Natsuki Subaru/Synopsis

Web Novel

 * -|Arc 4=

Three days after the battle against the Witch Cult, Subaru and Emilia headed back to the village from the Karsten Mansion in the last of the six Dragon Carriages prepared for the villagers, though he didn't take the children with them as he wanted to talk with her in private. In addition, they were also taking back Rem's unconscious body, which already had its name and memories eaten by Ley Batenkaitos. Before he left for Roswaal's Mansion, he was approached by an amnesic Crusch, along with Ferris and Wilhelm, to bid them farewell. Ferris was somewhat concerned about Subaru, who had overused his already damaged gate during the battle, nonetheless he didn't feel any different, yet was ordered not to use magic for two months. Emilia asked Crusch if she was concerned she was a silver haired Half Elf, but Crusch, after hearing from Emilia that she wasn't embarrassed about how she was living her life, told her that she wasn't afraid of her in the slightest.

On the way to Roswaal's land, the mood inside of the Dragon Carriage was terrible, prompting Otto to try and lighten it up, however he was shocked when Subaru forgot he was there since he was driving. Still, he did manage to lighten up the mood after a brief conversation, after which he was shut out from the carriage. Following a bit of trivial talk, the conversation shifted to business, at which point Otto rejoined the conversation. Once they reached the village, they were surprised to see that it was empty, with no sign of the villagers that had evacuated to the Sanctuary, leading them to believe that something was happening there. Subaru and Emilia decided to return to the mansion, along with Otto, since they didn't know where the Sanctuary was, and to Subaru's surprise the inside of the mansion was clean, as he had expected it to be trashed. Suddenly, a shadow approached him from behind, and upon seeing a mouth filled with white beast like fangs, he lost consciousness.

He woke up later, receiving an apology from Frederica soon after, and moved on to the topic at hand. Frederica revealed that she had been called back by Ram to work the mansion, as she didn't have the skills to do it herself. When Otto asked Subaru on what to do with Rem, he was surprised that he was told coldly to not touch her, since he would carry her instead. After thinking about what happened to Rem during the battle, he had Emilia insult him to clear his mind, then left for the library to visit Beatrice. Upon arriving at the library, he asked her if she remembered Rem, however she refused to answer, pointing out that his question was inquiring about someone eaten by gluttony. Hearing this, he tried to get information about that from her, though she still refused to say anything about it. She was surprised to see that he had Petelgeuse's gospel book, prompting him to tell her that he killed Petelgeuse, causing her to ask about the Sloth Witch Genes. Seeing that he didn't understand her words, she wondered why Subaru killed him, telling him that he would have to come to a decision about the Witch Genes sometime in the future. She then informed him that she wasn't his convenient tool for answers before kicking him out of the library.

Returning from the library, he went to the Dragon Carriage with Frederica to take Rem to her room, learning on the way to her room that Beatrice was a Spirit. After setting Rem down on the bed, he discussed the situation with Emilia, who decided that they needed to go to the Sanctuary. Having heard their plan, Frederica agreed to prepare for their trip, informing them that it would be two days later, and warned them to be careful of Garfiel Tinsel while they were there. During the wait, Subaru attempted to talk Otto into joining Emilia's Camp, which he succeeded in doing, but as a precaution had Petra act as a witness. Two days later, Subaru, Emilia, and Otto left for the Sanctuary, leaving Frederica and Petra behind to take care of the mansion. As they entered the forest near the Sanctuary, Emilia lost consciousness, and they were subsequently attacked by Garfiel. Garfiel easily defeated both their Earth Dragon and Otto, however he decided to let Subaru through after seeing him protect Emilia whatever happened, offering to guide all of them to the village.

Once they arrived at the village, they met Ram, who guided them to the house where Roswaal was. To their surprise, Roswaal was lying down on a bed, his body heavily injured. Questioning the injured man, Roswaal confirmed that the Sanctuary was also known as the "Witch of Greed's Graveyard", who he insisted the others refer to by name as Echidna. Continuing on, he revealed that the "Roswaals" were in charge of taking care of the graveyard, along with the fact that he and the villagers were under house arrest, which was why they were unable to return. Noticing that Subaru was misunderstanding the situation, he explained that he wasn't injured to be placed under house arrest but rather he was injured so he was placed under house arrest, adding that the villagers weren't directly responsible for his injuries. Soon after, Garfiel arrived, who became angry at Roswaal for not properly explaining things, prompting Roswaal to ask him to guide Subaru and Emilia to the graveyard, and as they left, Ram quietly warned Subaru to not enter the graveyard if he didn't want to captivated by the thoughts of the witch.

Fifteen minutes later, the trio arrived at the grave, prompting Garfiel to ask Emilia to enter to check whether she was worthy of taking the trials or not. The two were confused by his requesting, leading him to reveal that he didn't know much about the trials himself, only that those who worthy of taking them were unable to leave the Sanctuary until they cleared them. Hearing this, Emilia recalled that she lost consciousness upon entering the Sanctuary, something Garfiel confirmed was the sign of someone worthy, stating that those who were worthy were all halfs. Fearing for her safety, Subaru asked Garfiel to accompany her during the trials, nevertheless he refused, revealing that he couldn't enter because of a contract, causing Subaru to think of looking for Otto to take his place. When she mentioned that she'd be fine, Subaru offered to scout ahead first, but Garfield advised against it, mentioning that those unworthy who were in the grave at nightfall would end up in a fate like Roswaal's. Nonetheless he decided to scout ahead anyway, which the two protested against, making him promise Emilia that he would return safely. Despite their promise, Subaru fell into a trap hole right as he entered the grave, and ten minutes after waking up in the pit, he encountered a girl, who introduced herself as Echidna.

Echidna, noting that Subaru was too cautious of her to talk properly, decided to change the area into a grassy plain, then invited him to have tea with her at a white table. After joking around with him, such as telling him that his tea was made of her body fluids, she got down to business, telling him that he was in her dreams. Subaru told her to send him back though he was convinced to stay when she offered to answer any questions he had. Seeing that he was still intimidated, Echidna swapped places with Typhon, who, after some small talk, checked to see if he was an evil person by shaking his hand, deducing right after that he wasn't. However, Subaru noticed that she had pulled his right arm off, and as he panicked, she shattered both of his legs from the knee down, making him fall into her arms. He became confused even further when she introduced herself as the Witch of Pride, the feeling growing when she was replaced with Sekhmet, who commented that Subaru was the third person to meet three witches in a row, the first two being Flugel and Reid Astrea. He pleaded for her to fix his missing body parts, nevertheless she refused as she claimed it would be a hassle, leaving it to Minerva to take care of.

Looking him over, Minerva quickly deduced that it was the work of Typhon, lamenting about conflict while she repeatedly punched him to heal him. Once she finished, she made him promise to not get injured, telling him that she would heal him even if he did, then swapped places with Echidna, who asked him if that proved how harmless she was compared to the others, to which he referred to her as a witch. As they returned to the table, Echidna revealed that she had collected the souls of the other witches since had been important to her while they were still alive. Going through various topics, such as Daphne's Three Great Demon Beasts and Reid Astrea, the topic eventually ended up at Echidna's situation, who Subaru was curious about since she was said to be deceased. Confirming that she was dead, she explained that she was confined to the grave by the dragon Volcanica as a deterrent to Satella, as her seal wasn't firm, nor was the dragon immortal. She also expressed somewhat of an interest in Roswaal, mentioning that Roswaal was "a little too earnest", willing to give up her own life for a single purpose. A while later, the effects of the tea she served him started to take effect, prompting her to tell him that what he drank was without a doubt her body fluids, which were helping the Witch Genes inside his body settle in.

