AN: Sorry about last week's lack of chapter. I got really sick on tuesday and had to take some medication, the kind that makes you really drowsy. But hopefully I can get back on track. Enjoy!

ARC Five: Trials of the Sanctuary

Chapter 35: Repulsion

Subaru was rushing through the door following closely behind Batman, as they both headed straight to the Batwing.

"How long will it take us to get there?!"

"Sadly, it may take several minutes to make it there!"

"Then we need to hurry-"

Just then, Ram had heard the commotion and had rushed out alongside Garfiel.

"Just what are you two doing at such early hours?"

"Ram, it's bad! Batman said someone is breaking into the mansion!"

"...What are you talking about Barusu?"

"Batman said he left motion sensors in the mansion and that one of them went off!"

Ram and Garfiel tilted their heads in absolute confusion, both of them clearly not even coming close to understanding what they said.

"Barusu, what's a 'motion sen-sor'?"

"It sounds cool as hell, but what is it?"

Subaru scratched the back of his head as he was forced to explain.

"It's a type of Metia, one that when it senses a person's presence it'll sound off an alarm that Batman over here can can hear. He said he placed some in the Mansion before we all left, and one of them has gone off!"

Ram had a perplexed look on her face as she was clearly looking for some kind of response.

"...What if it was just some animal that snuck in?"

Batman pressed some buttons on his gauntlet as he shook his head.

"No, I set up this particular sensor on Roswaal's hidden door. The only way for it to have activated was if someone opened the door, and unless you have giant rats running around this area...we may have a situation."

Ram seemed surprised to hear all of us, while Garfiel just crossed his arms and leered at Batman.

The Batwing had flown over them as it began descending to retrieve them.

"Subaru, I'm going to check on the Mansion, stay put and watch everyone!"

"No way, I'm going too!"

"Don't be stu-!"

"I'm going! I need to figure out some things! Especially with Frederica and Beatrice!"

Batman scratched his forehead, realizing that Subaru was coming whether he liked it or not.

"Alright, let's get going."

"'Kay!"

But as the two prepared to board the Batwing, Ram stepped over to them, with her usual demeanor.

"Ram?"

"By Roswaal-sama's orders I have been tasked to watch over your actions. Thus, I shall accompany the two of you to the mansion."

"...And I can't stop you either?"

"...You're more than welcome to try."

Batman let out an exasperated sigh as he helped the two of them into the Batwing, Garfiel rushed forward to speak with Ram.

"Oy! Ya' sure about all this Ram?"

"Yes, try not to worry so much Garf', I am more than capable of taking care of myself."

"Yeah...but…"

"Besides, in the worse case scenario, I have Barusu here as a human shield."

Subaru seemed despondent about the comment, but agreed with Ram coming along with them.

Garfiel waved at her with a concerned expression. He then glanced over at Batman who started the take off.

"Take care of her you hear?! 'Like the Dragon's reach is from the valleys to mountains!'"

"..."

Batman simply nodded as the Batwing flew away with the three of them inside.

The Batwing soared over the sky as it picked up speed. Ram seemed a bit uncomfortable sitting in the Batwing.

"Sorry, this thing wasn't really meant to occupy more than at least two people."

"It is alright, though being so close to Barusu is starting to make me a bit uneasy."

Subaru glanced behind himself at Ram.

"Hey, you make it sound like sitting close to me is a bad thing."

"I'd rather not catch whatever disease you contracted to make you so incompetent."

"Its those jabs to heart that bring me back to the old days, onee-sama."

Ram let loose her usual serious demeanor as she heard something that she had to question.

"Onee-sama?"

"Something wrong?"

"Well…it's just, that seems so foreign and familiar to me."

"...Ram."

"Hmm?"

"I thinks it time I told you about someone very important…"

Subaru turned his body to come face to face with Ram…

"...It's about someone named Rem."

The Batwing landed in the garden area, as everyone got out and observed the area around them.

Subaru and Batman were especially cautious.

"Anything Batman-san?"

"No, nothing out here…"

"Let's head inside."

The three of them moved to the front doors, where they were greeted by two familiar faces.

"Welcome back you two."

"Welcome back Batman-sama, Subaru-sama."

Petra and Frederica bowed respectfully to the two of them, before noticing Ram behind them.

