Subaru stood in front of the wrecked looking loot house, phone in hand while reading some of the comments his friends left on his post
"bro is dead."
"Alright, nice knowing ya buddy."
"Do the Pride route and bag Elsa."
"She's a mass murderer."
"Do I look like I care?"
Once again, Subaru couldn't help but laugh at the comments flooding in. Even now—standing in front of a door that might as well lead straight into a boss fight—his friends were still the same chaotic idiots they'd always been.
Moments like this… they kept him sane.
No matter how bizarre things had gotten today, at least something never changed.
"Alright, no more lollygagging," Subaru muttered, steeling himself for what was ahead.
He slapped his cheeks lightly, then did a quick pom-pom motion with his fists—his own weird way of hyping himself up.
Approaching the door, he raised his hand and knocked twice.
"Moshi mosh!!! Keisatsu desu~!!!" he yelled, stringing together nonsense Japanese with a grin.
And then he knocked again. Hard.
Loud enough that it sounded like he was trying to break the door down.
"Moshi moshi!!!" he kept shouting between knocks, rattling the old wood.
From the other side, a gruff voice finally shouted back.
"Calm down already! You're breaking my damn door!"
Subaru paused, hearing the low grumble of a man muttering, "Damn brat…" under his breath.
Subaru grinned.
Target acquired.
Suddenly, the voice behind the door called out again:
"To the Rats?"
"Oooh! I know this one…" Subaru's eyes lit up. He definitely recognized the password for the loot house—it was from that one scene ages ago. "God, what was it again? Hold on, let me Google it."
Because of course he wasn't going to remember something he watched eight years ago. Why use brain cells when search engines exist?
"Wait a secoooond," he said, drawing it out as he pulled out his phone and started typing.
Felt and Rom's password for the loothouse.
He hit search.
And—of course—Google decided to be difficult today. Instead of a quick, clean answer, it dropped him into Chapter 17 of Witch Cult Translations. Which, by the way, was not where the password was.
There was a Reddit link, too.
Something about "a harpoon for the white whale," and a deep dive into swordsmanship lore that quickly spiraled into a wall of yada yada yada—it's not the password
"Do I seriously have to read an entire chapter just for a password?" Subaru groaned, glaring at his phone like it had personally betrayed him.
"Do you know the password or not?" the voice behind the door called out again, sounding increasingly impatient. "You're taking a long time back there."
"Be patient, man! I know I wrote it down somewhere, just hold on a minute!" Subaru snapped, voice rising with frustration as he frantically scrolled through his phone.
"…Screw it. I'm asking AI."
He pulled up his favorite AI app, typed in the same question—Felt and Rom's password for the loot house—and waited with bated breath.
The response popped up:
"The red ogre cries," said Felt. "The blue ogre laughed," said Rom.
Subaru stared at the screen.
"…What the hell is this nonsense?"
Even without remembering the real answer, he knew that wasn't it. That was easily the dumbest answer he'd ever seen from an AI and it's not even close.
"Damn it!" he growled, smacking his forehead.
"You okay back there?" Rom called out from inside.
"I am! Shut up for a second!" Subaru barked, completely unfairly, but too stressed to care.
He glared back down at his phone.
"Damn it," he muttered again, under his breath.
At this point, Subaru gave up on AI and decided to go old-school:
Speed-reading.
He pulled up the fan translation archive and began scanning through chapter titles, trying to remember which Return by Death loop the password had first been mentioned in.
"Was it the third? No… second loop. Yeah, second," he thought, furiously scrolling.
"'Negotiation at the Loot House'... No, no, that's loop four, I think."
"'Negotiation in the Slum'? Nope."
"'Because He Is the Sword Saint'... Definitely not."
His eyes darted through chapter after chapter, scanning faster than ever before.
"'The Consequences of Loose Lips'? …Is this it?"
He tapped into the chapter and skimmed the text like a madman.
His eyes burned. His brain begged for mercy.
And—
Nope.
Not this one either.
He let out a frustrated wheeze. "I'm gonna die because I can't remember a password from an anime I watched in elementary school…"
"I'm starting to run out of patience here, kid," the gruff voice barked again from behind the door.
Subaru groaned, rubbing his temple. "Yeah? Well, I'm starting to run out of sanity, so join the club!"
And then—finally—he found it.