Listening to her explanation, he realized that she talked similar to Pack, which she became interested about yet didn't say much about. As he was about to leave, Echidna made him promise not to tell anyone what he learned and allow the Witch Genes to anchor themselves inside of him, and in exchange she would allow him to take the trials in Emilia's place, remarking that he seemed to have made a similar contract with someone. A short while later, Subaru awoke in a building in the village, then made his way with Emilia to the house Roswaal was staying in, where Emilia declared that she would take the trials. The next night, Subaru visited the grave with Emilia and Lewes, and the two waited outside while she took the trial, the lights in the grave suddenly went out, prompting him to run in and help her. Immediately, he heard a phrase telling him to face his past, and ended up in his room in Japan. After interacting with his parents for a while, he decided to go to school for the first time in a while, where he encountered Echidna wearing his school's female uniform. Subaru went over the details with her, thanking her for letting him tell his parents what he wanted to say, even if they were fake, before leaving the trial. Once he left, Echidna turned her attention to the teacher's stand, where Satella was standing. Satella was annoyed that Echidna had toyed with his feelings, which she claimed were only hers, causing her to try and absorb her, nonetheless Echidna calmly dealt with her by summoning Sekhmet to push her back into the darkness.

Subaru awoke near Emilia, who he saw was struggling with her trial, causing him to go over to her. He woke her up, however the stress from what she saw during the trial made her mentally unstable, forcing him to carry her back to the village. She recovered later that day, and while she was surprised that he passed the first trial, she refused to have him take it in her place, stating that she would take it alongside him. Unfortunately, they quickly found out that he couldn't move on until she finished, which she was unable to do as she spent the next three nights failing her trial, earning Garfiel's annoyance. Faced with the results, Subaru negotiated with Garfiel to release the hostages in exchange for him to take the trial instead of Emilia, to which both sides agreed. Later that day, he returned to the village with the hostages, then visited Roswaal's mansion to take care of things, when he noticed something was strange. As he looked for Frederica and Petra, he was killed by Elsa in Roswaal's room, who reminded him of what she said to take care of their bowels until the next time she appeared.

Returning from death, he quickly realized that he was in the graveyard after the first trial. Going through the same situations as the previous loop, he brought Emilia back to the house, however this time around Garfiel objected to him participating in the trials. He tried protesting Garfiel and Lewes' decision to Roswaal, though when he refused to do anything about it, he asked about Emilia's past instead, learning that she had frozen her entire village in Elior Forest in the past. Leaving Roswaal's house, he decided to head to the grave, only to be intercepted by Garfiel, who had been patrolling the area as he knew Subaru would try something. Subaru demanded to know why he was blocking his way, causing Garfiel to tell him that he smelled like the witch, which was why he didn't trust him at all. He tried the next morning but saw that Garfiel was still there and ended up going to Lewes' temporary house to talk with her. While there, he noticed a contradiction in her words about whether she took the test or not, yet the only thing she said in response was that no one in the Sanctuary could lie. The next day, with Roswaal's counsel, the hostages were freed, and Subaru led them back to the village, with him stopping at the mansion to ask Frederica about Garfiel. Upon returning to the mansion, Subaru visited Rem, then sat down with Frederica to talk about stuff about the Sanctuary, though she told him that she couldn't tell him much because of her contract with Roswaal. To begin her story, Frederica told him about the Demi Human War, then moved on from there to her family, explaining how they ended up with Roswaal. She revealed that they had been able to leave the Sanctuary as they were quarter, nevertheless Garfiel refused to leave, stating that he wouldn't leave the others behind.

Once their discussion was finished, Subaru tried searching around for the entrance to the library, and after failing to find it, he opened the entrance to the hidden passageway in Roswaal's room with Petra's help, who explained that it connected to a shack in the mountains. Making his way through the passage with Petra, he reached the room where he had previously died from frostbite, and when he opened the door he was immediately attacked by Elsa. Quickly realizing that it was her, he used Shamak to hold her off, with the two retreating as fast as they could. Fortunately Frederica came to their aid, blocking the entrance to the passageway once they got through. After taking a moment to think, Subaru tried to wake Petra up, who he thought was unconscious, though unfortunately he saw that a Kukri Knife was embedded from the back of her neck to the back of her head, which had killed her instantly. Not knowing what do, he took Petra's body to Rem's room, but before he could enter he despaired when he heard Elsa's voice coming from behind him.

Refusing to let her kill him, he entered Rem's room only to find himself in the library, despairing at the though that Elsa was about to kill Rem. Beatrice confirmed his thoughts, stating that his reason for trying to leave just vanished, and began to heal his wounds. He tried to commit suicide by biting his tongue, however Beatrice prevented him from dying, causing him to become angry, and when he took it out on her, she dropped her gospel book. Immediately recognizing the book, Subaru demanded to know if she could only do what the book told her to do, prompting her to kick him out after an argument, sending him to a laboratory like place. Making his way outside, he realized that he was in the Sanctuary, and decided to interrogate Roswaal about everything. Soon after, he arrived in the village, noting that no one was there, and made his way to the grave, where the Oousagi ate a hole straight through him, killing him from blood loss.

Subaru returned from death once again in the grave, and just like his two previous loops, he took Emilia back to her house before heading over to Roswaal's house to interrogate him about everything. During the questioning, he learned that Roswaal also had a gospel book, which Roswaal referred to as one of the only two complete books owned by him and Beatrice, making him realize that he knew everything that had happened. Subaru accused him of letting Rem die, leading him to ask who she was, and at that point he lost it and tried to attack Roswaal but was stopped by Garfiel who smashed the right side of his face in. He was subsequently placed in a cell, though he was rescued three days later by Otto, then, with Ram's assistance, led the villagers out of the Sanctuary. As they neared the barrier, Garfiel blocked their path, nevertheless he agreed to let them pass as long as Subaru remained, yet in spite of that he tried to kill him once they left, forcing Ram to hold him back to let Subaru leave with the villagers. Her actions angered him, causing him to beastify and chase after the villagers, beginning to massacre them when they tried to prevent him from killing him. Subaru himself tried to help but was thrown off into the distance by Patrasche. Returning to the scene a while later, he was confused as to why there were no bodies, his confusion increasing when he saw that there was no one in the Sanctuary either. Confused and tired, he made his way to the grave, and on the way there he encountered the Oousagi and was eaten again.

Subaru returned from death again, however this time Echidna brought him to a second tea party, where they went over his Returns from Death ability. As they wrapped up the topic, he shifted the topic to his most recent death, and after he explained how he died, she informed him that he was killed by the Oousagi, one of the Three Great Demon Beasts created by the Witch of Gluttony Daphne. Hearing this, he requested to see the witch, though she was reluctant to let them meet until he convinced her otherwise. The two argued about the Demon Beasts, causing Daphne to make him experience extreme hunger, which he recovered from a short while later thanks to Minerva's punch. Wary of her after experiencing hunger, he declared that he would get rid of the Oousagi, which she laughed at, and soon after she switched places with Echidna. As his body began to awaken in the grave, Echidna took Petra's handkerchief as the cost for her help. He awoke in the grave but then realized that Emilia wasn't near him, prompting him to go look outside since he felt a bad feeling.

Once outside, he was shocked to see that the entire Sanctuary was enveloped in shadow, quickly coming face to face with the Witch of Envy's shadow. The witch tried to absorb him, though fortunately Garfiel saved him, explaining that everyone else had been swallowed by the shadows. The witch continued to try and absorb him, forcing Garfiel in his beastified form and the Lewes Meyers to try to fight her, however they were quickly killed by the shadow. The shadow then approached him, trying to absorb him once again, but this time a light shone from his chest, its source Petra's handkerchief that he had given Echidna earlier. As Echidna had modified it, the handkerchief hardened in accordance to his will, allowing him to use it as a weapon to cut away the shadows trying to absorb him. Using the handkerchief, he cut his way straight to the witch, but was shocked when he saw it was Emilia behind the shadows, his agitation allowing the witch to ensnare him in her shadows again. Seeing that there was no other choice, Subaru slit his throat with the handkerchief, and as he died he realized that the witch was controlling Emilia's body, leading him to promise to save her.

