Re:Zero Light Novel Volume 12/Synopsis

Chapter 4: The Taste of Death
Upon exiting the testing facility, Subaru is left horrified to see that it was snowing, even though it was still the second day. To help him reach the settlement of the Sanctuary, Subaru summons one of Ryuzu Meyer's clones, who he believes to be Piko, to help him get there faster. As he follows her, he wonders how much of everything Echidna had foreseen, but he decided to deal with her later. Right now, he wanted to know what happened to Emilia to make it snow like this.

He reaches the settlement but he finds no one in any of the houses. Before he could assume the Oousagi had attacked, Garfiel appears before him, asking what happened to his left eye. Subaru tells Garfiel that he didn't expect him to be so thoughtful just standing there talking to him, though Garfiel has no idea what he is talking about. Subaru asks if all the people are safe, and Garfiel reveals Otto convinced everyone to hole up in the cathedral. Subaru finally asks if Emilia caused the snow, but Garfield answers he doesn't know because she has been inside the tomb since last night. Garfiel says that that was his fault because he just up and disappeared, which hurt her so, despite Subaru saying he left a letter explaining where he was going. Subaru, however, sees that Garfiel doesn't know about a letter, but it does suggest to him something is up. Nevertheless, he takes him to the tomb to get Emilia to stop the snow, but not before asking Garfiel how much he heard from Ryuzu about his return, which he answers that he heard he came back with one of the other clones that alerted him.

They eventually reach the tomb and Subaru enters, where he sees Emilia. He tumbles forward but she catches him, though he quickly gets the feeling something is wrong with her, especially since she was holding him rather tightly. She tells him she was lonely because he just up and left, despite his claims he left a letter explaining everything, but she doesn't believe him. She does say that he still came back like she always believed he would, further stating as long as she did her job, he would be there for her. Throughout the conversation, Subaru gets an unsettling feeling at this attention he was receiving from her. He tries to ask if she has been taking the trial, but she dodges his question and strokes his hair, similar to how he would stroke hers. She continues saying she was worried he didn't love her from the bottom of his heart but became deeply happy upon seeing him again. She then tells him to stay with her forever, citing she needs no one else but him, and after all the support and encouragement he has given her since meeting her, she feels she can reply to him now. With a blank stare in her eyes, Emilia tells Subaru that she loves him.

Subaru exits the tomb, with Garfiel asking about Emilia. Subaru answers that Emilia had fallen asleep due to repeating the trial over and over. Enraged, Garfiel asks what excuse he had for it. Subaru answers that Emilia told him she loves him, and how enchanting it was for her to say that to him. At first, Garfiel becomes even more enraged at this supposed joke, but Subaru yells to him that there was no way Emilia would ever say that to him. He realized when she confessed to him, it wasn't out of genuine love, but just to handle her emotions due to the absence of Puck, who Subaru knew was her true number one at the moment. Subaru tells Garfiel that Emilia has been driven so back into a corner she feels all she can do is depend on Subaru. Garfiel nonetheless demands Emilia be brought out, saying he will make her stop the snow himself. To his shock, Subaru reveals Emilia isn't the one making it snow, saying she had no reason to, despite Garfiel's belief she is doing it out of spite for him and the villagers. Subaru says that he can only think of two people who can cause it to snow, and Emilia isn't it because without Puck, it would be impossible for her. His other suspect, which turns out to be Roswaal, he learns he is still in Ryuzu's house with Ram. Garfiel gets this suspicion as well, and the two make their way to the house where Roswaal is resting.

Chapter 5: Ending List
Returning by Death, Subaru once again wakes up on the floor of the tomb, where he briefly checks to make sure he still has his left eye. He looks to his side and sees Emilia once again lying on the floor and being tormented by the Trial. Instead of waking her though, Subaru touches his lips, remembering the kiss she gave him. Understanding that it was a result of Emilia's mental state deteriorating due to Puck and his absence as well as the pressure of those around her that led to that kiss, he resolves to not let that happen to her again. He also resolves to save everyone in the Sanctuary and the mansion by organizing all the information he has accumulated. He wakes Emilia up as he promises himself he will protect her and everyone else at the cost of his own life.

