You are now at the slums. Grinning, you remember the events right after Subaru learned Felt's general location.
"Off to the slums, we have a thief to catch!" Subaru started running off without you and Emilia.
"Umm, Sol, Subaru just ran the wrong way. The slums are in the opposite direction." Emilia sounded disappointed, and for a good reason.
Sol sighed, the sound echoing in the narrow street. "I've seen cyberpsychos with better direction than him. Stay right here, I'll go fetch our 'hero.'"
Sol ran off and quickly caught up to Subaru.
"Hey genius, where do you think you're going?"
"I'm going to the slums, where else would I be going?" He was now facing Sol, who was behind him, while running forward.
Sol smirked, his eyes scanning the surrounding alleyways. "Well, good luck with that. I'll be going in the right direction with Emilia. See ya." After saying that, Sol slowed down and came to a stop.
Subaru, on the other hand, kept trucking forward. Unfortunately, he still wasn't looking ahead of himself and ran into a woman, knocking her over.
"Was machst du, du dummkopf!"
"I'm so sorry, my friend here can be a dolt, so please excuse him!" Sol grabbed Subaru by the collar of his tracksuit and began hauling him back to where Emilia was waiting.
"Huh?" Subaru yelled as he was dragged along. "Who even says 'dolt' these days?? And was that German?!"
Sol ignored him, a small, genuine smile playing on his lips. It was a nice break from the tension of his previous life. He snapped out of the memory and focused on the scene in front of him. Unlike the memory, there was nothing here to smile about. There were many houses in very poor condition. They were filthy, and looked like they would fall over if the wind blew too hard.
The same went for the people. They wore rags, and looked as if they never experienced the luxury of a bath. They were frail, and you could tell that they were extremely malnourished.
What kind of government lets so many people fall this low into poverty? Sol thought, a surge of familiar bitterness rising. It felt like Night City without the neon—just the same corporate neglect replaced by royal apathy.
As they walked around even more, the tension in the air became thick enough to taste.
Nervously, Emilia asked, "Are you sure she's here?"
"Lia, don't you trust that man who gave us this information?" Puck spoke for the first time in what seems to be quite a while.
"Well, he did seem to be trustworthy, but this place is just unsettling. Hey, maybe someone will tell us where Felt lives if we ask them!" Emilia's demeanor brightened up a little after saying this.
"No one would sell out one of their own, so I don't think that would work," said Subaru, "maybe we should come back later."
"No." Sol said this very firmly. "The more we wait, the higher the chance that she doesn't have the insignia anymore. Information in places like this has a very short shelf life." Besides, Sol knew that Puck wouldn't be able to stay materialized forever.
"He has a point," said Puck. "Thankfully, I have a few more hours before I'm out of time, but Lia would get really sad if we waited too long!"
"What do you mean, 'out of time'?" Subaru wanted to know this, but Sol already knew what Puck meant.
"Well, since I am a spirit, it takes a lot of mana just to stay in this physical form, so I return to the crystal I was summoned from when it is later in the day. I usually stay from about 9 to 5."
"We'll be fine even without Puck, so let's keep moving forward." Emilia was determined to get her insignia back, even if it was without Puck.
"You know, I'm still here." Puck deadpanned.
"I-I know! I was j-just trying to—"
"It's fine Emilia, we all try to act cool." Subaru put his hand on her shoulder to console her.
Before Emilia could respond to that, Sol barged into the conversation. "Well, like you said Subaru, these people won't sell out their own. So you should go and ask one of them."
"What?" Everybody was confused by this.
"What I meant was you look pretty beat up, so you fit right in with them. Because of this, you can probably ask one of them and get a response."
"And whose fault is it that I look like this?!" Subaru got really angry at this comment.
"It's your fault."
"Yours."
"Your fault."
Sol, Emilia, and Puck simultaneously answered, leaving Subaru in a state of rejection.
"Fine..." Subaru trudged off, and after a couple minutes, he came back. "Apparently, we can find her at 'Old Man Rom's loot house,' which is just up that hill." His mood was soured by everybody's reflection on his sorry state.
To help him a little, Sol told him, "Good job Subaru. None of us could have gotten that information, so thanks."