Subaru awoke in the grave like before, though unlike the other loops, this time he discussed the trials with Emilia after he woke her up. The events that followed were the same as the previous loops, but this time he stayed with Emilia for a while to discuss the trials a bit more, this time lying to her about taking the trial himself. Once he finished, he questioned Ram about Roswaal's gospel book, then was interrogated outside by Garfiel. When he questioned Garfiel about Lewes, the boy immediately became angry, claiming that he wouldn't understand the things they've been through since he hadn't gone through hardships, causing Subaru to tell him that he'd been through something similar many times. After parting with the boy, Subaru recalled the time he met him in front of the grave while he was talking with Otto, and retraced his steps to end up at the laboratory like place he had been teleported to by Beatrice. Making his way inside the building, he was shocked to see Lewes inside of a huge crystal, but quickly regained his composure to analyze the situation. Noticing that the room placement was strange, he checked the walls as he thought there was an extra room hidden somewhere, and as he turned toward the door to check the other room, he met eyes with another Lewes who had just arrived. He tried to talk with her, nevertheless Lewes ignored him and began taking care of the crystal, and as he watched he felt the same feeling when powerful magic was used as the crystal shone with bluish white light, noting that the crystal was interfering with the mana in the atmosphere.

Her work finished, Lewes tried to leave but was stopped again by Subaru, who held her with one hand to prevent her from leaving while he touched the crystal with the other. Suddenly, he was gripped with an intense feeling of heat inside of his body, forcing him to the ground out of pain. The feeling left him soon after, and he was surprised to see Lewes drop to her knees and respectfully bow her head to him, subsequently leading him outside where the Lewes he knew was waiting, who promised to explain once they moved to a different place.

After they arrived at Lewes' temporary house, she explained to him that the Lewes Meyer inside of the crystal was the real girl, and that all of the other Lewes' he'd seen were all copies of the original, which she revealed were created by crafting an artificial Od through a special spell and creating the rest of the body through mana, adding that all Lewes created were given enough intelligence to follow orders from birth. This led him to realize that the copies were being created to experiment with immortality, though she pointed out that Echidna's experiment hadn't been successful as the copies weren't a good enough vessel to hold her soul, explaining that because of this the few copies that experienced it had broken personalities, and that it was troublesome to get rid of them as they had fragments of the Witch of Greed's power. She continued by telling him that aside from the four that acted as Lewes, the rest of the copies acted as eyes and messengers, revealing that it took three days for one of the four copies to recharge, further explaining that Subaru was able to order the copies around as he was a Disciple of Greed. He had no idea what she meant until he told her about Echidna's tea, which she confirmed was the cause.

Gathering the information in his mind, he left Emilia a note, then had the copies help him escape from the Sanctuary, making sure to take Petelgeuse's gospel book along with him, which he somehow became able to read. Just as he expected, Garfiel tried to prevent him from leaving, however he dealt with him by having the copies along with one of the four main Lewes hold him back while he left on Patrasche. Arriving at the mansion half a day later, he asked Petra to stay home for the next week, then discussed Garfiel with Frederica, learning that Garfiel had taken the trial before in the past. Afterward, he visited Beatrice in the library, telling her his reasons, which she reacted to every time he presented more information, and he dealt the finishing blow by mentioning that she was most likely Echidna's Contract Spirit. Defeated, she dropped her gospel book to the floor, prompting him to pick it up. He was surprised that the entire book was blank, causing her to mention that it had been that way for years, and asked him to kill her to set her free from the contract. He refused to do so, causing her to have an emotional outburst, telling him that she been alone for 400 years. When he offered to form a contract with her, she asked if he would put her first, pointing out that he wouldn't do it as that spot in his mind was already given to Emilia and Rem. Hearing this, he asked her why she was letting him finish her, but before she could answer she was interrupted by Elsa, who was standing in the doorway with a blood stained Kukri Knife in her hand.

Surprised to see her in the library, Beatrice asked how she was able to find the place, prompting her to reveal that she left all the doors in the mansion open, as her Door Crossing couldn't connect to open doors. Upon hearing that she had killed Petra, Subaru cast Shamak before pulling himself and Beatrice into it, using it to confuse Elsa while they escaped past her. While running through the mansion, the two found Petra's dead body on the dining table, though they decided to leave her for the time being to find Rem. He was certain that Frederica was the one who let Elsa in, however his suspicions were cleared when they discovered her dead body in front of the door to Rem's room, which she had died to protect. Before they could enter the room, Elsa caught up to them, forcing Beatrice to fight back using Yin Magic. They succeeded in retrieving Rem, nevertheless Beatrice was killed by Elsa, who she thought she had killed instead, and Elsa proceeded to repeatedly cut him before knocking him out. He awoke a while later to realize that he nor Rem had been killed, which he didn't really understand, nonetheless he took Petra and Frederica's bodies along with him to the village to find 12 huge blobs of meat there and no villagers. Ignoring the terrible feeling he had, he buried both girls in the village, then returned to the Sanctuary, eventually coming face to face with an angry Garfiel who informed him that he had taken back control of the copies.

Taking Rem as a hostage, Garfiel ordered Subaru to drag Emilia out of the grave, pointing out the winter like condition around them, telling him that he suspected Emilia of freezing the area just like Elior Forest. Having no choice, he checked up on Emilia, who was worried about him, even mentioning that she loved him, nonetheless upon exiting the grave he informed Garfiel that she had lost her mind, as he knew she would never depend on him like that. Before Garfiel could say anything, he revealed everything he had learned about him, including the fact that Roswaal was the one who was making it snow, pointing out that he was most likely the one who was keeping them in the Sanctuary. Soon after, the two confronted Roswaal about the snow, but to his surprise he asked him if he was the one who told him that. Roswaal was disappointed about Subaru's answer but didn't deny making it snow, causing Garfiel to try to attack him, which Ram prevented by holding him, earning her a comment from Roswaal that she was a good follower. Subaru didn't understand what he meant until he saw him stab through both of them with his arm, then destroy Garfiel's head to prevent him from beastifying, killing them both. Wiping his boots with the mattress, he proceeded to talk with Subaru, pointing out that he wasn't feeling any kind of sadness over their deaths since he had a method to reverse it, causing him to realize that Roswaal knew about his Returns from Death. He revealed that everything that had happened in the Sanctuary had gone entirely according to plan, as he had used the snow to manipulate Garfiel into making the others think it was Emilia's fault.

Hearing this, Subaru ordered the Lewes copies to attack him, revealing that he had received control over them before confronting him, nevertheless Roswaal easily killed them with magic, he himself revealing that he had stopped making it snow a short while earlier, allowing him to use magic again. After killing them, he cast Goa repeatedly in the direction of the forest, where the Oousagi was just arriving at the Sanctuary. While killing them one by one, Roswaal explained that the mana and snow had attracted them to the Sanctuary, then stopped killing them, stating that he no longer had any reason to live. As the Oousagi approached, Roswaal advised him to get rid of everything except the one thing he held dear, as that would allow him to be like him, before getting eaten by the Demon Beast. Running with all his might, Subaru made his way to the cathedral, in spite of that he was too late in arriving as it was already in flames, the villagers choosing to die instead of fighting back. He remembered that Rem was also in the cathedral and knew that there was nothing he could do to save her. Making his way back to the grave, the crazed Emilia greeted him again, this time giving him a lap pillow. As she had lost her mind, Emilia didn't notice the Oousagi beginning to eat him, and as he died, Emilia gave him a kiss, which he described to taste like cold death.

Returning from death for the fifth time, Subaru went along with the events as normal, but this time he revealed everything he knew about Garfiel to him after lying that he failed the trial, making him promise not to interfere with him. Returning to the grave, he tried to return to Echidna's realm, only to be forced into starting the second trial, which was seeing the continuation of his 13th death, the time he killed himself after seeing that Rem's name and memories were eaten. Wilhelm and Ferris tried to save him, however the thing inside of Subaru tried to attack them, causing Pack to freeze the entire area. At that moment, Subaru returned to the grave, but soon after he was pulled back to the trial, this time to view his 12th death, the time Ferris and Julius had killed him along with Petelgeuse. He watched as everyone there grieved for him, with Julius stating that he had wanted to be friends with him. He was forced back to reality with his words, and after realizing that the voice that started the second trial was his own voice, he was forced to watch the continuation of another death, this time his 7th death where he had jumped off of a cliff in front of Ram and Beatrice. Standing next to his dead body, an angry Ram tried to lash out at Beatrice but stopped when she saw that she was crying while kneeling next to his body. Following that scene, he was forced to view the continuation of his 9th death, the time when Pack had frozen him at the Roswaal Mansion after escaping from Petelgeuse's cave. Reinhard had confronted Pack after Subaru's death and killed him, but not before Pack mentioned that Reinhard could only become a hero. Once he had killed him, Reinhard commented that Felt would be sad.