"This is it!" he shouted, eyes wide as he stared at the screen. "Chapter 9?! Why the hell would Google send me to chapter 17?!"
He pumped a fist in the air triumphantly, still grumbling about Google's utter betrayal.
Reinvigorated, he turned toward the door. "Alright! I got it! Hit me with the password prompt, big guy!"
"Finally," Rom muttered. "I almost fell asleep waiting for you, brat."
"Yeah, yeah. Beauty sleep. You're glowing like a star. Hit me."
The old man huffed. "Kids these days…"
But still, he humored him.
"For the Rats?" Rom asked.
"Poison," Subaru replied with confidence.
"For the Skeleton?"
"Oh, we're going with this version? Nice. A pitfall."
"To the Noble Dragon, we are?"
"Shitbags," Subaru said, still unsure what that even meant. "Which, by the way, I still have no idea what that means"
There was a pause.
Then came the sound of locks clicking and heavy bolts sliding open.
Rom cracked the door and stared at the kid, mildly impressed.
"…Alright, come in."
Subaru smirked. "thank you, Google. And thank you Wiiii....." He gradually went quiter, the name of the site on the tip of his tongue.
Then he remembered.
Witch Cult Translations.
Yeah… maybe not something he should be shouting in the middle of Lugunica.
He cleared his throat. "...Nevermind."
Rom squinted at him. "What?"
"Nothing. Just… thanking my sources."
Rom muttered something about "weird kids and their weird phrases" as he opened the door wider.
Subaru stepped in with a grin, proud of surviving yet another completely avoidable crisis.
"So," the old giant grumbled, his voice coarse like sandpaper as he shut the door behind Subaru. "What do you want? And how the hell do you know the password?"
Subaru took a breath, trying to play it cool.
"Well… to answer that…" he said, raising a hand and gesturing dramatically, "I have to go from the very beginning–"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"—And now I'm here. Talking to you," Subaru finished, arms spread like a stage performer wrapping up his monologue.
Rom sat there, speechless, staring at the boy like he had grown a second head.
"So let me get this straight," the old giant finally said, voice low and gruff. "You came from another world… read a story about this world… got teleported into this world… and now you're trying to stop an assassin that may or may not exist?"
"Exactly," Subaru nodded.
"There's no actual proof this is going to happen?"
"Nope. None at all."
Rom raised an eyebrow.
"But," Subaru added, holding up a finger, "on the off chance it does happen, I figured I might as well do something. If I'm wrong, cool, I wasted all our time. But if I'm right—hey—I technically save everybody's asses."
Rom stared at him for another long second.
Then sighed.
Loudly.
Without another word, the old man walked over to the corner, grabbed a half-full bottle, and poured himself a drink.
Rom took a long, deliberate swig straight from the bottle, eyes squinting like he was trying to physically compress Subaru's explanation into something that made sense.
"…And where's this Sword Saint you keep talking about?" he asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "He's not gonna be much help if he's halfway across the city."
"I don't know," Subaru said with a shrug. "I told him to hide somewhere nearby so we could ambush the assassin, but, uh… we didn't exactly specify where."
Rom stared at him.
"It's fine!" Subaru quickly added. "We've got a signal. If anything goes wrong, we just yell 'Mustard!' and he'll jump in."
Rom blinked. "Mustard?"
"Yup. It's a food dressing from my world. Yellow. Tangy. You guys wouldn't know it."
Rom muttered something unintelligible under his breath and took another sip.
Meanwhile, Subaru casually pulled out his phone and checked the screen.
A wall of missed calls and messages from Mom and Dad lit up his notifications.
'…Oh right,' Subaru thought as he stared at the screen. I muted them.
"Well," Rom said, setting the bottle down with a thud, "you're free to wait here for Felt, I guess. If what you said actually happens… we might need all the backup we can get."
He turned, grabbed a dusty bottle from behind the bar, and poured a generous splash into a glass.
"Here. On the house," the old man offered.
"Ooh, thank you!" Subaru accepted it gratefully, lifting the glass with both hands like it was a sacred gift. He took a sip—
"Bwah! Cough—" Subaru gagged, nearly dropping the glass. "What the hell is this?!"
"Alcohol," Rom said flatly, not even looking at him.
"It tastes like fire!"
"Yup," Rom replied with a shrug. "That's what cheap alcohol tastes like."
Subaru wiped his tongue with his sleeve. "Tastes like my throat just got mugged."