"Ah! Ram, it's been quite a while now! How are you?"

"Very well Frederica, I am still doing my utmost to fulfill Roswaal-sama's orders."

"Hmmm, same as always huh?"

Petra walked over and bowed to her.

"It is good to see you as well Ram-sama. I am the new hire for the open maid position, Petra."

"Ah yes, Roswaal-sama told me about that. You're the girl from Irlham Village, if I am correct?"

"Yes. I hope to be of use to you!"

"Very good. Try and do your best in surpassing Barusu, once you do that, nothing can impede you."

Subaru sighed a bit, but him and Batman made their way inside the mansion and browsed around.

Petra seemed a bit troubled by their behavior.

"Um, is everything alright?"

Subaru noticed her troubled little face and comforted her with a nice pat on the head.

"We're just checking on some stuff. Don't worry everything is fine."

"...Okay."

Petra blushed a bit as she smiled at him.

"Batman-san...I'm going with Ram to check on Rem."

"Alright, keep that Comm Link on."

"Sounds good."

They all went their separate ways inside the mansion.

Subaru eventually took Ram to see Rem. Ram seemed shocked at seeing the sleeping girl, still not believing that she had a sister she had no recollection of. Ram brushed Rem's hair with a free hand.

Subaru decided to leave the two alone for a bit…

He met with Petra out in the hallway, when she noticed Subaru seemed a bit downcast. She decided to hold one of his hands.

"You're trying to wake her up Subaru-sama?"

"Yes. I won't rest until I find some solution. I...I want to see her open her eyes again."

"I know you will."

"...Huh?"

Petra took his hand and gave him a smile so brilliant, he lost all train of thought for a moment.

"You saved Emilia-sama in the capital, saved my village from the Ma-Beasts and you even helped us again with the Witch's Cult. I know you're capable of anything Subaru-sama."

"...Th-Thank you."

Petra giggled a bit as she excused herself to attend to more of her duties, Subaru looked down as he thought about what to do about Rem…and the feelings in his heart for her.

Batman reached Roswaal's study and opened the secret doorway that was hidden in the bookcase.

"Don't worry Frederica, hopefully it's nothing serious at all."

"Hopefully so, I'd be a bit worried if something did happen."

"I'll make sure nothing happens."

Batman pulled out a flashlight and ventured further down the mysterious tunnel, the eerie echoing of his footsteps didn't bother him at all.

After a few minutes of not seeing anything, Batman decided to use his Optic Eyes to look a bit more ahead.

"Ahhhhhh, I see you came to greet me, how kind of you."

Hearing the familiar voice Batman turned his head to the side as a blade flew by him. From the darkness emerged a certain adversary, one that he hadn't seen since the first day he arrived in Lugnica.

"Elsa!"

"I told didn't I? I was coming back for your bowels."

Elsa charged at Batman with her blade, but he spun his body around her and hit her in the face with his flashlight. Momentarily blinded Batman grabbed her arm and shoulder spinning once again and slamming her hard into the ground.

Elsa tried retaliating by spinning her body and attempting to slice away at Batman.

Batman threw some smoke pellets to the ground and used his grappling hook to exit the tunnel and back to Roswaal's study.

Rolling onto the ground he tossed an explosive Batarang into the tunnel, collapsing it.

"Batman-sama?!"

"GO! Get Petra and-"

Batman the leaped forward and pushed Frederica out of the way, as Elsa charged out of the cloud of smoke and attempted to slice open Frederica's head. Batman balanced himself with a handstand and kicked her in the face, away from them.

"Who is that?!"

"An assassin! She's the one the who was hired to kill Emilia!"

"Then...she's here to finish the job?!"

Batman grabbed Frederica by the waist and leaped out of the room with her, he tossed several pellets into the room and shut the door. The flashbang pellets exploded as the two of them ran down the hallway.

"Frederica! Go get Petra, I'll find Subaru and the others!"

"Yes!"

The two split up as Batman heard the door from Roswaal's study crash and turned to see Elsa charging. But he then saw her rush past him by running up the wall, when he looked forward he saw Subaru walking towards him. Petra had shown up farther back with some cleaning utensils.

Above her, Elsa had dropped down from the ceiling.