Afterwards, he was forced to view his 1st death, the time where Elsa had killed both him and Emilia at night at the Stolen Goods Warehouse. Once Elsa had killed both of them, Pack appeared to take revenge, freezing the entire area. The trial moved on to Subaru's 5th death, which was the time he was killed by Rem as he tried to make his way to Emilia's room. After hearing that Rem had killed Subaru, Emilia cut ties with Roswaal, slapping him when he called her actions a tantrum. She then had Rem guide her to his dead body as she had decided to bury him in Elior Forest. The trial moved on to Subaru's 11th death, which was the time he was forced to kill himself after being controlled by Petelgeuse. Emilia had come down to the village when the female Petelgeuse was there, forcing Beatrice to send her back to the mansion and Pack to break the contract and freeze Petelgeuse's soul. Once he viewed the scene, he returned to a place he didn't recognize, and encountered Rem there, who he quickly realized was a fake when he heard her say things the real Rem would never say. Upon realizing that the Rem in front of him was fake, she turned into a different girl, who introduced herself as Carmilla, the Witch of Lust. He demanded to know why she took Rem's form, prompting her to tell him that if he saw her as someone else that was what he wanted to see, causing him to try and make him feel his anger, though he had to be saved by Echidna, who pointed out that being captivated by Carmilla could lead to death. True to her words, the instant Echidna caught his attention he felt intense breathlessness and dry eye from forgetting to breathe and blink.

Leaving Subaru at the bottom of the hill, Echidna sat down at the table, telling him that she sent Carmilla to prevent him from wearing himself down and breaking from the trial. In response to her words, he sat down at table, though he refused to drink her tea. To begin their discussion, they went over the second trial, which he correctly guessed as seeing a different future than what had actually happened, leading him to question her about Returns from Death. Echidna herself didn't know exactly how it worked either, causing the topic to shift to the Witch of Envy, with her explaining that the witch he encountered was an imitation of the real thing as the vessel was immature and none of her seals were broken, therefore limiting her power far below what it was at her prime, which still shocked him. Eventually, she offered to form a contract with him to help him, however they were interrupted by Minerva who wouldn't acknowledge it. He didn't understand what she was talking about, but with her, Carmilla, and Sekhmet's assistance, he realized that Echidna hadn't been telling him the whole truth, leading him to reject her offer. Before she could say anything in response, Satella appeared, causing Minerva to go over to her and determine who she was, with Echidna explaining that Satella and the Witch of Envy were separate personalities. Minerva determined that the woman in front of her was Satella and suggested to him to talk with her. Through his conversation with Satella and the other witches, he learned to come to terms with himself, and promised to save Satella even though she asked him to kill her.

Subaru returned to reality the next morning to find himself outside of the grave, learning soon after from Otto that Patrasche had braved injuries to pull him out. Afterward, he tried to enter the grave to check what the next trial was, only to realize that his right to take the trials had been revoked, which he confirmed by trying to take authority over the Lewes copies only to fail to do so. Not knowing what else to do, he visited Roswaal that night go over information, leading to an intellectual battle between the two to try and outdo the other. Partway through the battle Subaru revealed that Echidna revoked his right to the trials, causing Roswaal to panic as that future wasn't listed in his gospel book, his agitation making him slip that he was the one who hired Elsa to kill everyone at the mansion just to strengthen Subaru's resolve. Despite his pleas, Roswaal refused to order Elsa to stop, stating that he would do whatever it took to "complete" Subaru. Leaving Roswaal's house, Subaru met Emilia outside, who he tried to convince to wait in completing the trials until he found a better way, nonetheless she refused his offer, telling him that she couldn't always depend on him. He fell asleep in the woods that night and woken by Garfiel the next day, then cheered up by Otto who promised to help, making him realize what to do as he returned to Roswaal to make a bet. He told Roswaal that he would do what he wanted to do in his current loop, but if he died because of it, he would obediently listen to him in the next one. Claiming he would gain Garfiel as an ally and have Emilia pass the trials, he made the bet contract with Roswaal, who didn't really think he would be able to accomplish it. Their contract sealed, Subaru returned to Otto to discuss their next move.

Heading to the laboratory to deal with his first condition, he discussed Garfiel's actions with Lewes, coming to the conclusion that one of the four other main Lewes was instructing him to oppose the Sanctuary being set free. That night, he visited Emilia, and with some encouragement, he managed to convince her to discuss what she saw in the trial. Right after that, he realized that Pack wasn't sleeping at all, causing him to speak with him telepathically, revealing to him that Emilia was unconsciously making him unable to materialize because of her fear of her past. Pack explained that the only way she would get through the trials was for him to break their contract and that he wanted Subaru to support her while he was gone. The next morning, she had an emotional outburst for most of the morning, finally falling asleep near noon, letting Subaru meet with the Lewes he dubbed as Lewes Sigma. During their meeting, Subaru learned that Lewes Theta was the one he needed to see, before regrouping with Otto to visit Roswaal, where Otto had him agree to not interfere with them directly. He visited Emilia soon after, who asked him to hold her hand until morning, however he was forced to break his promise to prepare, causing her to disappear the next morning. Lewes Theta also disappeared the next morning, forcing Subaru and Otto to find her before Garfiel in order to ask what they needed to ask, though fortunately Subaru found her at Garfiel and Frederica's old house, who explained what she saw during the trial, then agreed to support him in his effort to set the Sanctuary free. Following Lewes Theta's story, he had a decent idea of where Emilia was, and headed there to speak with her, leaving Otto to deal with Garfiel.

Across the Sanctuary, Garfiel smelled a large number of people heading in one direction, and upon seeing Otto and some Dragon Carriages, he demanded to know what they were doing. He soon realized that the smell he was sensing actually came from people's clothes, and that the real villagers were already leaving the Sanctuary on Dragon Carriage in various places, leading him to consider going to the grave to stop Subaru and Emilia from meeting, however Otto prevented him from doing so, using various tricks to keep his attention. Eventually, Garfiel tried to finish him off, however Ram joined their fight to help him. Garfiel didn't understand why they were helping Subaru, prompting both to tell him that they trusted him. Not wanting to think any more, Garfield turned into his beastified form to finish them, but this was exactly what Ram was waiting for. With a little of Otto's help, Ram defeated Garfiel, whose reasoning wasn't clear because of the tricks Otto had used on him.

Back at the grave, Subaru had arrived to find Emilia there, subsequently asking her to talk with him. After an argument between the two about keeping promises, he decided to be a strict with her but made sure to tell her that he believed in her because he loved her, and to prove it, he kissed her, which he described to taste like hot life unlike their previous kiss. Leaving her to organize her feelings, he stepped outside to confront a wounded Garfiel, with her joining soon after. Both of them pointed out that Garfiel seemed to be scared of something, which he tried to deny repeatedly. Despite that, he caved in when Subaru mentioned what he had heard about Garfiel's trial, prompting him to reveal the rest of the trial, telling them that their mother had died after leaving them in the Sanctuary, and that was why he opposed the Sanctury being set free, as he believed that there was no happiness outside of it. Hearing this, Subaru decided to forcibly prove to him that he was kindhearted, and they began their fight. Partway through the battle, Garfiel tried to beastify, though his attempt was negated with a crystal stone with Pack inside of it stabbed into his right shoulder that sucked all of his mana, forcing him to revert back to his original form. Although Subaru was successful in stabbing him, he had to cast Shamak to accomplish it, resulting in his damaged gate to completely collapse. Even then Garfiel refused to surrender, nonetheless Subaru defeated him by uppercutting him with an Unseen Hand, then having Patrasche slam into him.

