“—So strong!”
Felt was nearly blown away by the shockwave, barely managing to keep her balance by clinging tightly to Old Man Rom.
Emilia, holding Puck, hid behind a wall of ice, only lowering her defenses once the gale-force winds from the punch finally subsided.
Phew…
Subaru breathed a sigh of relief.
He still wasn’t used to turning people into minced meat at the drop of a hat; it was far too massive a shock to his sheltered, shut-in worldview.
However, compared to the previous loop, Subaru handled it much better.
At the very least, he wasn’t feeling the urge to throw up this time.
“Sorry about that, Old Man Rom,” Subaru called out, hovering above the massive crater.
“I kinda wrecked your place.”
Rom put a hand on Felt, who was looking ready to hiss again.
“Actually, Felt and this old man ought to be thanking you, young man.
If you hadn’t been here, that woman likely would have killed us both.”
“Subaru is amazing…”
Emilia smoothed out her silver hair, which had been whipped into a frenzy by the wind.
She never could have imagined that the boy she had bumped into on the street that morning possessed such terrifying strength.
“His destructive power is almost a quarter of the [Sword Saint]’s, isn’t it?
Thank goodness he’s on Lia’s side,” Puck murmured in a voice so low only he could hear it.
“Emilia, could you do me a favor?”
“Eh?
Mhm!
As long as it’s something I can do, I’ll definitely help you, Subaru!”
“Could you freeze this crater?”
Subaru glanced at Elsa, who was currently smeared evenly across the pit.
He looked away uncomfortably, then forced himself to look back.
“I have a feeling she might have some kind of regeneration or resurrection ability.
She’s probably not entirely dead yet.”
In the last loop, he had ripped one of her legs completely off, severing a major artery.
Yet even bleeding out like that, she had still managed to crawl back up and launch a fatal sneak attack on Emilia.
This time, he was taking no chances.
He absolutely refused to give her the opportunity to stand back up.
Since he didn’t know how many times her resurrection or healing could be used, Subaru decided to just have Emilia freeze her solid.
Speaking of which, does my [Return by Death] have a limit on how many times it can be used?
Could he only use it twice, or three times?
Or were there other hidden rules and restrictions?
“Emilia, do it.”
The moment Subaru’s words fell, a black blur shot out of the crater at breakneck speed.
Elsa kept her center of gravity low, scurrying rapidly across the ground.
The languid, euphoric gleam in her narrow eyes had vanished completely.
Elsa realized things had taken an incredibly unexpected turn.
Not only was his strength horrifying, but he even knew about her Divine Protection.
This is bad.
I need to retreat immediately.
Elsa wove nimbly through the rubble.
She scaled the rooftops, bounding across the tiles.
Looking as if she had entirely slipped the bonds of gravity, she executed a series of highly difficult parkour maneuvers to escape.
But it was useless.
—WHOOSH!!!
A sonic boom cracked the air, leaving a white vapor trail stretching across the sky.
Elsa looked back in shock, but there was nothing behind her.
“Over here, over here.”
Subaru had instantly caught up to the fleeing Elsa.
Floating right in front of her with his arms crossed, he said, “I have a few questions I’d like to ask you.
Will you cooperate?”
“Oh my, you really are terrifying, boy.”
Realizing she couldn’t escape, Elsa flipped her nimble hands, and two fresh kukri knives appeared.
“I know what you want to ask.
But let me say this first~ Even though I can’t beat you, I absolutely will not divulge my employer’s information~”
“You’ve really got some solid professional ethics,” Subaru couldn’t help but sigh in admiration, even if she was an enemy.
“Al Huma!”
Elsa backflipped out of the way just as a block of ice twice the height of a person materialized right where she had been standing.
Emilia hurried over with Puck, cutting off Elsa’s escape route.
“Oh my, two on one.
It seems I’m doomed~”
Surrounded by two opponents, one of whom possessed completely overwhelming strength, Elsa found herself in a desperate situation.
Yet, she smiled more enchantingly than ever.
Her gaze grew hazy and unfocused, her cheeks flushing so deeply they looked ready to drip blood.
“Psycho,” Subaru remarked, giving her the exact same evaluation he had in the previous loop.
Subaru could not understand this woman’s mindset in the slightest.
She…
she was exactly like an arachnid or a bug…
Disgusting.
Letting out a long breath, Subaru slowly clenched his fists, while Emilia’s ice magic hummed, ready to fire.
“Pardon me, but it is three on one.”
Emilia’s vision blurred for a fraction of a second, and Elsa suddenly collapsed to the ground.
It wasn’t just Emilia; even Subaru completely failed to process what had just happened.
—Standing next to the downed Elsa was a young man.
He had appeared so abruptly it was as if someone editing a video had just deleted all the starting and transitional frames, cutting straight to him standing there.
“Reinhard?!”
Emilia covered her mouth in shock.
Reinhard?
Subaru looked the owner of the name up and down.
Below that were sparkling blue eyes that conveyed an unmatched sense of valor.
His perfectly proportioned features looked like the proud masterpiece of a god; one glance was enough to tell he was someone extraordinary.
His slender, tall frame was about half a head taller than Subaru’s, wrapped in a perfectly tailored black-and-white uniform.
Hanging at his waist was a knight’s sword that, in Subaru’s aesthetic opinion, looked incredibly cool.
The young man’s hand rested lightly on the hilt of his sword, yet he radiated an unparalleled, overwhelming presence.
He didn’t even need to do anything.
Just by standing there, he became the protagonist of the world.
Before this, only one person had ever given Subaru that exact feeling: his father, Kenichi Natsuki, the man known as Omni-Man.
“My apologies, Lady Emilia, for my late arrival.” Reinhard gave Emilia a respectful bow, completely ignoring the incapacitated Elsa at his feet.
Lady Emilia?
Subaru hadn’t expected this young man—whose bearing and appearance clearly screamed high status—to address Emilia with such respect.
“I was on patrol when I saw the smoke and dust from a massive explosion over here.
After wrapping up a few matters, I rushed over immediately.” Reinhard kept his hand on the hilt of his knight’s sword and turned his head toward Subaru.
“Lady Emilia, who might this be?”
“His name is Subaru Natsuki.
He’s a friend I met on the street this morning.” Emilia exchanged a look with Subaru, who was still hovering in mid-air.
“He helped me out an awful lot.
I’m incredibly grateful to him!”
“Is that so?”
“Hello, it is an honor to meet you.
I am Reinhard van Astrea, the Kingdom’s current [Sword Saint], though I do not yet believe I am worthy of the title…”
Subaru landed on the ground as Reinhard proactively extended the hand that wasn’t resting on his sword.
“You are the one who defeated the Bowel Hunter, yes?
Your strength is truly astonishing, yet I’ve never heard of someone as formidable as you before.”
“Hey, I’m Subaru Natsuki.” Subaru shook Reinhard’s outstretched hand.
Just from that light grip, Subaru could feel the terrifying, unfathomable power hiding within the knight’s body.
“I come from a country far, far away.
For reasons even I don’t understand, I ended up in Lugunica, and right now I’m a completely penniless, super broke guy.”
“This morning, I ran into Emilia in an alley.
She helped me out, so I tagged along to help her find her…”
“Wait, Subaru!” Emilia cried out anxiously, trying to stop him from finishing his sentence.
“…stolen insignia.”
Emilia was a second too late.
Subaru had already blurted it out.
Reinhard’s gaze sharpened instantly.
“The insignia was stolen?”
Fic will be moving a little Slow in the beginning, it will speed up eventually.
Stone the fic