Rom chuckled under his breath. "You'll live. Maybe."
Instead of risking another sip of the throat-scorcher Rom called alcohol, Subaru pushed the glass away and pulled out his phone.
Time to check in with the folks.
He turned it on and squinted at the screen, inspecting it more closely than usual.
'Since it's somehow still connected to the internet back home… I think it's safe to assume this thing is magic now,' he thought. He glanced at the battery icon.
100%.
'It hasn't gone down even one percent this whole time. So I don't need to charge it anymore? Yeah... definitely magic.'
Satisfied, he tapped to call his mom.
"Hello—"
#SUBARU!!!#
Not even a full word in, and his ear nearly exploded from his mother's voice screaming through the speaker.
#Oh my god, are you okay?! Is Elsa gone?! Where are you?!# His mother's voice burst through the speaker in a rapid-fire panic.
"I'm okay, Mom! I'm okay!" Subaru quickly reassured her. "Elsa's not even here yet!"
There was a noticeable sigh of relief from the other end.
"I'm with Old Man Rom right now. And let me tell you—the anime did not do him justice. This man is huge."
"Who are you calling huge?!" Rom barked from across the room, glaring without much heat.
Subaru chuckled. "See?"
#We're glad you're safe, son,# his father chimed in this time, calm but clearly concerned. #But do you have to be there when Elsa shows up? Can't you just let the Sword Saint deal with it?#
"No, Because that leads to the Pride Route," Subaru replied flatly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "And I am not doing that."
The three of them—mother, father, and son—continued talking for a while. Catching up, asking questions, trying to piece together how something this insane could even be real.
For a moment, despite everything, it felt a little normal.
#When you meet that black-veiled witch, hand her the phone.# Subaru's mom said sweetly—too sweetly.
#I have a few things to say about improper courting.#
The sugary tone didn't mask the blade underneath. Even through the phone, the threat was crystal clear.
"Y-yeah, well, um… good luck with that," Subaru stammered, sweat forming on the back of his neck.
There wasn't anything else he could say to that.
"Anyway, Mom… I'm sorry." Subaru's voice dropped, quieter, more sincere. "This all just… happened out of nowhere. And I don't know if I can ever come back."
He took a shaky breath.
"I'll call you guys every day, I promise. Maybe you can tell the police or something—I don't know. I really don't. I don't know what I'm doing here, but I'll try my best. I'll try to live… and not die."
The words came out heavier than he expected, like a weight he hadn't realized he'd been carrying finally slid off his chest.
Sure, he'd laughed. He'd joked. He'd played it cool—like this was some grand adventure. Like he was the protagonist of some game he'd already seen the walkthrough for.
But deep down… he was scared.
What if he didn't have Return by Death? What if dying here meant really dying—no reset, no second chance?
This world wasn't like his own. It was cruel, unpredictable, and dangerous in ways a screen could never convey. And if he was stuck here… that meant no more seeing his friends in person. No more casual weekends. No more taste of his mom's cooking.
Maybe he'd still get to see them through the phone… maybe. But even that felt like a fragile miracle.
From the other end of the line, he heard his mother begin to cry. Quiet, heartbroken sobs that made his chest tighten.
Thank god it's not a video call, Subaru thought bitterly.
Because if he had to see her like that… he wasn't sure he'd be able to hold it together.
"But hey!" Subaru suddenly perked up, his voice shifting back to its usual upbeat tone. "On the bright side—we know magic exists here! And if the anime was right, then I've actually got the right elemental affinity for space-time magic!"
He grinned, trying to sound excited—like this was just another twist in a game he already knew how to play.
"I'll figure something out, okay? Maybe through magic, or… something else. But I promise—I will find a way back."
His voice cracked just slightly as tears welled up in his eyes. He tried to blink them away, to laugh through the tightness in his throat.
Damn it, he thought bitterly, I'm not built for this sappy crap.
He was supposed to be the Isekai nerd, the guy who dreamed of fantasy adventures and overpowered MCs—not... this.
And just in time to spare him from saying something truly pathetic, a knock echoed at the door of the loot house.
Subaru quickly wiped his eyes.
"Saved by the bell," he muttered. Preparing himself to explain his circumstances once again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You're lying."
"Nope. It's official."
"You have to be lying."
The first thing Felt noticed when she returned home after finishing her job was a weird-looking guy sitting on a stool at her gramps' bar.