"PETRA! GET DOWN!"

Batman tossed some Batarangs, but Elsa sliced them away and ended up behind the young maid. Subaru finally turned around and saw Elsa holding a blade to the face of a fearful Petra.

"S-Subaru!"

"Petra! Let her go Elsa!"

Elsa licked her lips as if asking to be challenged by the two.

"Come on you two...make your move."

Subaru clenched his fists as he tried to come up with a plan…

"Let's trade. I'll go with you in exchange for Petra."

"Hmm? And just why would you do something so suicidal?"

"What's wrong? Think you can't handle a guy like me? Then again, you weren't even able to do anything back at the loot-"

"-Alright. Come over here and I'll let the girl go."

Subaru proceeded to walk to Elsa and looked back at Batman.

As he got close to Elsa, the assassin quickly went over to reach for Subaru.

"SHAMAK!"

A giant cloud of smoke erupted from Subaru, giving him a chance to grab Petra from the disoriented Elsa. Subaru was holding onto Petra's hand when he could clearly see Elsa running through the smoke and straight at them with an annoyed expression.

"Can't believe I have to use this tactic again!"

Subaru grabbed Petra by the waist and tossed her towards Batman. Batman charged forward but noticed Elsa had tossed a knife at Subaru. He stopped his momentum to throw a Batarang at the knife, knocking it into a wall. Petra continued flying through the air, when she saw Frederica and Ram run towards her.

"Frederica-nee sama!"

"Grab on!"

Frederica skeeted on the floor and from her behind came a large golden fur tail. Petra was able to latch on and was lowered to safety.

Ram jumped to the air with a small wand in her hand. The wand created specks of pink light as Ram yelled at Elsa.

"Do not think you'll leave here in one piece, intruder!"

"Oh, that wrathful look on your face is so comforting to see! Well...let's play then shall we?"

Elsa spun the knife in her hand as she licked her lips.

Elsa charged forward to confront Batman and Ram.

Elsa twisted her blade around as she tried to cut into Batman, who eventually caught her wrist and snapped it. Turning her body away from him, he activated the electric tasers in his glove and punched her in the back several times.

Elsa backflipped to try and get away, so Batman let her go and kicked her away from him, letting Ram unleash several wind slices against her.

Elsa dodged them one by one effortlessly, only to discover too late the small pellets rolling towards her.

The pellets exploded ripping apart her legs, giving Batman a chance to lunge forward and uppercut her.

"Now Ram!"

"Al Fula!"

A huge air slice erupted from Ram's wand and hit Elsa even though she tried to block body was now sliced apart and her limp body was sent flying down the hallway and out the window.

Batman and Ram took deep breaths as they looked at the shattered window.

Batman turned around and looked back at Subaru.

"Subaru! We're leaving! Go get Rem, I'll catch up with you in a bit!"

"Okay!"

Subaru sped off to reach Rem's bedroom.

Batman turned his attention to the three maids with him.

"Everyone else come with me! We're getting you all into the Batwing."

Just as he was about to guide them outside, all the windows could be heard smashing and sections of the wall fell in.

When they all looked they could see various types of Ma-beasts surrounding them all.

"Damn it!"

Batman pushed several buttons on his gauntlet to summon the Batwing to their position.

Batman raised his palm at the beasts as they began charging forward.

"Al Jiwald!"

A large wave of light sprung out of Batman's hand and blasted away most of the Ma Beasts. Ram continued releasing wind magic, but even Batman knew that her mana reserves were low and she'd be in danger then. As more Ma Beasts came running forward, they were ripped to shreds by something attacking them from the windows.

The maids turned to see the Batwing blasting its turret on the side of the mansion. Batman pressed several more buttons on his gauntlet, letting the Batwing glide close enough to the windows for everyone to jump on.

As the maids jumped inside the cockpit, Batman closed it, confusing everyone, especially Frederica.

"Batman-sama! What are you doing?"

"Stay in there! I have to get Subaru and the others."

"No! The mansion is probably filled with-"

"-I'll be back. Don't worry about me."

Frederica and the others could only stare worryingly as Batman continued down the hallways towards Rem's room.

Subaru kept running down the halls, dodging any Ma-Beast that came in his way. Before he knew it, he had several of them chasing after him. Finally reaching Rem's door he forced it open...only to see he was in the Forbidden Archive.