After she watched their man's battle, Emilia turned her attention toward the trees nearby, where Roswaal appeared, claiming to have come because he was worried about them. Pointing out that Roswaal was prepared to attack Subaru during the fight, Emilia talked with him about his intentions, leading him to show her his gospel book, stating that he and Subaru were the same in forcing their ideals on the woman they yearned for. When Emilia refuted his remark by revealing what Subaru did, he became agitated, nevertheless he quickly regained his composure as he still didn't think he would lose, and left them for the time being. Ten minutes later, Otto joined them with an injured Ram on his back.

Regrouping together again, Ram talked Garfiel into retaking the trial, to which he agreed, entering the grave to begin the trial. To his surprise, the reason his mother left was to bring back their father, and not because she wanted to live her own life. After talking it over with an image of a young Frederica, Garfiel decided to help those who needed him, leading him to start referring to Subaru as "boss" once he returned. Before Emilia took her turn with the trial, each member present gave her advice except for Subaru, who she told that they would sort out what they did inside of the grave later, sending her off into the grave with confidence. To her surprise, she saw that Subaru had carved pictures and words inside the first room to cheer her up, making her realize what he had done when he left her the night before when she asked him to hold her hand until morning.

While Emilia was inside the grave, Subaru discussed Garfiel's former stance and was puzzled by it, as none of the Lewes recalled telling him to be wary of Subaru and Emilia. Leaving her to focus on the trials, Subaru's group returned to Roswaal's house to speak with him, where they encountered a fifth main Lewes copy he dubbed Lewes Omega, who had no intention of blocking their efforts to free the Sanctuary. The two entered Roswaal's room to find that it was in a mess as Roswaal had raged for a short while. Seeing Garfiel with him, he began to mock him for switching sides so easily, but when Garfiel calmly refuted his claims by mentioning that he cleared the first trial, Roswaal was pressured even further, beginning to redirect his insults at Emilia, causing Subaru to grab his clothes and yell at him, demanding to know if he tried caring about her even once. Telling him that Emilia would succeed, he announced himself to be her knight, then left with Otto and Garfiel to stop Elsa. Back at the mansion, Frederica arrived just in time to prevent Elsa from attacking Petra, with Garfiel taking her place soon after, telling her to go help the others. Meanwhile, Subaru tried to convince Beatrice to leave with her but failed, making her kick him out of the library. Soon after Otto and Petra joined him, informing him that a horde of Demon Beasts had surrounded the mansion, making it impossible to escape, and at that moment they were attacked by Elsa who had left her battle with Garfiel, though fortunately Frederica joined them with Rem strapped on her back. Garfiel smashed his way through the ceiling with a dead Demon Beast, which Meili had brought with her, the girl herself joining seconds later.

The group left Garfiel behind to deal with their enemies while they looked for an exit. Dealing with other Demon Beasts along the way, the group eventually reached the hallway with the entrance to Roswaal's room, where one of Meili's trump cards, the Guiltylowe, was standing guard to prevent anyone from escaping through the passageway. Putting their skills together, they managed to trick the Demon Beast into heading into their traps one after another, with Subaru trying to finish it off with a dust explosion in the kitchen, and when that failed Otto covered it with the oil he had and burned it to death. Unfortunately, he used too much oil, allowing the fire to quickly spread across the mansion. The group quickly returned to Roswaal's room, where Subaru announced that he would stay to take care of Beatrice. As he looked around, Garfiel finished his battle against Elsa, Meili, and Meili's other trump card, the Wagpig, on the eastern side of the mansion, killing the Wagpig and using its massive body to crush Elsa after she had healed from fatal wounds for the fourth time. Searching around, Subaru tried multiple times to enter the library, and each time Beatrice kicked him out for a total of seven attempts. Unfortunately, on his way to try the passageway door for his eight attempt, he was attacked by both a fatally wounded Elsa with the bottom half of her body destroyed and the Guilytylowe he thought they killed, though fortunately for him they began killing each other, giving him enough time to reach the door. Elsa forcibly chased after him once she killed the Demon Beast, but unlike Subaru who entered the library, she was hit by a backdraft the second she opened the door, her body completely destroyed by the fire. Seconds later, the mansion completely collapsed.

The library itself was a mess as the area itself was breaking apart and the fire was beginning to burn through the room. This time Subaru successfully convinced Beatrice to accept him, telling her that even if she lived longer than him, he would make sure she'd never forget him, prompting her to finally refer to him by his name. The two escaped from the library by teleporting to the Sanctuary, much to relief of everyone else.

A while before Subaru and Beatrice's teleport, Emilia cleared both the first and second trials, then was cheered on by the villagers of the Sanctuary who had gathered at the grave to support her, having been told about what had happened between Subaru and Garfiel in addition to Emilia and Roswaal, before she began the third trial. Meanwhile, Ram confronted Roswaal, who now viewed her as an enemy, informing him that she had come to steal him from his obsession over Echidna. Talking with each other, they went over the contract they made over the gospel book, which stated that as long as things went the same as the gospel book, Ram would serve him with her life, but if it went off course, she could do whatever she wanted to with him, though he would be an empty shell as he would lose all reason to live. He also mentioned that she probably lived a painful life since she was forced to swear loyalty to the man who was the cause of her village's destruction, intentionally using words that would hurt her. Finishing up their conversation, he told her that he would punish her for betraying him, and the two began to fight. During their fight, he was shocked to find out that she loved him rather than having feelings of revenge like he believed, nevertheless he refused to believe her words, stating that her words didn't make sense as he should be someone she hated. She agreed that she hated him at first but added that she fell in love with him in the end. Forcing herself into her Oni Form, she used it to quickly reach the gospel book Roswaal had put aside when they began fighting, subsequently throwing it in one of the remaining fires to destroy it. This earned her his wrath, leading him to hit her with a blast of fire.

At the grave, Emilia completed the third trial, and entered the last room, where she found Echidna's body encased in a sealing stone coffin. Recalling what she needed to do, she read the flow of mana, using it as a guide to get rid of the magic that kept the Sanctuary sealed. Once that was done, she made her way outside to find the area covered in snow, learning from the villagers gathered there that they had retuned to bring everyone out, however the snow blocked their efforts. Afterward, Lewes explained that as Emilia touched the coffin, the control over the Lewes copies had moved to her, and promised to assist her in finding Roswaal to put a stop to his actions. Across the Sanctuary, Roswaal didn't know what to do anymore, nonetheless he made it snow like before, then began giving mana to Ram like always, not wanting her to die as he still needed her. Reaching them soon after, she found Roswaal who no longer had any will to live and a dying Ram in his arms, prompting her to yell at him to get him to believe, ordering the copies to carry them along. A short while later, the Oousagi came as expected, though fortunately Subaru and Beatrice teleported near her at the grave to help fight against them. Subaru, Emilia, and Beatrice worked together to lessen their numbers until Beatrice sent them to a different dimension with Al Shamak. Seeing that they won, Subaru began celebrating by praising Beatrice while holding her up, however he tripped, making them fall face first into the snow.

Later on, Beatrice and Roswaal visited Echidna's body in the grave while everyone else played in the remaining snow outside. During their discussion inside, he revealed to her that he was indeed the original Roswaal, having used his grandchildren's bodies for the last 400 years. She decided to not judge him but ended up slapping him with her shoe. Afterward, he asked her if she would cooperate with him if she could actually reunite with Echidna. Outside, as Subaru finished his Pack snow sculptures, Emilia decided to go over what they did in the grave, causing him to be confused as she apparently thought that babies were made when a man and a woman kissed. He thought about correcting her misunderstanding, though he eventually decided to leave it to Ram and Frederica.

Garfiel, Frederica, Otto, Petra, and Rem arrived at the Sanctuary half a day later along with their prisoner Meili, and immediately took turns punching Roswaal for everything that he'd done. Once they were finished, the group gathered in the cathedral to discuss their current situation, with Roswaal swearing on Echidna's soul that he wouldn't attempt anything like what he did again, nevertheless Garfiel was still suspicious of him, which Subaru took care of by having Roswaal promise to make up for everything he had done, especially to the villagers and Sanctuary citizens. Following their talk, the group dispersed, with Subaru and Roswaal visiting Echidna's body again. While there, Roswaal revealed to him that he had a method of reviving Echidna that wouldn't go against the Od Laguna, though he refused to tell him the details, as it wasn't mentioned in their contract. In addition to that, he revealed that although he did hire Elsa, he didn't ask her to kill Frederica or Petra, and that he didn't hire Meili at all during the Wolgarm incident or the Sanctuary incident. Soon after, Beatrice visited him after Roswaal left, and explained the conditions her contractor had to bear.

