The battlefield was chaos.
The knights and soldiers—those sworn to protect their kingdom, their people, their homes—saw the arrows, the cannons, the boulders vanish like they had never existed and ran.
No hesitation. No last stand. Just fear.
Armor clanked, swords were dropped, men tripped over themselves in their desperate scramble to flee.
"Wait! Don't run! Fight for your kingdom!"
A voice rang out, sharp, angry, defiant.
A young woman with vivid green hair stood her ground, her sword gleaming under the darkened sky, her golden eyes furious as she watched her so-called comrades abandon the battlefield.
But most didn't even glance back.
Cowards.
She gritted her teeth so hard Subaru swore she could hear it from where she stood.
And then—
She charged.
Alone.
Against an army.
Subaru almost wanted to applaud.
"Let her fight," she muttered to no one in particular. "She earned it."
She didn't stop the woman as she cut through cultists like a whirlwind, her blade slashing, piercing, her movements relentless, precise, fueled by rage.
Blood splattered across the ground, painting the dirt red.
Some cultists screamed.
Some laughed, enjoying the thrill.
Some simply collapsed, lifeless.
It was a beautiful display of pointless defiance.
Subaru had no interest in her.
So she moved forward.
Walking.
Unstoppable.
Betelgeuse walked behind her, his body twitching in manic excitement, whispering his endless praises to her in reverence.
Sirius, with her chains wrapped tightly around her arms, grinned like a madwoman, her eyes wide with ecstatic joy.
And the green-haired knight?
She made the grave mistake of turning her sword on Subaru herself.
Her blade came down, fast, brutal—
And stopped.
Sirius's chains snapped forward, catching it mid-swing.
"Aaaaah, how sweet! How pure! Such beautiful devotion to a meaningless cause!" Sirius crooned, pulling the chains tight. "Wouldn't you rather turn that passion into loooooove instead? Wouldn't that be soooo much more fulfilling?"
The knight grunted, trying to pull back, but Sirius's strength was inhuman.
Subaru didn't wait to see what happened next.
She kept walking.
The gates of the city loomed before her, tall and imposing, locked tightly to keep them out.
Subaru sighed.
"Why, fate, why?" she muttered under her breath.
She didn't want to deal with this.
She didn't want to be here at all.
But if fate had decided to throw her into this role, she was going to play it her way.
She stared at the gate.
Just stared.
And it began to rot.
The wood blackened, the iron bars corroded, crumbling into dust, the magic enchantments burned away into nothing.
It collapsed under its own weight, turning to ash before their eyes.
And then—
The cultists flooded in.
Ē~Ē
They were here.
The air was thick with fear, a suffocating weight pressing down on the city as the cultists poured in like a flood. Screams echoed through the streets, a mixture of terror and war cries, of civilians running and fighters trying to hold their ground.
It hovered in the sky, a massive, pale specter of death, its enormous body casting an eerie shadow over the city. Its presence alone sent panic through the knights and soldiers, their fear tripling at the sight of the legendary beast.
And Subaru made sure they all saw it.
She let it float directly above the capital, a silent message, a quiet, overwhelming declaration:
"I control this monster."
The Great Rabbits circled outside the walls, forming a living, breathing prison. Hundreds. Thousands. A swarm of soft white bodies and sharp, tearing teeth, keeping anyone from escaping.
But—
As terrifying as it looked, this wasn't for war.
This wasn't to kill.
This was to trap.
To stop the cultists from spreading too far.
To control the chaos as much as she could.
To save as many as she could.
But none of them would understand that.
Not the terrified civilians.
Not the knights trying to hold back the tide of insanity.
Not Reinhard, watching her from above, waiting for his chance to strike.
They saw only a villain.
A monster leading monsters.
And she couldn't even blame them.
Ē~Ē
The moment Reinhard aimed a punch at her, Subaru thought she was done for.
She barely had time to react, to flinch, to even consider running—
But something deep inside her stirred.
A raw, primal instinct surged through her body, and before she could even understand what was happening, her form dissolved into black mist.
The air howled as Reinhard's fist ripped through the space where she had been.
And then—
A shockwave.
The sheer force of his attack obliterated the ground, sending shattered stone flying in every direction. The impact alone sent dozens of cultists flying, their bodies twisting unnaturally midair before they hit the ground with sickening cracks.
Subaru reformed on top of a fountain, eyes wide, chest heaving.
She was alive.
She didn't even know how.
But she'd take it.
She exhaled sharply and raised a hand, signaling Regulus.
The Archbishop of Greed let out a loud, dramatic sigh, stepping forward as if this whole battle was an inconvenience. He dusted off his pristine white suit, frowning at imaginary dirt before flicking his gaze toward Reinhard.
"Tch," Regulus clicked his tongue, shaking his head. "Anosa, are you not ashamed of trying to attack a woman who is just going to have dinner? Your opponent is me. Not her."
And then—
He began talking.
Subaru tuned him out immediately.
The man could talk for hours about nonsense, and quite frankly, she didn't have the patience.
Reinhard could deal with him.
Regulus was, quite literally, unkillable.
Sure, Reinhard was the strongest man alive.
But Regulus was the most unfair existence possible.
Maybe the two would cancel each other out.
Maybe they'd just be locked in an eternal battle of frustration.
Either way—
Not her problem.
She didn't waste another second.
The moment Regulus stepped forward, Subaru mist-stepped away.
And then she felt it.
A presence.
Familiar. Unfamiliar. Strange. Intriguing.
She could sense the Half-Elf.
And now—
She was going straight for her.
Most of them looked like they were one second away from shitting themselves.
But one of them—
A purple-haired knight with sharp golden eyes stepped forward, his stance unwavering.
"I am Julius Juukulius, a knight of the kingdom," he announced, his voice calm, steady, perfectly composed.
Subaru barely held back an exasperated sigh.
Julius something-something.
Not important.
She had no time for this.
She could still feel Reinhard nearby.
He was closing in.
If she didn't move fast, she was dead.
She tried to mist-step away—
But the moment she shifted, Julius moved.
Damn it.
The knight had good eyes.
Every time she tried to disappear, he was already there, blocking her path.
Subaru gritted her teeth. "Seriously?"
Julius's hand hovered over his sword. "I cannot allow you to take another step forward."
And then—
Things got worse.
A new voice cut through the air.
Casual. Playful. Mocking.
"Oi, oi, who do you think you are, blocking our divine Satella's path, oni-chan?"
Subaru froze.
Oh, fuck.
Roy stepped into view, grinning like a predator eyeing his next meal.
His crimson eyes glowed with unnatural hunger as he tilted his head, staring at Julius and the other knights.
"You're making me hungry," he murmured.
Shit.
Subaru felt a chill creep up her spine.
If Roy went all out, he could erase them all.
Every single one of them.
Memories. Existence. Everything.
They wouldn't just die.
They would cease to have ever existed.
She had to act.
Before he got any ideas.
Subaru took a deep breath, raised a hand, and whispered.
"Go to sleep."
The moment the words left her lips—
They collapsed.
All of them.
Julius. The knights.
Unconscious in an instant.
Roy blinked.
Subaru turned to him, her expression unreadable.
"Not today, Roy."
He pouted but didn't argue.
And Subaru?
She didn't waste a second.
She turned and disappeared.
Emilia was waiting.
TBC