"...This is."

"Yes, this is exactly where you think it is, I suppose."

Subaru turned to face Beatrice who was sitting in her usual seat looking up at him.

"B-But...Rem."

"I was on my way to Rem's….REM! WHERE IS SHE?!"

"The reason why you think you wanted to go back to that room… is already gone, I suppose."

Subaru fell to his knees and screamed, making Beatrice herself flinch in terror. Subaru slammed his head on the ground several times before looking up at Beatrice, with mad eyes.

"And why did you bring me here?"

"Your actions were too unsightly. Running forward to save someone that was already doomed, that is something Betty will never understand about you humans, I suppose."

"If I sacrifice myself to save Rem or Batman, then that's all there is! I can't have you telling me to do anything else! YOU HEAR ME?!"

"But...Betty...just wanted to-"

Before she could answer, Subaru pushed her off of the stool, he then grabbed it and smashed it to the ground, retrieving a large piece of the dislodged leg and proceeded to stab himself in the neck.

The excruciating pain racked his brain as he fell to the ground, every gasp for air would make blood flood out of his grisly wound. Subaru's eyes began to dim...but he couldn't care less, a world without Rem was too much for his sanity.

He just wanted to restart, he'd do things do differently for sure….

"…No.. don't leave me all alone…"

A voice reached his ears...but he lost consciousness before he could identify it.

Subaru's eyes began to open as he looked up…

"...!"

Only to see the ceiling of the Forbidden Archives.

"You're finally awake, I suppose."

He looked over and saw Beatrice leaning on one of the bookshelves as she looked down at him.

"You just picked up your life and you have nothing to say, I suppose? Well, hopefully this taught you a lesson not to do anything stupid anymore-"

"-DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE?!"

Beatrice was quiet as Subaru stumbled over to her with an alarmingly rageful look on his face, an expression she had never seen from him before.

Subaru then grabbed Beatrice by the shoulders, and shoved her further into the bookcase. The young girl let out whine, but she froze when she saw Subaru's eyes. They were so filled with rage and discontent.

"WHO THE HELL ASKED YOU TO SAVE ME?!"

"...Betty was.."

"Because of you, it was all for nothing! Everything, everything that I could have fixed is put at risk because of you! Why didn't you just let me die!?"

"..."

Subaru let loose his rage, as his face put on a sinister look, with enraged eyes and a foul grin.

"Saving me on a whim, healing my injuries...are you satisfied now? You want me to thank you? Ah, yeah, thank you! Thank you for saving my life! Even though everything else is already lost, at least MY LIFE'S BEEN SAVED!"

"...But..."

"Of course, as usual, there you are looking down on me with that carefree expression like there's not a worry in the world. You're good at it, aren't you? You like that, don't you?! Looking down and sneering at the little Human beings and their struggles is a joke for you? HUH?! ISN'T IT?!"

Subaru felt so angry that he let Beatrice go, not wanting to look at her anymore. He began to claw at his head so hard that blood was starting to leak out.

Beatrice went over and tried to stop him once again.

Subaru saw this…

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

He shoved Beatrice with enough force to knock her over.

"...!"

Subaru had now realized what he had done and ran over to Beatrice. As he attempted to help her up he looked at her face.

He saw large droplets of tears falling from the eyes of the girl he was holding up-close. Subaru felt absolutely disgusted in himself for the shameful behavior he displayed to Beatrice.

"...I...I…"

Subaru could think of only one thing to comfort the young girl in front of him.

He held her close in an embracing hug, letting her tears splash on his chest as he too began to tear up.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Beatrice...It's not your fault."

Beatrice heard something that she couldn't help but feel immense pain from and she cried into his chest.

Subaru looked over and saw a certain black book lying on the floor and began to tremble at the sight of it.

"B-Beatrice...is that…"

"Is that a gospel…?"

Beatrice removed herself from Subaru and ran over to the Gospel. Beatrice clasped the Gospel in her arms as she backed away from Subaru. Keeping distance between them, holding back her sobs, she looked down towards the Gospel in her arms, and appeared to breathe a sigh of relief as she traced her fingers over its covers.

"Why? Why do you have it?! I-Is it true then…?"

