Subaru blinked into existence with a violent gasp, lungs dragging in air that felt too thick and heavy.
The clearing.
The damp smell of soil.
The faint echo of rainwater dripping somewhere out there
Her heart slammed against her ribs like it was trying to escape.
"I just want to understand you."
The voice was light. Curious.
Subaru's blood turned to ice.
Slowly, mechanically, she lifted her head.
Übel stood a few meters away, exactly where she had been before everything went wrong. Green ponytail resting over one shoulder. Purple eyes calm. Watching.
Waiting.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Another loop.
And this one had a flying lunatic who could slice her in half without even looking strained.
Subaru forced her breathing to steady. She knew this part now. The conversation. The distance between them. The faint morning mist weaving between tree trunks in the forest.
Her mind moved faster than her body.
Übel knows.
She knows I'm a demon.
How?
The turban still wrapped securely around her head. Horns hidden. No visible clue.
Was it her mana? That strange aura she mentioned? Could she sense something corrupted? Something inhuman?
Or was it instinct? Some predator's intuition?
It did not matter how.
What mattered was that last time, the moment she reacted, she died.
Subaru catalogued her options.
Option one: ignore it. Pretend she had not heard. Turn around. Walk. Act like nothing was said.
Option two: repeat the conversation. Ask why she wanted to understand her. Let Übel reveal the demon comment. Control her reaction better this time.
But that path had ended with her body falling in two neat halves.
From what she had observed, Übel had known from the beginning. She did not attack immediately. She did not strike while Subaru slept.
She wanted something.
A fight.
Of course she did.
She had that look. That bored hunter expression. The kind of person who sought stimulation, not survival.
Like some battle-obsessed anime rival. Except this one could actually kill her without effort.
Still, there was something else.
Übel had been disappointed when Subaru did not fight back.
That meant something.
Subaru's fear settled into something colder. More analytical.
If Übel had wanted her dead immediately, she would be dead.
So what did she want?
Information? Doubtful. She did not carry herself like someone part of an organization. No uniform. No insignia. No companions lurking in the shadows.
She felt solitary.
Which meant this was personal curiosity.
Subaru swallowed.
Then she did something different.
"Hm. And why are you heading North?" Subaru asked casually.
Übel blinked, caught slightly off guard.
"Oh?" she said softly. "Why the sudden interest?"
"Humor me," Subaru replied, crossing her arms as if bored.
Silence lingered for a heartbeat. Then Übel smiled again.
"I was going to attend the First Class Mage Exam."
That matched what the priest had said.
"Surely not for the certificate," Subaru said.
Übel's smile faded, just a fraction. She lifted a finger to her chin, thoughtful.
"That is actually one reason," she admitted. "But I was mostly bored. I wanted to have some fun."
"By slaughtering people?" Subaru asked flatly.
"Not really." Übel tilted her head. "I like fighting. But not pointless fighting."
Subaru studied her carefully.
There was no madness in her eyes.
No frothing bloodlust.
Just genuine interest.
A beat passed between them.
Subaru exhaled slowly.
"You know what I am," she said.
Übel's eyes widened in mock innocence.
"Ara? Do I?" she replied lightly. "What are you? A traveler? A cute girl with strange headwear? Or…"
Her gaze sharpened.
"A demon pretending to be human?"
There it was.
Subaru did not flinch this time.
She met Übel's stare evenly.
"You didn't kill me," Subaru said quietly.
Übel's lips curved.
"I can now."
Her staff appeared in her hand as if it had always been there.
Before Subaru could react, Übel swung it lazily to the side.
A sharp hum sliced through the air.
Right to Subaru, a massive boulder split cleanly in half.
No explosion. No debris shower.
Just a smooth, perfect cut.
The two halves slid apart and crashed to the ground with a heavy thud.
Subaru's spine went rigid.
That was not a warning shot.
That was a demonstration.
Übel looked genuinely intrigued.
"Can't get enough of this satisfaction," murmured, glancing at the fallen stone. "Fun."
Her purple eyes lifted back to Subaru.
"So…" she continued, staff resting lightly against her shoulder, "are you going to fight me now? Since you admitted that you're a demon?"
Subaru did not answer immediately.
The split boulder still echoed in her ears. The clean cut. The absence of resistance.
Übel waited, staff balanced loosely in her fingers, as if this were nothing more than small talk before tea.
Subaru forced her shoulders to relax.
"I'll fight you," she said.
Übel's brows lifted slightly.
"But not now."
A pause.
"Oh?" Übel tilted her head. "Why? And when?"
Subaru inhaled once, steadying her racing thoughts.
"Only if you take me with you to cross the Northern Plateau."
For a second, there was silence.
Then Übel laughed softly.
"Heh. That's a good one."
She stepped closer, boots crunching lightly against the damp soil. Her staff rose, not quite aimed, but ready.
"But what if you're not worth it?" she continued, purple eyes narrowing. "What if you're just a waste of my time?"
The staff angled just a little higher.
"Careful, cutie," Übel said lightly. "Your answer might decide your fate."