Which was strange—because this bar hadn't had a normal customer in ages.
And apparently, this one wasn't normal either.
"Me? A royal candidate? Do you even hear yourself?"
"Hey, it's not my fault your kingdom picks its rulers based on a glowing rock."
This guy—this person—had just told her, straight to her face, that she was supposedly the fifth candidate for the throne of the entire freaking kingdom.
Along with some dragon-crap about her business partner being an assassin out to kill her— but that's not important right now.
"This gem? This gem decides who can rule a kingdom? Seriously?" she asked again, needing to confirm the absolutely bonkers law of her own homeland.
Then again, the nobles had always been weird so, Of course they'd do something like this.
And the boy just nodded at her—didn't even say anything to confirm the crazy thing he just dropped on her.
Felt felt like she was going to lose her mind if she kept listening to him, so instead, she plopped herself down on the stool next to him and sighed.
"Give me a drink, old man. I need something strong to help process all this."
"Not a chance."
"Tch."
She had hoped she could finally sneak some alcohol using this as an excuse, but her grumpy old grandpa was still as uptight as ever.
She was fifteen, a full adult by this kingdom's standards. And yet, he still wouldn't let her have a taste of liquor.
"Here's yours," Rom muttered, pouring her a glass of milk instead.
'Oh well. Better than nothing,' she thought, taking the glass with a resigned huff.
"So, about this assassin…" Felt suddenly spoke again. "Is she really not gonna pay me for my job?"
"What part of 'she's an assassin' do you not understand?" the black-haired young man shot back, answering her question with one of his own.
"I don't know," she shrugged. "Lots of criminals still keep their word when dealing with each other. Y'know, 'honor among thieves' and all that."
"That's true. if she were a thief. She's not. She's an assassin. Again." he repeated, hoping it would finally sink in.
Felt slumped a bit, clearly disappointed. That juicy ten holy coins reward? Not happening.
"Fine! I guess this is worthless then," Felt grumbled, pulling out the stolen gem and staring at the soft glow radiating from it. "And I almost died getting it too."
"What?" Rom snapped his head toward her, clearly alarmed. "What do you mean almost died?"
"Yeah, the bitch threw a bunch of icicles at me. Good thing I'm fast enough to dodge 'em," Felt said with a shrug, ending her explanation with a sigh. All that effort, and for what? Nothing.
"Yeah, that's Emilia for ya," Subaru chuckled at her story, finding it funny despite the danger. Rom looked more concerned, but after checking her over and seeing no injuries, he eased up a little.
"And since she has this gem," Felt began, narrowing her eyes at the glowing stone, "that means she's also one of the candidates for the throne, right?"
"Yup," Subaru confirmed with a nod. "So technically, you're gonna be her rival in this whole 'ruler of the kingdom' business."
"Hah!" Felt scoffed, leaning back and waving him off. "As if I'd ever be king of this shitty kingdom. They'd probably kick me out of the race the second they found out who I really am."
She said it with a bitter laugh, but there was a weight behind her words. She knew exactly how the nobles would react to a slum rat like her trying to wear a crown.
"Yeah, well, you're probably right," Subaru said bluntly. "Those nobles are absolutely gonna lose their minds when they find out someone like you got chosen."
He didn't sugarcoat it—he'd seen how they reacted in the anime. "Slum rat" was the nicest thing they said.
"But y'know," he continued, leaning in with a sly grin, "don't you think it'd be kinda fun? Watching them completely lose it, knowing they can't do a damn thing about it?"
Felt raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, you were chosen by the Dragon—the same Dragon they worship like a god. If they insult you, they're insulting it. And in this kingdom, that's blasphemy."
Her expression shifted slightly. She wasn't convinced… but she was listening.
"Don't you think it'd be hilarious?" Subaru pressed on, eyes gleaming. "Some fancy noble guy, red in the face, choking on his pride because the divine dragon chose you instead of some blue-blooded brat?"
He chuckled, letting the image play in his head. "Hell, if it were me, I'd do it just to piss 'em off. Win the throne, strip them of their titles, take their wealth, and make them live like the people they've spent their whole lives looking down on."
Felt blinked at him, expression unreadable.
Subaru kept going, voice casual but with an edge. "Just imagine. All those stuck-up nobles suddenly becoming the same 'common trash' they always mocked. Kind of poetic, don't you think?"