"Batman and myself suspect that those books can predict the future, is that true then?!"

"...I cannot answer a question that is not written here."

"...WHAT THE HELL KIND OF LOGIC IS THAT?! You saved me just earlier right?"

"...It was written and so I had to do it."

Subaru noticed her straining her words and began to walk over to her.

"S-STAY AWAY!"

"No Beatrice, I want to help you-"

"-You cannot help Betty!"

"We can help each other! You said you'd protect this mansion right?! Well, nows the time Beatrice!"

"Help me stop them. Help me save the mansion."

Beatrice gave it some thought as she walked over to her little table, she peered over at Subaru as she breathed a doubtful sigh. She placed her Gospel down on the table and walked over to Subaru with a slightly displeased face.

"Fine, let's go then…"

"...Thank you Beatrice."

Batman rushed over to the door to Rem's living quarters, a Wolgarm attempted to bite down on his neck, but he easily dodged it, grabbing it by the neck and snapped it. He then grabbed the doorknob and opened the door….

Only to find Rem lying on her bed, with her stomach sliced open.

Her internal organs were spilled out on the floor and her blood covered the blankets they had used for her.

Batman fell to his knees seeing the sight before him.

"I was bored waiting for you all, so I had to have some fun."

Batman turned to see Elsa in a crouching position smiling at him, with all her wounds healed.

She smiled affectionately at Rem as she licked her bloody blade.

"Though she had no reaction, her bowels were quite beautiful-"

"-ELSA!"

Batman charged forward with absolute rage in his eyes, Elsa tossed several knives at him. He quickly dodged them, Elsa tried to slice at Batman.

"...!"

But just as quickly, Elsa was stabbed in the side of the head with a Batarang.

Elsa lost balance and tried to slice again at her opponent, but he saw it coming again and dodged. He took advantage and punched her hard on the side of the face, so hard that her left eye was crushed and several of her teeth flew out.

She rolled to the ground and attempted to kick at Batman, who quickly tackled her to the ground and proceeded to punch her face in. From the broken window that she entered from, a Ma-Beast attempted to leap at Batman. He grabbed Elsa and chucked her at it.

Elsa quickly sliced it to bits, but as she turned around, she was met by Batman who grabbed her head...and snapped her neck. He then kicked her limp body out of the window.

Even though he figured out her little trick, he was still sickened by the idea that he had essentially killed her.

He walked over to Rem and grabbed an extra blanket, covering her body with it.

He raced out of the room to see Subaru and Beatrice out in the hallway.

"Beatrice! Subaru!"

"Batman-san!"

He rushed over to them and was glad that they were alright.

"Everyone we need to make our way to the Batwing!"

"How are we all going to fit?!"

"...I'll figure it out. For now, let's move!"

The three of them made their way to the Batwing, taking down any Ma-Beast in the way.

Batman and the others arrived at the Batwing, that was still next to the window with the maids inside, with many dead Ma-Beast around it.

Batman was prepared to push some buttons on his gauntlet, but he heard a sound that sent terror down his spine.

The sound of an incoming missile...

Batman pressed several buttons on his gauntlet as he forced the Batmobile to fly off and deploy flares. The flares allowed it to escape the missile as it exploded in air.

But as the Batwing was returning back to its position next to the mansion, an air slice appeared out of nowhere and sliced off one of it's wings. The Batwing spiraled out of control in the air as smoke and fire rose out of the damaged wing.

The Batwing finally crashed into the woods just outside the mansion.

Batman and the others stood there frozen staring at the terrible crash.

They snapped out of it and leaped down from the broken window. They raced forward trying to reach the crash site before the Ma-Beast did.

Seeing they were being surrounded by the Ma-Beast, Batman grabbed the two and used the one magic spell he had the mana reserves for.

"Al Ermac!"

Batman, Subaru and Beatrice then dashed forward in a blinding yellow light all the way to the crash site.

Subaru felt a little nauseous from the spell, but quickly recovered to see the downed Batwing and the cockpit opening up. Petra leapt down with a bit of blood on her face as she saw Subaru.

"Subaru-!"

As she ran forward to help him, a large raptor like Ma-Beast instantly bit her entire head off.

