stupid, little games to lull the bastard into a false sense of security.

Either way she needed to act normal. Did it even matter if this was reality or not if she could not distinguish it from the real world? As far as she knew this whole trip to Lugnica could all be a dream. Better play it safe.

"I apologize for my outburst. The fight against the White Whale has been demanding of me."

She had already proven that she was able to make small changes. Why not test how far the limits of this simulation went (if it was one).

"Rem I have reason to believe that the mansion is under attack by the witch´s cult. This is a problem to big for us to handle."

She turned to Crusch.

"Lady Crusch, as a fellow royal candidate for the throne of Lugnica I hereby formally request your aid in vanquishing the organization known as the witch´s cult and to protect the innocents of this country. Margrave Mathers has left his territory and is unable to protect the people under his care. It is now up to us to stand for order and justice wherever we find it lacking. Know that I will not think ill of you should you refuse, but that I would be overjoyed to receive your assistance. Furthermore, should you be interested in creating an alliance between our camps then I would be most excited for a conversation on the matter when we return to the capital. Let us engage in jolly cooperation."

The green-haired woman seemed to sink deep into thought and then looked back at her men.

"We had originally come here to rid the world of one evil. Now that we found it already defeated I don´t think we can return tonight without our blades serving our beloved nation in some other fashion. How could we permit the witch´s cult to go about their foul deed unpunished? What do you say my warriors? Do we spill their rotten blood and save our countrymen?"

"AHOOO!" roared her army in unison.

Tanya nodded in respect. It had been quite the inspiring speech. She herself had held many similar ones in the past. (Although instead of cultists they had slaughtered communists.)

"On foot or on ground dragon back we will not be fast enough. Follow the road towards Irlam village and be prepared for possible ambushes. I am going to fly ahead to delay them as long as possible."

"Let´s see if I can change things from last time... What will you do then Being X? I won´t play by your rules asshole. You´ll never break me." she thought to herself vengefully.

Notes:

If anybody wants to talk about Youjo Senki or Re:zero or just life in general hit me up on

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