Fate.
The word hit Subaru harder than any spell.
Fate.
Loops.
Death.
Reset.
Her throat tightened.
No.
No more dying pointlessly.
"Alright!" Subaru blurted, lifting a hand. "Hey, Übel, I challenge you in something!"
Übel blinked.
"A spar?" she asked, confused.
"No," Subaru said quickly. "I evade one attack from you. Just one. If I live… you become my partner instead of my hunter."
Übel's expression shifted from confusion to amusement.
"Partner?" she echoed. "What's my benefit in being your partner?"
Subaru's mind raced.
Money? She barely had enough to buy stale bread.
Power? Übel clearly had her own.
Status? Übel did not look like someone who cared for authority. And Subaru had nothing to give her any authority.
Think. Think.
"I have extremely powerful people who want to kill me," Subaru said at last. "If you stay with me, you'll get to fight them."
Übel stared at her for a long moment.
"…I am not suicidal, Subaru," she replied flatly. "I like a good fight. I don't like hopeless fights. And I have terrible luck when it comes to fighting."
Subaru winced internally.
That had sounded much cooler in her head.
She cursed herself.
This was slipping.
Then Übel's lips curved slowly.
"But," she added, tapping the end of her staff against the ground, "you did say you'd take one of my strongest attacks."
Her eyes gleamed.
"Well, bring it on."
Subaru's stomach dropped.
She had walked into this.
Still, this was better than being sliced mid-conversation.
If she could survive one direct strike, that would mean something.
She raised both hands in front of her.
Mana surged from her core like a dam breaking.
Pink light flickered into existence, swirling violently around her palms. The air grew heavy. The cave walls trembled faintly under the pressure.
Übel's pupils dilated slightly.
"What a liar you are," she murmured, smiling wider. "I like it. Tell me when you're ready."
Subaru focused.
Erafassen.
Visualization.
Concept.
She reached into her memory, past anime marathons, past endless nights of escapism in her old room, past the comfort of fiction.
Ajax.
Seven-layered bronze shield.
The ultimate defense against thrown weapons.
A barrier that could block even divine spears.
Pink mana burst outward.
A massive, flower-shaped construct bloomed before her. Seven radiant petals unfolded, layered and solid, each one shimmering with dense magical structure.
Wind roared outward from the pressure of its manifestation. Loose stones skittered across the ground. The cave mouth trembled as energy spilled into the forest beyond.
It was beautiful.
Massive.
Intricate.
A seven-petaled blossom of pure defense.
Originating from Greek legend. Reinforced through heroic spirit. Reproduced through imagination.
Subaru's arms shook under the output.
Could it hold?
Could it block something that did not obey normal logic?
Übel stared at the shield, fascinated.
"Well," she said softly, "that's a hell of a… flower."
Her smile sharpened.
"I wonder…"
Subaru planted her feet.
"Rho Aias—!" she shouted, voice echoing violently through the cave.
The shield blazed brighter.
Seven petals layered atop one another, overlapping, compressing, strengthening.
The ultimate conceptual defense against projectiles.
Übel lifted her staff lazily.
"Reel—" she began.
Subaru's pulse hammered.
"—saiden."
The staff moved.
Not fast.
Not dramatic.
Just a simple swing.
There was no explosion.
No beam.
No visible projectile.
For a fraction of a second—
Silence.
Subaru's grin began forming a fraction too early.
"Excellent," she breathed. "Rho Aias can indeed take—"
Then the world split.
Subaru felt resistance shatter.
Not crack.
Not strain.
Shatter.
The first petal of Rho Aias cleaved cleanly down the center.
The second split instantly after.
The third followed without slowing.
One by one, each radiant layer divided with horrifying smoothness.
There was no grinding. No friction. No struggle.
It was as if the shield had been drawn on paper and someone had run a blade through the page.
Seven petals.
Seven perfect slices.
The entire construct parted neatly in half.
Her vision tilted.
Her body felt strangely light.
The world rotated.
She saw her own body still standing.
For a moment, she did not understand.
Then she saw the line.
A thin, impossibly clean cut across her neck.
Her head separated from her shoulders.
It happened so gently she barely felt it.
No pain.
Just detachment.
Her body remained upright for half a heartbeat before collapsing.
Her head hit the ground softly.
Her vision rolled sideways.
She saw Übel standing there, staff resting against her shoulder again.
Unharmed.
Unbothered.
Almost curious.
Subaru's fading consciousness processed it too late.
It was never a projectile.
Rho Aias defended against thrown weapons.
Übel did not throw anything.
She cut.
She did not send an attack.
She severed the space itself.
The shield.
Her neck.
Everything aligned along the imaginary path of her blade.
Übel stepped forward, examining the dissipating remnants of pink mana as they crumbled like glowing dust.
"It was an interesting shield," she said casually.
Her purple eyes lowered to Subaru's fallen head.
"But it was just a flower, after all."
I will be posting chapters every day. Big chapters will be broken into 3 or 4 chapters, you can read it ahead by checking out the tips in my bio.
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