Elsewhere, Echidna, who had returned to the living world by transferring her soul into the original Lewes Meyer's body by using and absorbing Lewes Omega's own soul as a medium, renamed herself Omega after viewing the memories left in the soul. As she looked around, she decided to spend some time getting used to everything again, and left the place she was at.


 * -|Arc 5=

A year after the start of the election, Subaru was practicing parkour at the athletic zone Garfiel had made for him when Beatrice visited him. Petra arrived soon after, informing the two that there was a messenger, and therefore Emilia had requested their presence at the mansion. Both Subaru and Beatrice tried to refuse but were pressed into going by Petra. Upon arriving at the mansion, they were greeted by an enthusiastic Mimi, who proudly told them that she came alone, before announcing that they were invited to a party hosted by Anastasia. They began playing around at the entrance until they were scolded by Ram, at which point the involved parties gathered in the parlor. Subaru quickly introduced himself to their other guest, Joshua Juukulius, then got straight down to business, which was mostly the same as what Mimi had said, except for the fact that it would be held in the city of Priestella, which was next to the border between Lugnica and Kararagi. Subaru questioned about whether they should go, however they were convinced to go by Joshua who mentioned that Anastasia had asked him to tell them that they would find an extremely high purity magic stone that could house Pack inside of it.

Later that night, Subaru asked Emilia about Priestella, then listened to a drunk Otto's complaints along with Garfiel about how easily they had agreed to go to Anastasia's party. Eventually ignoring him, Garfiel reported to him that Mimi seemed to be suspicious, advising him and Emilia to not walk around alone. Leaving the two to play Shatranj, Subaru visited the sleeping Rem, telling her of the experiences he had that day, before heading back to his own room. Three days later, Subaru, Emilia, Beatrice, Garfiel, and Otto headed to the city, beginning their more than ten day journey there, while Roswaal, Ram, and Petra attended the Western Border Territory Lord Meeting to convince the lords affiliated with Roswaal to support Emilia. Arriving at the city 12 days later, the group headed to the Water Plumage Inn, and Anastasia greeted them in front of the building while Otto left to take their Earth Dragons to the stable. Once Otto came back, the group had a short discussion with both Anastasia and Julius, then left to meet Kiritaka Muse to discuss a deal on the magic stone. On the way there, Subaru became seasick on the waterway boat, forcing him to stay behind and rest with Beatrice. Trying to make their way to the Muse Trading Company on their own, they ended up at a park where Liliana Masquerade was singing, eventually threatening her to guide them there. Upon arriving, they made their way to the meeting room, however Liliana made a commotion in front of the door which caused Kiritaka to notice them, making him attack Subaru for touching "his" Liliana, ending the deal prematurely.

On their way back to the Water Plumage Inn, Otto left them to deal with some business. Emilia accidentally bumped into a cloaked Regulus Corneas, with both sides apologizing for the accident, and after they left he vowed to make her his 79th wife to fill the empty spot. Reaching the inn, they found Joshua arguing with Chin, who, with Reinhard's support, explained that he was working for Felt along with his companions. Their misunderstandings cleared, the group entered Anastasia's meeting room to find the members of the Crusch Camp there, with Reinhard coming face to face with Wilhelm for the first time in a while. The two immediately ignored each other's presence and before long everyone other than the Priscilla Camp, who weren't invited, gathered to talk. When Felt brought up Subaru's efforts, everyone in the room starting with Wilhelm and Julius praised him. Later, Subaru, Ferris, and Julius watched Garfiel fight against Reinhard in the inn garden to see how strong he was, though he was easily dealt with by the Sword Saint who didn't even move from where he was standing. That night, on his way to the bath, Subaru spotted Wilhelm at the garden, deciding right away to talk with him, going over various topics such as his wife. Eventually, Subaru moved the topic to his bad relationship with his grandson, giving him advice on improving it, which Wilhelm thanked him for.

Wilhelm tried his advice the next morning during breakfast, however Heinkel Astrea interrupted them, telling them that had no right to make up since they hadn't changed, adding that Wilhelm himself had gotten angry at Reinhard for killing Thearesia. Immediately, the four candidates urged him to leave, though a newly arrived Priscilla prevented him from doing so. Subaru questioned her as to why she brought Heinkel, prompting her to wonder who he was, as she had apparently forgotten who he was. Fortunately Al remembered him, with Priscilla revealing that she brought Heinkel because it would "make things fun". As the current head of the Astrea House, Heinkel tried to threatened to kick both Felt and Reinhard out, which he tried to accomplish by having Priscilla as his backer, nevertheless she beat him unconscious for being an annoyance, then assured them that even if he did no one would support his decision. The group dispersed after she left and later Julius thanked him for getting angry at Heinkel. Afterward, Subaru visited the same park with Emilia and Beatrice to see Liliana again, but this time Priscilla was there, impressing the crowd with her dancing. After an argument with Priscilla, Subaru was forced to buy treats for everyone, which he reluctantly agreed to, and while he was doing so he bumped into Chin. Immediately after, the crowd both of them was near stopped to look up at the nearby time tower where Sirius was standing, who introduced herself the same way as Petelgeuse.

Seeing her caution those who were about to attack her, Subaru tried to negotiate with her instead of summon Beatrice, at which point she brought out Lusbel Kallard, explaining that he had volunteered to be her prisoner to protect his friend Tina. The crowd praised him for his efforts, making Sirius elated that there was "love", subsequently throwing him off of the tower to his death, then made everyone in the group die the same way with her Authority of Wrath. Returning from death at Liliana, he contemplated on what he needed to do, ultimately deciding to ambush Sirius before she could give her speech. Hiding himself in the time tower, he tried to ambush her with his whip, nonetheless she noticed his anger, leading her to block his weapon with her chain. Fortunately, his whip got caught in a chain link, allowing him to force her off balance, landing a tackle that sent her falling down to the first floor seconds later. He tried to save Lusbel when he was suddenly seized by an intense feeling of fear that was caused by Sirius' Authority, who raised its effects to make both him and Lusbel continuously feel each other's increasing fear, killing both of them by driving them insane.

Returning from death yet again, he reanalyzed the situation based on the new information he gained, this time opting to have Chin call Reinhard to the scene, who arrived in 30 seconds. He proceeded to fight Sirius in the air, which Subaru took advantage of to save Lusbel, though when they returned the crowd was chanting for Reinhard to kill Sirius. Once he killed her by chopping her with his hand from her left shoulder to her right side, everyone else in the vicinity except for Reinhard died the same way. Returning for the third time, he decided to take Beatrice with him, explaining to her the threat they were going to face to see how much he could tell her before the hands blocked him. To their surprise, Emilia also tagged along, agreeing to assist them in their fight against Sirius. Upon seeing Emilia, Sirius became enraged, leading Emilia to fight her while Subaru and Beatrice dealt with the crowd that was emotionally linked to her by her Authority. Eventually, Sirius tried to finish her off, though fortunately she was saved by Regulus, causing Sirius to try to kill him. Partway through their battle, Subaru tried to take Emilia back from him, fighting against him by using EMM and his Unseen Hand, however their fight was also interrupted by the woman whose fight they interrupted first. Taking a look at Subaru, Sirius declared him to be her missing "husband" Petelgeuse, and tried to claim him. Before she could do so, Regulus blocked her again, though right after both of their gospel books reacted, giving both of them a new entry. Prioritizing their work, Regulus left Subaru with a serious injury to his right leg and Sirius spread it to everyone except Beatrice and Emilia as they weren't worthy of being love, and then the two Sin Archbishops left.