The most crucial detail of information he takes into consideration is the fact that Roswaal knows that he is looping, though he doesn't know death is the prerequisite. What Subaru also doesn't know is how long Roswaal has known about this, but he is very certain he found out from the Tome of Wisdom. He deduces that all of Roswaal's actions have been in accordance with the tome, and while it was similar to those in the Witch Cult, he acknowledges that Petelguese interpreted incomplete prophecies while adjusting to changing events on the fly as opposed to Roswaal's strict observation with no room for inconsistencies. Knowing all of this, and the fact that Roswaal brought the snow that lured the Oousagi and isolated Emilia per the tome's guidance, Subaru declares that he will not be like Roswaal: he will not throw away everything to protect only one thing the way he is. He is worried that no one will be able to help him though, so he considers consulting Echidna once again.

Events from before (meeting with Ryuzu and Emilia upset yet determined to face the Trial again) occur once again, but when Ram approaches Subaru for his talk with Roswaal, Subaru turns it down and runs back to the tomb. He thinks back to what Echidna told him the requirements for the next tea party are, he yells out to Echidna for guidance once again. Suddenly he finds himself falling onto the ground and passing out, as he hears a voice say "behold the unknowable present".

When Subaru comes to, he realizes that now he is but a consciousness with no body. As he tries to figure out what is going on, he hears someone weakly calling his voice. He faces the direction and looks at the scene of him having slit his throat with a knife at Rem's side in an attempt to go back and save her. What was new was Emilia holding onto his dead body crying and calling him a liar. The scene leaves him horrified, as he never thought about the worlds he left behind when he returned by death. The scene continues when Wilhelm comes into the room and sees Subaru's dead body as well, which horrifies him. He immediately yells for Ferris, who comes in and seeing Subaru, starts to try and heal him. Subaru himself repeatedly tells them to stop because that version of him was already dead. Sure enough, despite Wilhelm and Ferris' futile efforts, they couldn't save him. Afterwards, Wilhelm curses at how Subaru could do this so easily and Ferris chews him out for abandoning everyone close to him. Emilia drives the final nail in the coffin by reminding Subaru about how he told her he loved her before the scene comes to an end.

Returning to consciousness, Subaru vomits at the thought of witnessing the "scene after Subaru's death". He wonders if that was the second Trial before he falls unconscious once again. The next scene he bears witness to is when he asked Julius and Ferris to kill him after Petelguese took control of his body. He sees several knights surrounding his body as Emilia walked over to him saying his name in a dazed state. Julius asks Emilia to wipe Subaru's face as he felt it would have been more appropriate than if he did it and she does so, all the while asking over and over why he came back only to end up like this. Wilhelm and the other knights mourn his death as Julius says he wished to talk to him again, because he wanted to call him his friend.

Regaining consciousness again, Subaru starts rolling around on the floor in agony at what he just witnessed as he wonders if the worlds he leaves behind continue to thrive. He hears the voice once again say "behold the unknowable present" before passing out. The next scene was when he committed suicide after jumping off a cliff and onto several spikes below after Rem died from a Demon Beast curse. What he saw was Ram and Beatrice looking at his body with Ram saying he was spouting nonsense to the very end. She asks Beatrice if she knew this would happen, but Beatrice instead asks, while crying, asks why Subaru would do such a thing even though she knew he wasn't "That person". Ram turns to face Subaru's body again and calls him a man beyond saving.

The next scene is after Subaru escapes the cave with Rem's body and he was frozen solid by Puck in his monster form. He, however, was confronted by Reinhard, who Puck suspected would come. Reinhard asks about Emilia and Subaru, and Puck replies that Emilia is 'sleeping forever', and since he refuses to live in a world without her, per their contract he will freeze the world. As for Subaru, he considers him just as guilty as himself for what happened. While understanding his rage, Reinhard refuses to let Puck have his way and draws forth the Dragon Sword as Puck tells Reinhard he does not resent him for he is a hero. However, he insults Reinhard saying a hero is all he can be. Reinhard unleashes the Dragon Sword and annihilates Puck while ending the snowstorm he brought. His last words in the scene were that Felt would be sad.