Of course, this was all strategic. Subaru wasn't just hyping her up out of nowhere—he needed the story to stay on track. Because off-track meant unknown. And in a world like this, unknown means one thing: death.
But instead of being easily convinced like every other fanfic heroine Subaru had read about, Felt just stared at him, eyes narrowed in sharp suspicion.
"…Why are you trying so hard to convince me of this?" she asked flatly. "What's in it for you? You want me to become king so you can ride my coattails or something? Be my underling?"
Subaru blinked. "What? No. I don't even want to be in your camp."
That made her squint harder. "Really?"
"Really," Subaru repeated. "Honestly, even if following you might be the safest route for me, it's still not the right one."
"The right one?" she echoed, raising an eyebrow.
He sighed. "Look… I've seen the future. Not everything, but enough to know where I stand in this world's story. And while teaming up with you might give me better odds at surviving, it won't help the world in the long run."
Felt looked at him like he'd grown another head. "The hell are you talking about?"
"I mean—ugh, this is hard to explain." Subaru ran a hand through his hair. "Just think of it like this. There's a big story unfolding. One with kingdoms, Freaky dragon, and time-space anomaly. And I'm already tied to it.
My role… it's next to someone else. Someone I have to stick with, no matter how messed up it gets."
Without him by Emilia's side, the children of Arlam Village along with Rem would die.
Without him, the Witch Cult and the Sin Archbishop of Sloth would slaughter the entire village. Everyone in Roswaal's mansion—Emilia, Ram, Rem—if she wasn't already dead by then, and most importantly… Beatrice.
And there was no way he was going to let that happen. Not to that kid. That lonely little girl who's been abandoned for four hundred years—left behind by her own mother and everyone she ever loved, just so she could see if she had "free will."
What kind of twisted test was that?
No. He wasn't letting her fade away in silence. Not again. Not this time.
So yeah—he was sticking with Emilia.
He didn't know if he'd fall in love with her like canon Subaru did. Maybe he would, maybe not. But one thing he did know?
He loved Beako.
Maybe even more than the Subaru from the story ever did.
"...You're weird, Nii-chan," the little thief said, squinting at him.
"Yeah, I get that a lot," Subaru replied with a chuckle, brushing it off like it was nothing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Subaru and Felt kept talking for a while, the casual conversation helping ease the tension in the air. But eventually, Subaru glanced down at his phone.
4:20 P.M
Almost time, he thought, his eyes locking onto the door.
He watched it with sharp focus, like a predator waiting to pounce. If even a single molecule on that door so much as twitched, he was ready—ready to hurl the glass of bullshit alcohol Rom had given him and shout the signal without hesitation.
Felt and Rom, meanwhile, picked up on the shift in the atmosphere. Subaru's joking tone had vanished, replaced with a quiet intensity. The moment was drawing near—they could feel it too.
Knock knock knock
The door rattled under a firm knock from the outside. Subaru flinched—and so did everyone else inside.
He quickly glanced at Felt and gave her a subtle signal, urging her to ask who was outside. She caught on and gave a small nod.
"Who's there?!" she called out, her voice carrying a faint trace of fear.
"O-oh! Sorry!"
The second Subaru heard that voice, his entire body relaxed. He let out a breath he didn't even realize he was holding.
"—Wait, no!" the voice continued.
'Elsa could never sound that innocent,' Subaru thought to himself.
"Never mind! We know who you are—just come in!" Subaru called out, interrupting the girl before she could introduce herself. He had already spent an hour explaining everything about her to these people; no need to go through it all again.
The door creaked open, revealing a girl dressed in an elegant white gown. A green crystal necklace rested just above her chest, glinting faintly in the dim light. A white flower sat delicately on the right side of her silver hair, held in place by a purple ribbon, while a small butterfly-shaped clip decorated the left—clearly added for no other reason than charm.
She was gorgeous. Ethereal, even. Her long silver hair shimmered faintly under the dawn light, and her wide, violet eyes completed her unmistakably fantasy-world appearance. Her skin looked smooth, like porcelain, with a touch of baby fat still lingering in her cheeks, giving her an extra note of softness and innocence.
Subaru stared at the newly arrived girl for a long second… then simply nodded to himself.
"I get it now," he thought. "I can see the vision."
He finally understood why the canon Subaru had simped so hard for her.
