Re:Zero Ex Light Novel Volume 2/Synopsis

Ex Volume 2
In the midst of a battle, Grimm Fauzen made his way through the battlefield. Their forces were in a complete mess as their commander, a noble who just wanted prestige, was full of himself and got scared when the Demi Human Army attacked. Grimm encountered a Demi Human who was ready to kill him, though fortunately Wilhelm came to his rescue, killing the attacker with ease, the sign of their victory shining in the sky soon after. Several days later, as Grimm and his friend Torta Wisley were talking about him, Wilhelm was added to their squad. Later that night, Grimm found Wilhelm training at the barracks, wondering why he spent so much time training instead of enjoying stuff, to which he told them that he couldn't comprehend why they spent time with alcohol and women when they were in the middle of a war, adding that everyone, including Grimm himself, was making up excuses to not do what they should do. During another battle, Grimm's squad was caught in a trap, prompting Wilhelm to try to persuade the others to advance or face casualties, nonetheless their squad leader refused, causing him to run off on his own. Grimm decided to chase after him while their squad retreated, and when he later looked back after catching up to him, he saw that a large portion of their army got caught in another trap, resulting in a massive number of casualties for them including the deaths of everyone else in their squad.

Their squad gone, both survivors would recruited by Bordeaux Zellgef and Pivot Arnancy into the Zellgef Squad. Sometime later, their squad was tasked with escorting Roswaal along with her bodyguard Carol Remendis to the site of their most recent battle in order to study the magic circles used in the traps. Grimm, Wilhelm, and two other members were picked by Roswaal to accompany her and Carol, while Bordeaux and Pivot each led seven members to patrol the surrounding area. As she checked the magic circles, they were ambushed by the corpses animated by Sphinx, who Roswaal berated for comparing a defective existence like herself to her teacher. Apparently finding what she was looking for, Sphinx left the corpses to finish them off, forcing them to kill the commander of the corpses to stop them all. They quickly deduced that the commander was Grimm's friend Torta, who he refused to kill as he claimed he couldn't kill his friend even if he was a corpse, nevertheless Wilhelm managed to convince him to do what he needed to do, allowing the others to clear out the rest of the corpses which had weakened as their commander was gone. Following their battle, the squad returned to report their findings, particularly the information they gained on Sphinx. At the same time, Libre Fermi and Valga Cromwell argued with each other over the use of corpses, causing Sphinx to threaten to add them to her corpse army if they refused to stop fighting. Libre still refused to accept the use of corpses, stating that it was shameful to desecrate the dead, and left them for the time being.

Three years later, as he went to his usual spot to train, he found Thearesia van Astrea there. Over the course of several weeks, he constantly encountered her there. She watched him train, and when he finished, she always asked if he liked flowers, to which he would always reply that he hated them. Eventually, the army was deployed to the south for a battle, their commander Leip Barielle. On one occasion, Wilhelm and Leip got into a fight, with Leip punching him, though fortunately the situation was settled with Roswaal's help. During the battle, the Zellgef Squad encountered Libre, and were about to attack her as a whole when the Demi Human Army activated several magic circles across the battlefield that made the Lugnica Army feel like they were in water, making them unable to fight properly. Libre tried to take advantage of this by killing Bordeaux in order to break their morale, however her attacked was blocked by Wilhelm, causing her to shift her attention to him. Caught off guard, Wilhelm was about to be killed when Pivot protected him, letting himself get killed in order to protect him. The other members continued to use themselves to shield him, including Grimm who was dealt a wound to his throat, at which point Wilhelm tackled her, sending them both into a depression in the ground. The two continued to fight, though he was unable to fight equally against her, but before Libre could kill him she was attacked by Sphinx, who wanted him as a corpse to protect her as she retreated. Sphinx had tried to kill Roswaal at the main tent, but to her surprise she had been overwhelmed by her martial arts skills, forcing her to retreat. Refusing to become a corpse, Libre tried fighting back, nonetheless he was quickly killed and was made into an animated corpse. Just like the battle with the magic circle traps, the Lugnica Army once again suffered a massive amount of casualties, with the Zellgef Squad losing a total of 69 members including their second in command Pivot.

In the subsequent weeks, the army went through a big change as a large portion had been killed. Wilhelm was back at his usual training spot, having visited Grimm in the hospital only once, and as usual Thearesia was also there, spending her time watching him train. Unlike before, she added a new question onto her question about flowers, asking him why he swung his sword, to which he would always tell her that it was because it was all he had.