Over and over, Subaru witnessed several other worlds after his passing before finally returning to the real world. He started to sink into despair thinking about everything he just witnessed and what it all means before he heard a familiar voice call out to him. He looks up and sees before him Rem, who compassionately asks him if he is alright. Subaru starts to believe what he is seeing is a lie, but Rem says it isn't because he wants her here by his side. He starts to cry and berates himself for failing to do anything and having her be there for him because of it, but she reconfirms how useful she wants to be to him. As Rem approached Subaru on the floor, he tells her that he feels tired even though he hasn't done anything and curses at his weakness and inability to get stronger before asking Rem how many times has he truly saved anyone after he dies in past worlds and how many times will he be responsible for her fate. Rem, however, continues to stay by his side reaffirming her love for him and comforting him before telling him to let her take all of his feelings. Subaru almost gave in to her comfort before he hears another voice saying "It is easy to give up. However, it does not suit you Subaru."

Hearing that voice, comes back to reality and asks who the "Rem" standing in front of him is. He yells to her that whenever he felt like giving up because he was stuck, she would sit by him and let him dump his feelings out before telling him to stand back up again. Because this "Rem" told him to let her handle everything, he realized she was a fake because Rem would never tell him to give up and leave it all to her. He yells that because of her love for him, she made him love himself more, and that there is no one more softer or stricter than Rem. "Rem" tries to calm Subaru down but he continues saying he will show her his weakness but never him giving up, because Rem would be there to cover his weakness. Because of that, he tells the fake to leave his sight and to never approach him looking like or sounding like Rem.

"Rem" stutters that this wasn't how things were supposed to be before her appearance changes to someone completely new to Subaru. He asks who she is and she introduces herself as Carmilla, the Witch of Lust. Subaru asks if this is Echidna's world but Carmilla says it is still the Trial. Subaru demands Carmilla tell him what she was doing looking like Rem in front of him and Carmilla nervously says it was a result of him looking directly at her. She says that Echidna lied to her and how everyone gangs up on her, but Subaru becomes too angry from her inability to explain herself that he ignores her.

Before he could say anything though, he gets brought back to his senses by Echidna herself, who explains that Carmilla's "Faceless Bride" causes others to forget how to breathe. Seeing her at her table, he angrily asks what she was trying to pull, and she says she was just being wicked as witches do.

Chapter 6: Witch's Tea Party
Facing Echidna again, Subaru angrily asks her if Carmilla's actions prior were of her own volition and not her own suggestion and she should apologize for it. Echidna answers that Carmilla had indeed used her Authority on him on her own wishes despite Echidna trying to stop her, but she was rather fascinated by how he escaped her grasp and how she used the opening left by her failure to rescue him. She also admits she pointed Carmilla in his direction intentionally, and when Subaru inquires why she would do such a thing, she says it was the greatest way to save him after being unexpectedly pulled into the Second Trial and being deeply affected by it, which was beyond even her imagination. Subaru accepts Echidna's explanation and sits down at her table, though he asks for no tea from her bodily fluids again.

Anticipating his question, Echidna explains that the second trial was, like the first trial, a construct produced from his memories and information of the past, present, and future, and therefore, not reality. Just as Subaru was about to feel relieved, Echidna reminds Subaru that since she considers Return by Death an Authority belonging to the Witch of Envy, only she can know the principles by which if functions. Therefore, whether or not his death causes him to rewind time or shifts him into a parallel world (a fact she is very doubtful of), it is unknown for her to say. Subaru asks if there is a way to confirm this theory but she says no, also adding she wished she could because it could hopefully relieve him of some stress.

Subaru starts to feel worried about the possibilities of the worlds he saw as Echidna suggests he just forget about the past and rather focus on the present, something he says isn't so simple for him to do, yet Echidna insists is the only way. She tells him that she believes he did everything he was capable of reaching this point and he should be proud of that. Subaru insists he can't be forgiven, judged, or approved for what he has done, but Echidna refutes all of that saying she would reject any crimes he feels he is guilty of. Finally, Echidna asks Subaru if he would like to form a pact with him. When he asks what that means, Echidna explains that by forming a pact with him, she will help him by giving advice on the best path to take with whatever knowledge she can offer. Subaru thinks about the possibilities of discussing Return by Death with Echidna under this blue sky in his mind in case he hits another dead end with no viable answer and asks how they should form this pact. Echidna extends her hand to him and asks him to take it as a start. Just as Subaru is about to take her hand, Minerva arrives and blows away the table declaring she is putting the pact on hold.