"Yes, I agree. Thank you, Subaru!" Emilia gave Subaru a smile, which made his mood do a 180. His spirits were high once again.
"Well, somebody's got to do these things."
Sol felt a prickle at the base of his neck—instinct born from years of surviving ambushes. "Well, if you're done now, let's go! I don't like being out in the open here."
They made their way up to the loot house. As they walked toward it, Sol checked the charge on his Sandevistan. It was ready. He tried to figure out what they would do if Felt refused to trade. He figured he could offer his phone, which looked like high-tech magic compared to anything here.
After a few minutes, the four of you reached the loot house. Subaru took a deep breath as he took the lead and knocked on the door. "Hey, is Felt here? I wanna talk to her about an insignia!"
There was complete silence from the other side of the door, but all of a sudden, it creaked open.
The door to the loot house opened, revealing a black-haired woman with a very revealing outfit. After glancing at your group, her eyes locked on Emilia.
"Ah, so you're with her."
Sol's heart stopped. The woman wasn't Felt. She was something else entirely—the way she balanced on the balls of her feet, the way her eyes tracked their vitals. Professional.
Sol gasped as Elsa Granhiert, also known as the Bowel Hunter, dashed straight at Emilia, her bloody blades ready to disembowel the half-elf.
No way.
Why was she so early?
Time seemed to slow down even before he hit the switch. Sol didn't think; he reacted. Sandevistan—Activate!
The world turned to static and slow-motion. Sol's spine screamed as the heat surged. He moved. He was fast, faster than any human, aiming to tackle Emilia out of the way.
But even in the dilated time of the Sandevistan, Elsa moved.
She wasn't frozen like the thugs in the alley. She was a blur of black and steel, her eyes tracking Sol even through his hyper-acceleration. She was a supernatural predator. Sol reached for Emilia, but Elsa twisted in mid-air with impossible grace.
Sol's Sandevistan flared—a warning of critical strain. His vision flickered. In that micro-second of lag, Elsa's blade danced. Sol felt a cold, sharp line draw across his abdomen.
He de-activated, the world slamming back into full speed. Puck managed to manifest an ice shield to protect Emilia from the follow-up, but Elsa's momentum was unstoppable. She used the ice shield to turn around at inhuman speeds toward Sol and Subaru.
Before Sol could even process the pain, his stomach was cut open. He fell to his knees, clutching his midsection.
His entire front felt like it was burning with the hottest fire. He looked at Subaru, who was falling beside him, similarly wounded.
Sol started to feel drowsy as the sounds of battle—Emilia's shouts and the clatter of ice—kept surrounding him. His analytical mind was failing, replaced by a cold, dark fog.
"No matter what... I'll save you..." Sol heard Subaru softly whisper this before he stopped moving.
It wasn't supposed to end like this, Sol thought, his vision fading. I survived the Arasaka towers for this? Please... if there's any luck left in this world...
A single tear escaped his eye before he saw a sudden darkness. There was a vision of black hands and a silver-haired woman.
"You have been heard. Your wish will come true."
Sol opened his eyes and saw himself and Subaru in front of the Appa stand.
The bright sun was blinding. The smell of Appas was overwhelming. The noise of the crowd was a physical blow to his senses. For some reason, Subaru couldn't seem to hear.
"Come on man, stop joking around. We just got here, and you're already going to get some people angry. First, you embarrass us by doing that weird pose, and now you're going to get yelled at. Can't you just be normal for once?!"
"What?" Subaru cupped his hands by his ear and looked genuinely confused.
A sudden realization hit Sol. The phantom pain of his stomach being sliced open was still there, a ghost in his nerves.
Oh no.
This is what Subaru did after the first time that he died. This makes sense, since this is the first save point.
Sol looked at his hands. They were whole. No blood. His tactical jacket was intact.
Does this mean that he's already died? Why can't I remember the 'other' deaths? Or did we die together?
Sol felt a cold shiver run down his spine, one that had nothing to do with the Sandevistan. If they were looping, then the threat they just faced was still out there. Elsa.
Sol pulled Subaru to the side of the street where nobody else could hear. He grabbed Subaru's shoulder, his grip tight and his face deadly serious.
"Subaru... look at me. This is going to sound insane, but... have you died recently?"