Especially... his eyes drifted, momentarily, toward the very deliberate "boob window" in her dress. Again, he nodded in solemn agreement—this time with himself and his canon counterpart.
"Maybe living here won't be so bad after all."
Slap!
"Ow!" Subaru yelped, pulling back as Felt smacked him right in the face. She looked seriously annoyed—like she'd just read his mind or something.
"Stop staring like an idiot and explain things to her!" she snapped.
Apparently, while Emilia and Felt had been talking—probably arguing—Subaru had completely zoned out, too busy admiring the half-elf to listen to a single word.
"Sorry, I got distracted by how pretty she is," Subaru said without a hint of shame.
Emilia looked startled. Felt just groaned and looked like she was going to throw up from secondhand embarrassment.
"Anyway! You—"
But Subaru suddenly froze. Just for a split second, he saw something—a blade—rushing toward them, fast.
"PUCK, SHIELD HER!" he shouted.
In an instant, a wall of ice shot up behind Emilia, blocking the attack just in time.
The attacker quickly leapt to the side after being stopped by the ice.
Then, from Emilia's hair, a small bipedal-looking cat popped out. "That was close! But it looks like the timing was perfect, ne? Thanks for the help!" it said, giving Subaru a thumbs up.
"Nice one, Puck!" Subaru replied, returning the gesture with a grin.
"Spirit," the assassin woman suddenly said. "A spirit, right? How pretty." Her voice was low and smooth, the kind that almost sounded like she was flirting instead of threatening someone.
"I've never cut open a spirit's belly before."
Yep. This is exactly the kind of woman she is.
'Well, there's no time like the present.'
"MUSTAAAAARD!" Subaru suddenly shouted a word that made absolutely no sense to anyone else in the room.
The assassin blinked at him, her head tilted slightly with a mix of confusion and amusement at the strange outburst.
"Were you trying to get help by chance?" she asked with a teasing smile, clearly entertained.
"W-what? Pfft. No. Why would you think that?" Subaru tried to play it off, but his voice cracked, and his expression gave him away. Nobody bought it.
Well… except for the half-elf. She believed him completely.
"Fufu, good thing my contractor gave me those runes, then."
His eyes widened at her remark.
"R-runes? What runes?" he asked hesitantly.
"The ones they gave me to silence this house. No one can hear a thing from inside."
The assassin smiled as she explained. Some people might think revealing things to your target is dumb—but she enjoyed it. Watching their faces twist in despair was so satisfying.
Like the one he was making right now.
'Shit!' Subaru cursed in his head. 'Damn you, Roswaal!'
In hindsight, he should've seen this coming. Roswaal had already given her that cloak that could resist magic from Emilia and Puck. Of course that cursed book would tell him about Subaru's plan too.
'It's not gonna be that easy, huh?' he thought, gritting his teeth.
"Felt! Plan B! Get out of here and get the help!" Subaru yelled at the little blonde girl, but—
"You're looking away from me?" the assassin's voice came from right beside him.
Before he could react, her blade was already swinging.
Instinctively, Subaru raised his arm to protect his stomach, knowing exactly where she was aiming.
With a loud shluck, her blade tore open his right forearm.
"Ghak!" he choked out, pain flooding his senses, and she kicked him across the room. Breaking his ribs in the process.
"Nii-san!" Felt shouted, panic in her voice.
"I'm fine! Go get the help!" Subaru yelled back through gritted teeth, his voice tight with pain.
It hurts, he thought, struggling to lift his right arm. Blood was pouring from it—thick, warm, and fast—soaking his sleeve and dripping onto the floor in heavy splats.
Then he looked down—and froze.
His forearm was split open. Not scraped or grazed, but cleanly sliced, like meat on a butcher's block. The skin was peeled back in a jagged line, exposing the glistening red muscle underneath, and deeper still, the bone—his bone—staring back at him like something out of a nightmare.
His stomach lurched. A wave of nausea hit him like a punch to the gut. His fingers began to shake violently, coated in his own blood.
I'm gonna die! his mind screamed, louder than any voice could.
"Like I'll let that happen," the assassin said sharply, darting toward Felt.
Before she could reach the girl, a massive club swept through the air, forcing her to halt. The old giant, Rom, had stepped in.
She dodged the heavy swing with ease, a grin curling at her lips.
"Do you wanna dance too?" she mocked, nimbly climbing the thick club like it was nothing. Blade ready, she lunged for Rom's neck—
"Huma!"