Subaru later awoke in a slightly dark room, which Ferris referred to as a field hospital, subsequently being briefed on the situation a little by both him and Ricardo, learning that Beatrice was currently unconscious because she used up all of her mana to keep all of the people affected by Sirius' Authority alive. At that moment, Capella Emerada Lugnica began her second broadcast on the city center's broadcast Meteor, warning the people of Priestella to not try anything as they had taken over the four control towers that controlled the waterways. Once her announcement was over, the three of them used the Conversing Mirror Meteor to contact the others in order to form a plan against the Witch Cult. As they discussed their plan, Garfiel returned with a dying Mimi in his arms, apologizing to everyone for being powerless. The two had spent the previous day together following his defeat to Reinhard, during which he had saved a group of children from a boat, one of which was Fred Thompson, who he later learned was a child of Reala, his actual mother. Later that afternoon, her husband Garek explained how he met her, leading Garfiel to cry himself to sleep in Mimi's arms that night on the roof of a building. The next day, both of them heard Capella's announcement, then agreed to look for Reala's family when they found her at an evacuation center. The two attempted to infiltrate the city center, however they were attacked by Kurgan and Thearesia in the square in front of the building and Mimi was wounded by Thearesia, forcing him to carry her back to Ferris.

As Ferris treated Mimi, the others continued with their strategy meeting, ultimately deciding to gather together at the great waterway leading to the city center, where they had another meeting to go over their opponents. A short while later, the members of the Fang of Steel cleared the way for Subaru, Crusch, Garfiel, Ricardo, Wilhelm, and Julius to reach the city center, at which point they began fighting against their two opponents, though before long Capella appeared on the roof of the city center in the form of a black dragon. Julius injured her with magic, nonetheless she recovered thanks to her regeneration, eventually retreating back into the city center to make a third announcement, forcing Subaru, Crusch, and Julius to head inside to stop her. Upon entering, the three of them encountered Roy Alphard, prompting Julius to send them off using their aliases, as that way Roy wouldn't be able to eat them, while he himself stayed behind to fight him. Subaru and Crusch ended up entering he broadcast preparation room through the window from the roof, quickly dispatching the black dragon inside once they saved the hostage girl at its feet, but when he opened the door to the broadcast room he found a large number of Human sized flies. Hearing her scream behind him, Subaru turned around see an unconscious and injured Crusch at the girl's feet, with the girl insulting them in Capella's voice. After seeing her use her Authority of Lust for a short bit, he figured out that she could transform things, realizing that the dragon and the flies were a result of her transforming the people in the building. Grabbing Crusch's body, he tried to escape from her but failed, causing her to infect him with her own blood that she mentioned to include dragon blood, wondering if either of them would survive the experience. Leaving them behind, she tried to make her way to the announcement room when the dragon she had transformed returned and attacked her with fire just as he lost consciousness.

Subaru awoke a while later, learning soon after from Julius that the Witch Cult had abandoned the city center along with the fact that the area around his leg injury had healed but had turned black. Anastasia traded places with the others while they went to check up on Crusch, revealing to Subaru the existence of the Artificial Spirit she wore, who introduced herself as Echidna. Despite his shock, both girls continued on with the conversation, telling him that one of the Witch Cult's conditions during their third announcement was for them to hand over the Artificial Spirit, though they didn't know which Spirit they were referring to. She told him the other four conditions; the second condition was the Book of Wisdom that was supposedly in the city, the third was for them to deliver twenty couples to a control tower, and the fourth was for them to not bother Regulus' wedding with the silver haired bride. Seeing his reaction, she expressed her desire to disobey the Witch Cult, then went down with him to the first floor to discuss their plan with the others. During their discussion, Al arrived at the city center, causing him to tag along with Subaru and Garfiel who were planning to visit the evacuation centers. Along the way, Subaru realized that Sirius was using her Authority to increase the emotions of people, making them hurry to the nearest evacuation center, but just as they feared the citizens had begun killing each other because of it. Subduing the remaining citizens, they returned to the city center, where Subaru suggested to Anastasia to use the loudspeaker Meteor to tell the citizens to calm down.

Following a brief discussion, Al suggested that Subaru make the call, as he was the one known for killing a Sin Archbishop, which the others agreed to. He quickly began his speech, successfully raising the morale of everyone, enough to make Anastasia ask if he used to be a swindler. After receiving praise from everyone, Otto reappeared with Reinhard who apologized for his tardiness, explaining that Heinkel had taken Felt hostage during their meeting earlier just so he could have Reinhard protect his own like at the cost of everyone else's. Otto continued from where he left off, explaining that he helped Felt escape from Heinkel, allowing Reinhard to capture him. Otto himself had been meeting with Kiritaka at the time of the announcement, adding that Roy had appeared in the same avenue soon after and began causing a commotion, and that Kiritaka had made him escape through the secret passageway down to the underground waterways before being cut down. At that point the topic shifted to Roy's intentions, leading Otto to reveal that he was the one who brought the Book of Wisdom to the city, revealing that he had given it to a restorer to bring it back to its former condition. With the information about the book known to everyone, both Anastasia and Subaru decided to reveal the existence of Artificial Spirits, at which point Al tried to leave but was stopped by Priscilla who had just arrived with Schult and Liliana. While the others briefed Priscilla on the situation, Subaru took Otto outside to discuss the book, learning that he had brought it to make sure Roswaal was on their side. Satisfied with his explanation, both of them were about to return to the room when Wilhelm stopped him, informing him that Crusch wanted to see him.

Making their way to Crusch's room, Wilhelm revealed the identities of the two Witch Cult members they had fought, hesitating a little when he was about to mention Thearesia's name. After giving him a history of Sphinx, they arrived at Crusch's room, and Subaru entered to find her struggling against the dragon blood that had infected her body. To their surprise, he was able to take the curse from her body, however the rate it transferred at wasn't equal, causing her to stop him from taking any more of the curse from her. He assured her that he would take care of things before leaving the room. On their way back, Wilhelm asked him to not tell Reinhard that Thearesia was in the city, asking to be given the permission to deal with her and Capella himself. The group continued with their strategy meeting, eventually deciding to have Priscilla, Al, and Liliana fight Sirius, Wilhelm and Garfiel fight Capella, Subaru and Reinhard fight Regulus, and Julius and Ricardo fight Roy. At a church near one of the control towers, Regulus tried to force Emilia into marrying him, nevertheless she refused, stating that she already had someone she was going to love when she properly understood what love was, before Subaru and Reinhard kicked the door open. Although Subaru's kick simply opened the door, Reinhard's kick sent the door flying straight into Regulus, though it didn't do any damage because of his Authority.

When the two tried to begin fighting, Regulus threatened them by mentioning that he would kill his wives if they moved, though fortunately Emilia created a thick wall of ice to protect them, then froze his feet while holding an ice sword to his neck. Unfortunately for them, Regulus grabbed Emilia's throat, forcing Reinhard to comply with his request, which was for him to take an attack without protecting himself in exchange for the hostages' freedom. Regulus took advantage of this by killing Reinhard in one strike, subsequently attempting to kill Subaru as well, however to their surprise Reinhard got right back up thanks to his Divine Protection of the Phoenix. Shocked that he was alive, Regulus was unable to do anything to prevent Subaru from rescuing the 184th wife nearby with his whip, Emilia from kicking the ice sword to Reinhard, and Reinhard from attacking him with it. Their celebration was cut short when they saw Regulus get back up, making Reinhard resume the fight, and while he did so Subaru and Emilia tried to get the wives to evacuate but failed, as they were scared of what Regulus would do to them if they did. Leaving the wives alone for the time being, the two joined Reinhard's fight, working together with him to determine what the Authority of Greed did. After several attempts such as trying to drown him, make him receive his own attack, and attack him from below, Subaru remembered the story behind the star Regulus, asking Reinhard to check if Regulus' heart was functioning. Upon hearing that it wasn't, Subaru and Emilia attempted to return to the wives, prompting Regulus to try to stop them. Seeing that he wasn't going to let them go, Subaru had Emilia secretly head for the church while he acted as a decoy.