While surprised, Echidna asks Minerva if she is here out of envy but Minerva claims she is filled with rage. Subaru, however, is confused as to how Minerva is present when he remembered Echidna saying only one could be present at a time. Minerva answers that Echidna had lied to him earlier, though Echidna claims she lied only about a certain point because she considers the other witches being present a threat to her out of fear they would defeat her and take control of her castle of dreams. She does add though, that she didn't want any of the other witches to have Subaru all to themselves due to liking him so much.

Minerva stops Subaru from thinking too deeply of Echidna's words and demands he stops being swayed by Echidna's flattery, claiming that she hasn't even told him any of the bad points of the pact she wants to form with him. This does snap Subaru back to his senses, but at the same time, he desperately wants to believe in Echidna. He asks about the compensation between their pact should they form it, and Echidna answers that she wants to share in his burdens by experiencing all he sees and hears at the same time. Before Subaru can think about it, Carmilla appears claiming that Echidna is still hiding things from him. Echidna retorts that Carmilla shouldn't be helping Subaru because she despises him, and while she admits she doesn't like him, she is upset with Echidna for deceiving her earlier, which Subaru sees is an unpleasant thing.

Nevertheless, Subaru finally yells at the three of them demanding they tell him what they have been talking about this entire time but Echidna tells him to not mind the other two and reiterates that she will help him achieve the future he seeks with their pact. Suddenly, another witch, Sekhmet, the Witch of Sloth, appears, though she says she is here to prevent anyone from resorting to physical violence. Eventually, Daphne and Typhon arrive as Subaru loses patience with all of them demanding they tell him what they want from him. Sekhmet once again tells Subaru that Echidna's statement that she will bring him to a future 'without fail' is cliché. Hearing that, he asks Echidna if she will help him achieve the optimal future he seeks, but will it be the optimal path. After a moment of silence, Echidna answers Subaru saying that to achieve the optimal future, sacrifices must be made, and that he lacks the resolve for that.

Before Subaru can say anything, Echidna reveals that she considers Return by Death an incredible Authority because it allows him to gather information from various points in time by doing different actions, which she considers the greatest desire for researchers everywhere. Because of that, she wants to use it to satisfy her greed for endless knowledge. She admits she won't coerce him into using it and he can use it to achieve his desired results. She will just lend her wits as help, though she expects it to still satisfy her greed. She says she wishes to be of aid to him and he in turn can use her however he wishes, even if the path to the future is layered in challenges.

From her lengthy speech, Subaru understands that Echidna wants to use him, and while he somewhat expected that to be the case, the fact was that in all of their encounters, he realized she acts completely superficial. Even in this moment now, when she acts angry, she just pouts, and he sees now that it is because she is a being who can't understand people's emotions; a sociopath. That doesn't stop her though, from trying to form the pact with Subaru, claiming he wouldn't reject her due to a 'minor' difference in outlooks, so he should make the rational choice. Hearing that, Subaru finally asks what he had wanted to ask Echidna about, and whatever answer he hears will ultimately be his decision. He asks her about Beatrice and Echidna admits to knowing her, even saying she is related to her birth. He tells her that Beatrice has been waiting all this time for "that person" to arrive according to the pact he now knows the two made together. She admits this to be true even though she never specified a place. He asks her who exactly "that person" is supposed to be. To his horror though, she answers she doesn't know.

When Subaru tries to ask what she means, Echidna explains that when she made that pact with Beatrice, she didn't do it to pass down the archive of the Forbidden Library, she did it because she wanted to know who Beatrice would pick to be "that person". Echidna confesses she created Beatrice for a particular purpose but changed it to having her wait in the library to await "that person" simply to observe her choice. She does say that Beatrice's inability to pick someone after so long and obeying the pact until her death are choices themselves, and when Subaru asks what she thinks about that, Echidna answers that it is marvelous. Subaru finally acknowledges Echidna as a witch beyond human understanding and declares that he won't take her hand, but Beatrice's.

Suddenly, an unknown figure enters the castle of dreams, which concerns all of the witches present. When he turned to look at the new guest, he is left horrified to see that it is the Witch of Envy.