Subaru stared emotionlessly as Petra's body fell to the ground. The Ma-Beast roared loudly with blood flowing out of its mouth...only for Frederica to leap down and rip the raptor to shreds with her monster like paws.

As the monster fell dead, Frederica held back tears as she looked down at Petra's body. Then a loud bang rang out as something pierced through her shoulder, as well as Subaru's. They both fell to the ground in pain. Beatrice put up a magical barrier around them, but noticed too late that Batman and Ram were still on the Batwing trying to fight back against several Ma-Beast.

"Batman-san! I'm going to use my Clairvoyance to find us a way out of here!"

"Ram hold on!"

Ram activated her Divine Protection and scanned the area to find a way out, she only saw more and more Ma-Beast getting ever closer to them.

Then, she saw a bush with a strange long metallic pipe sticking out and aiming straight at them.

Several loud bangs suddenly shot out and Ram was suddenly riddled in wounds.

"RAM!"

Batman grabbed Ram and fired a grappling hook to where Subaru was, making sure to drop several smoke pellets behind him.

Batman reached behind the three remaining allies as he tried to help Ram.

"Stay with me Ram!"

Batman did everything he could to help the girl, but all she did was cough up blood and cry.

"Don't you dare die! You're stronger than this! Please!"

"..."

Ram placed a trembling hand on Batman's chest and looked up at him with such sorrowful eyes. Then she passed away. Her hand finally going limp.

"...Ram."

Batman held her tight as his face contorted to one of extreme pain.

"NNNRAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!"

He let out a scream as if to let the heavens themselves know of his utter sorrow.

Subaru also joined in as he slammed his fists onto the ground and began to cry.

"Ram….I'm sorry...Petra...REM…REM!"

Then the magical barrier surrounding them fell apart as a powerful explosion shattered it.

Beatrice fired sharp beams of light into the woods intending to kill anything that came close. Frederica looked down at Batman and held his shoulder, tears also falling from her face.

"Don't worry, I'll help you and the others escape Batman-sama."

She began to transform into a golden cat-like beast. The beast turned around to see Batman who looked at her…

It made her smile…

To see him look at her not out of fear, but of concern…

"Live."

Frederica charged forward at their enemies as Batman screamed out to her.

"NO! FREDERICA STOP!"

Batman placed Ram down as he ran to catch up to Frederica, leaving Beatrice to take care of Subaru, who was still crying.

Frederica tore apart several Ma-Beast before noticing something was moving around in the forest. She gave chase, only for something to fire loudly at her and cover her in wounds.

She screamed out in pain as the wounds caused her to fall over. Before she could get up several small objects were thrown at her. She looked over and saw several peculiar round objects next to her.

They immediately exploded, ripping apart her sides. Before she could catch her bearings the figure leapt out of the bushes and sliced her to ribbons at high speed.

She fell over covered in blood and grisly wounds. She looked ahead and saw Batman killing his way through the Ma-Beasts with his mask partially destroyed, giving her a good look at his full expression.

He was panicking, for her sake.

It made her smile as she finally realized something she had tried to figure out these past few days…

"Heh, Batman-sama...I actually-"

Her thoughts were silenced as a sword pierced straight through her skull and into the blood soaked ground beneath her.

Batman slowly walked over to the scene as her body began to regress back to her normal form. Her naked body lay there as the sword quickly unlodged itself from her head.

"That was actually quite exciting. It's been a good while, since I had a challenge like that."

Batman looked up and gritted his teeth at the man standing before him...the one who brought down the Batwing and killed Frederica.

"DEATHSTROKE….!"



Deathstroke rested his sword on his shoulder as he leered at the man standing before him.

"It has been too long Batman...let's have a good match for old times sake."

Subaru finally snapped out of his stupor to see Beatrice doing her best to try and protect him. He could clearly see she was running on steam as her ragged breaths proved so. Subaru shook his head and grabbed his throwing stars from his pocket and threw them at some charging Ma-Beast. He killed some and blinded the others. Just as he was prepared to fight some more, Beatrice suddenly stopped firing.

"I-I ran out of mana, I suppose!"

"Damn, now of all times!"

Subaru held onto to Beatrice and aimed his throwing stars at the approaching Ma-Beast, but they all suddenly stopped for some reason.