A sharp voice rang out, followed by a flying icicle that shot straight toward her.
With feline reflexes, she twisted in midair, avoiding the icicle without even losing momentum.
"Guah!" Rom grunted as her blade sliced across his shoulder before she leapt back to the ground.
"Old man!" Felt yelled in distress
Landing gracefully, the assassin smiled—voice still honeyed despite the blood on her blade.
"Two against one. My~ this is quite troublesome, isn't it?"
"I still don't understand what just happened," Emilia said, her innocent voice steady with conviction. "But I won't let you kill these people!"
"Well said, Emilia-tan!" Subaru grunted from behind her. His forearm, torn open earlier, was now tightly wrapped in a strip of his tracksuit, a makeshift bandage soaking with blood.
He forced himself to stay awake, eyelids heavy from the pain, but he stayed on his feet, slowly making his way toward the blonde-haired girl.
"Seriously, Felt... get the hell out of here," he whispered loudly enough for her to hear.
"No way! If anything, you—"
"I AM FINE! I CAN'T DIE!" Subaru snapped, cutting her off. His voice cracked with pain and desperation.
Felt flinched. Not because of the volume—but because of the certainty in his voice. The weight behind those words felt far heavier than they should.
"Are you still ignoring me?" the assassin sneered, leaping at the little girl once again.
But Subaru was ready this time.
Squelch!
"Gaaah!"
The assassin's blade struck—but not its target. Subaru had thrown himself between them, catching the blade with his right hand. Steel tore through his palm and out the other side, blood spraying from the wound as he clutched the weapon tight, stopping it just inches from Felt.
Felt stood frozen in shock, staring at the strange-looking man who had just willingly sacrificed his hand to save her.
"Foolish," the assassin muttered coldly.
But Subaru only grinned through the searing pain. "Maybe," he said, voice shaking. "But I'll live!" he roared, and with a mad burst of strength, he shoved his hand even deeper onto the blade, closing his bloody fingers around her wrist.
When someone has already accepted that they can't die, then pain... is nothing but an annoyance.
"Felt! I swear to god! Get the fuck out of here!" Subaru shouted one last time, his voice hoarse but sharp with urgency.
The girl finally snapped out of her thoughts and bolted from the room.
"Don't die, Nii-san!" she called back before disappearing down the hallway.
Elsa moved to chase—but her arm was still trapped in Subaru's unrelenting grip.
"What a stubborn guy you are," she muttered darkly, switching to the blade in her left hand. She swung at him again, and—
Squelch!
"AAAHHHH! FUCK!"
He screamed in agony. Her second knife had pierced his other hand, sinking deep through flesh and bone. Blood gushed from both wounds now, dripping onto the floor in messy red trails.
"El Huma!"
Emilia picked the perfect moment to act. She raised her hand and fired a barrage of icicles straight at the assassin, forcing Elsa to jump back and release her grip on both blades—still embedded in Subaru's hands.
"Nice back up," Subaru muttered sarcastically, panting through clenched teeth.
"Thanks!" Emilia replied brightly—completely missing the sarcasm.
She took a second to really look at him—and her eyes widened in horror at the state of his arms.
"Y-you—are you Alright?!" she asked, her voice rising with genuine concern.
"I'll live... Maybe... Probably," Subaru panted out, forcing a weak smile through the pain. "But now we just have to wait for—"
BOOM!
Before he could finish his sentence, the door to the loot house exploded inward, blasted away by a powerful force.
"Oh thank God," Subaru muttered in relief—then collapsed onto the floor, finally letting himself rest.
He knew exactly who had arrived.
But instead of letting his body fall to the ground, the newly arrived Hero of the world caught him in his arms.
"Sorry I am late, Subaru," Reinhard gently spoke to him, and Subaru only let out a small laugh — knowing full well this was the guy who would never be in the right place when he was needed.
"Emilia-sama, I am sorry for my insolence, but could you please heal him?" Reinhard politely asked the royal candidate.
"Yes! Of course!" she answered without hesitation.
He gently laid Subaru down, letting the royal candidate focus on healing him, and shifted his attention to the remaining threat in the room.
"Now..." he said, turning to face the assassin without a trace of fear. Unlike everyone else, he was far beyond her — too powerful to be even remotely intimidated.
"Shall we put an end to this?"
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