Several months after their last battle, Demi Humans across Lugnica revolted, leading people to believe that it was an another attack by the Demi Human Army, however Wilhelm realized that just like their past battles the revolt was only a decoy, their real intention was to attack the Lugnica castle. Making their way to the castle, Leip refused to let them in, stating that he and his men were in charge of guarding it, though he was ordered by Roswaal to have them join, reluctantly complying with her orders. Splitting up, Bordeaux headed to the upper floors, where he encountered the Libre's animated corpse, while Wilhelm, Grimm, Roswaal, and Carol headed down to the underground chapel where they encountered Valga and Sphinx. After a short talk, Valga revealed that he had multiple magic circles drawn on his body, which he used in conjunction with a bone of his ancestor and Sphinx's Immortal King's Sacrament magic to make his body grow, enlarging him into an over ten meter tall giant. As Valga broke the ceiling, Wilhelm told Roswaal to take the other two with her to chase after Sphinx, as she had left the chapel to take care of other things, leaving him behind to fight the giant.

On the floor above, Roswaal, Grimm, and Carol fought Sphinx in a passageway and in a large hall, succeeding in dealing a large amount of damage and cutting off her left arm before she began fighting back with her magic. She tried to vaporize them with Al Jiwald, yet her plans were foiled when Grimm blocked her magic with a shield, resulting in the heat rays being reflected up to the ceiling, vaporizing it to send Bordeaux and Libre down to their floor. Thinking she had won, Sphinx was shocked when Libre turned on her, cutting off her other arm before his body turned into ashes, leaving her at the mercy of her opponents. At that point she tried to escape with her Flying Magic, prompting Roswaal to declare that she would take care of her, ordering the three others to go help Wilhelm in his fight against Valga. With their help, Wilhelm managed to survive an attack from Valga, letting him continue his fight against the Giant. He succeeded in removing the bone implanted from Valga's chest, negating the magic that enlarged him, causing him to shrink back down to his original size. The two continued their battle, though eventually the ground under Valga collapsed, sending him falling down into the depths. Elsewhere, Roswaal continuously damaged Sphinx, forcing her to use the secret passageway to the sewers, which Roswaal easily found, and she encountered Leip there who claimed to have killed Sphinx by incinerating her body, giving her a string with a ring on it as "proof". Satisfied with the outcome, she left him, and once she was gone he returned to the place where he had placed Sphinx's body, vowing to reclaim everything he had lost and more.

Following the battle, the Lugnica Army was forced to deal with the damage done to the castle, but Wilhelm skipped it and returned to the clearing, and as usual Thearesia was there. Upon seeing her, he realized that he felt a sense of accomplishment in protecting his time with her, and in accordance to that his answers to her questions changed. Instead of hating flowers, he now didn't hate them, and instead of swinging his sword because it was the only thing he had, he swung it because it was the only way he knew to protect others. Taking her hand, the two stared at each other, then smiled.

Later on, as Wilhelm returned to the clearing again, he saw Thearesia planting seeds to grow more flowers. He reported to her that he was promoted to a knight which she congratulated him for. After their meeting, he joined Grimm at a restaurant, then returned to his room to find Roswaal sitting on his bed, who informed him that his parents' land, the Torias Territory, was going to be attacked by the Demi Humans soon. He quickly told Bordeaux the news, however he couldn't do anything about it without discussing it with their superiors first, prompting Wilhelm to head back to his usual place, and was surprised that Thearesia was still there. Helping to cheer him up, he agreed her escort her part of the way back. Though her words, he decided to take care of the Demi Human threat to the Torias Territory by himself, leaving behind his knight insignia to show that he was doing it as Wilhelm Torias and not as a knight. When he arrive, the area was already under attack, causing him to join the battle immediately, though he was quickly overwhelmed by the difference in numbers. As he was about be killed, he was saved by Thearesia, with the Zellgef Squad arriving to carry him out.

Several weeks later, once his wounds healed, he confronted Thearesia at the clearing, asking her if she laughed at him. He attempted to attack her, though she easily defeated him, knocking him to the ground with his own sword. Telling him that she wouldn't come back, she left him lying on the ground, and as she did so he told her that he would take the sword away from her. From that day, the two didn't meet at the clearing again, and Wilhelm disappeared from the Lugnica Army while Thearesia helped in brining the Demi Human War to its end.

Two years later, a commemorative ceremony was held for Thearesia, who had recently brought the Demi Human War to its end. On her way to the ceremony, Roswaal handed her a ceremonial sword. The ceremony went on as planned, yet in spite of that a cloaked figure appeared on the stage near the end, challenging the Sword Saint to a fight. The two fought until the cloaked figure defeated her, at which point he revealed that he was Wilhelm, telling her that she should be his reason to swing a sword rather than swinging one herself. Going through their usual questions, he answered that he no longer hated flowers, he swung his sword to protect her, and after they kissed, he told her to understand when she asked him if he loved her. Soon after, his friends rushed up to the stage to congratulate him, and Thearesia told him that she preferred some things to be said in words, referring to his answer to her question about loving her, however he simply told her that he would say it when he felt like it.