Just then, Beatrice's eyes widened and she shoved Subaru away from her...only for her to be sliced clean in half.

Time slowed down for Subaru as he began to cry once again, he looked at the young spirit as she began to dissipate into light.

The last thing he saw from her was a face filled with utter sadness and fear, then nothing, as she simply disappeared.

"Wow Onee-san, that was one of your quickest ones yet!"

"Yes, well, it's too bad though. I wasn't able to get a good look at her intestines, I guess spirits aren't as fun to kill."

Elsa turned around to see Meili emerging from the woods, smiling as she hugged a small puppy in her hands.

Meili looked down at the obviously crazed Subaru.

"Hey Onii-san! It's been a while hasn't it?"

"From...the village…"

"Yup! I'm glad you remember me! And speaking of which, I just came back from there!"

Meili pointed away from them with a victorious grin. In the distance Subaru could see several pillars of smoke from where Irlham Village would be.

Subaru had been soul-crushingly revealed that yet more people he had cared for had now been killed.

He had enough.

Subaru turned his throwing stars and aimed them straight at his throat, hoping to end his life right then and there.

But something sliced away half his hand.

Subaru screamed out in pain and rolled around in the ground in sheer agony. Elsa looked down at the young man with a repulsed expression.

"Look Meili, we have found a coward. A heartless, putrid coward."

"Hmmm...That's not a good thing to be Onii-san, we'll have to punish you for that."

The Ma-Beast began to growl around him, but stopped as Elsa patted on Meili's shoulder.

"Relax, I'll be the one taking care of this."

Elsa proceeded to kick Subaru in the sides, her heels piercing through his flesh and even breaking ribs. She then turned him over and sliced away at his face, the cuts were so deep the the flesh on his right cheek was literally folding off.

Meili's lime green eyes leered down emotionlessly at the young man, offering no sympathy for his plight.

Then, Elsa sliced away Subaru's left eye.

"AGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! NGAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Subaru screamed, cried and vomited in quick succession as he writhed away at the pain.

Elsa was about to stab him in his chest, but Deathstroke was flung at her body, sending both of them flying.

Batman leaped down next to Subaru….covered in grisly wounds himself. He even had Ma-Beast claws still stuck on his sides.

Batman looked down at the horribly wounded Subaru and tried to comfort the boy.

The three assassins soon surrounded them, leaving them no choice but to face them head on.

Subaru held on to his wounded face tightly as he began to panic. It was not for himself, but for the one person next to Rem that would make him this worried…

"Emilia…"

He had never told her that he was going to the mansion…

"...E...Emilia…"

Subaru dragged himself on the floor, trying to reach his next destination. He had to be sure she was okay, he had to make it there.

"Emilia…"

Suddenly, the pyroxene crystal that Subaru accidentally brought with him began to glow inside his pocket. Before he could comprehend it, a bright light enveloped him.

Then, he simply disappeared.

"SUBARU? SUBARU!"

Batman turned back around seeing that the assassins and Ma-Beast were closing in on him. Looking back at the Batwing, he figured that there was no chance for him to reach the pocket dimension under the Batwing.

Thus, he fully accepted that he was most likely going to die.

Batman readied his last Batarangs and prepared himself for the end. His enemies charged right at him, as Batman furrowed his eyes one last time.

Subaru had awoken inside of a strange room, above him there seemed to be a rather large crystal with someone inside it. He couldn't see clearly but when he looked further ahead, he could've sworn he saw Lewes Meyer standing in front of him.

Subaru couldn't even speak at this point, his life slowly fading away. He attempted to crawl towards her, but his vain attempt at moving was hardly getting him anywhere.

Then he looked further ahead and saw that there was a door right behind her, fully open. When Subaru looked closely he noticed two things.

Snow…..

Rabbit…..

The small rabbit seemed to notice the two of them...right as it charged right through Lewes and just in front of Subaru. The white rabbit, now covered in blood wiggled its ears at the sight of Subaru. Subaru was scared, but he lacked the energy to even express it, his only good eye began to close.

Right there, he could swear he heard something crunching.

Subaru opened his eyes as he saw Echidna sitting on her chair looking down at him with a truly enrapturing smile.

"Welcome back Subaru."

Subaru had returned back from a world that had all but faded away into nothing.