Remembering what he told her, Emilia explained to the wives that they had Regulus' heart, all the while trying to think of some way to get rid of it, when the wives attempted to commit suicide to get revenge on him. This forced Emilia to freeze them instead, returning soon after to Subaru and Regulus. Noticing that Regulus was still able to use his Authority, they wondered if they made a mistake, nonetheless at that moment Emilia realized that she had his heart inside of her, leading Subaru to use his Unseen Hand to carefully crush Regulus' heart without damaging hers. Once he did so, Regulus was unable to use his Authority for long periods of time, causing him to plead for a one on one fight, which Subaru agreed to by having Reinhard take his place. Reinhard hit Regulus high into the air with his sword, then kicked him down into the ground. He was forced to stop using his Authority while he was still smashing through the ground, resulting in his body being mangled by the continuous force placed on his body, eventually coming to a stop in the ground. Vowing to get revenge on them, he tried digging his way back up using his Authority, only to make the mistake of digging into a waterway, and soon died of the water and mud suffocating him. A short while later, Subaru and Emilia returned to free the women from the ice, where he felt a mysterious black object enter his chest.

A while before the battle against Regulus finished, Capella invaded the city center, intending to finish off everyone there since most of the attacking force had spread across the city. To her surprise, Anastasia had been expecting her, as she had disguised herself as Crusch in an effort to help Ferris get information on how to cure the real Crusch out of her. Seeing that she wasn't going to talk, Anastasia activated the trap on the floor, dropping her all the way down to the basement, where she reformed her body immediately after hitting the ground. She attempted to leave the basement to kill them but was stopped by Al. During their battle, he cut her head off and crushed her heart with El Dona, ripping her body apart, however he was surprised when her head talked to him. He tried scaring her by telling her that help would arrive at any moment, nonetheless she crushed his hopes by telling him that his allies were being attacked by Kurgan and Thearesia, and that an associate in the Witch Cult had taught her how to block Conversing Mirror Meteors from working. Transforming into a black dragon again, she tried to kill him, though Al took advantage of this by making her destroy the foundations of the building, escaping through the waterways as the building collapsed on her. The three regrouped near the ruined building, when Al noticed that Anstasia's body was being controlled by her Artificial Spirit, who explained that it was something she had to do to save her life. As they discussed their current situation, the Conversing Mirror Meteor they had shone, signaling a connection with another mirror.

Around the same time, Otto attempted to retrieve the Book of Wisdom from the restorer, and on the way there he ran into Ley Batenkaitos, with Felt, Ton, Kiritaka, and several White Dragon's Scale members joining them soon after. At first Ley seemed to listen to him, though once he found out that Otto was a merchant his attitude changed. With their combined efforts, the group managed to let Kiritaka escape so he could head to the 8th evacuation center, a place Otto explained would help their cause. In another part of the city, Priscilla and Liliana arrived at a flaming control tower. Sirius greeted them in front of it, explaining that she lit it on fire to guide them there, then tried to have a huge crowd under her control attack them, nevertheless Priscilla held them back by creating a wall of fire along the waterways with her Yang Sword. She made Sirius angry to keep her attention on her, such as burning the already burning tower, and had Liliana sing on top of it to free the people from Sirius' control. Liliana successfully did as instructed, causing Sirius to try to kill her, forcing Priscilla to chase after her to stop her. Priscilla managed to reach her at the building but failed to do before she destroyed it. Sirius tried to dissuade her from attacking by revealing that she had Tina as a hostage underneath her coat, nonetheless she still attacked her, her sword only striking Sirius and the chain that held Tina to her. Making sure that Tina was freed, Priscilla landed a blow to Sirius' head, sending her flying into the waterway. Liliana had also fallen into a waterway and was rescued by Kiritaka.

Back at Otto's battle, Ley easily overpowered the White Dragon's Scale members and Ton with the abilities he used through his Authority of Gluttony. Partway through, he ate three members, using their memories to try to confused the others. He tried to eat Felt, Ton, and Dynas, though his attempt was blocked by Otto with a magic stone that exploded, nonetheless he took advantage of the explosion to eat three more members, leaving only Otto, Felt, Ton, and Dynas in fighting condition. Fortunately, the others didn't know who Otto was other than his title, allowing him a bit of leeway when it came to fighting Ley. Eventually, Beatrice arrived to help them, having been sent to their location by Kiritaka. Otto stopped himself from saying her name, however to their surprise Ley knew who she was through Rem's memories, and began talking like her, causing her and Otto to realize that Ley was using the abilities and memories of those he'd eaten to his advantage. Touching the Morningstar wound on his shoulder, he continued to mock Rem, leading them vow to not allow him to meet Subaru. Resuming their battle, Ley tried to eat Felt again, this time succeeding in touching her, however the moment he ate her he began throwing up as "Felt" wasn't her real name. Realizing this, Ley considered taking her with him to see Rom in order to figure out her real name, causing her to try to attack him with her knife. Beatrice tried to kill him with Ur Minya once everyone got out of range, but one the large magic stones Kiritaka gave her to use in place of mana shattered before the magic could finish, negating the whole thing and leaving her with four stones remaining.

Ley tried to get revenge by touching her, prompting Beatrice to avoid it by using another stone for Murak. Seeing that he was in trouble, Ley activated his trump card Lunar Eclipse, using it to effortlessly defeat both Dynas and Otto. Louis Arneb arrived soon after, with Ley pointing out to him that Beatrice was the Artificial Spirit he was looking for. He tried to attack her again, though she used her remaining two stones to blind him with Shamak and heal Otto, and as she had already used a stone to revive a dying Water Dragon while she used Murak, she had it hold him in place while Felt charged up the Meteor her subordinate had brought her earlier, which she claimed even Reinhard couldn't avoid. Beatrice recognized the Meteor as the white staff Echidna had created a long time ago just to annoy Volcanica. Sensing the imminent danger, he tried to run from the blast of light that was fired, only to find out that it was able to home in on him. He began despairing, nevertheless Louis told him to turn off Solar Eclipse, escaping the blast by tricking it into believing that it had hit its target by using hair that had been cut during the battle. Before they could do anything else, Louis introduced himself to them, adding that he would retreat as Ley and Roy were exhausted and any more would cause problems with giving birth. Beatrice refused to let him leave, nonetheless he warned her of Eclipse, stating that he could still completely destroy them, not doing so simply because "the table wasn't ready". As he left, he told them that Ley and Roy didn't know anything about eating, remarking that eating was about "who you ate with" and not "what you ate".

Near one of the control towers, Wilhelm was busy fighting his former wife Thearesia. After a short battle, he tried to finish her off when he spotted Heinkel out of the corner of his eye, making him hesitate and allow her to fight back. His thoughts began to wander because of this, preventing him from properly making a decision, resulting in a wound to his leg that made him collapse. Seeing that he was finished, she ignored him and moved to kill Heinkel, who began fearing for his life, though fortunately Reinhard appeared with the Dragon Sword drawn, ready to fight. Wilhelm protested his intrusion, claiming that it was dishonorable to interrupt a fight between two swordsmen, however Reinhard simply told him that the way of the sword didn't apply to those who desecrated dead bodies, adding that dead people didn't move and that there was no future for dead people. Reinhard and Thearesia prepared to fight again, causing Wilhelm to protest once again, nevertheless Reinhard told him that he killed her 15 years ago, therefore the woman in front of them was a fake, before cutting her down in one strike.

Once the battle was finished, Thearesia regained her reason in Wilhelm's arms, and both Wilhelm and Thearesia told each other that they loved each other, and subsequently her body crumbled to ashes. Afterward, Heinkel asked Reinhard if he was satisfied with what he'd done, threatening to tell everyone about how he cut her down. Reinhard didn't understand what he was talking about, claiming that the woman in front of them had been a dead body, prompting Heinkel to ask him about what she had done at the end. Wilhelm stopped him from saying anything more, instead asking Reinhard if he regretted what he had done, to which he replied that he didn't as he did what he thought was the correct thing to do. He accepted his answer, however he refused to speak with him from that point on, stating that he no longer had anything to talk with him about, and began speaking to him as if he was a complete stranger. Reinhard, in turn, referred to him by name instead of the usual grandfather, leaving soon after head to the city center since Wilhelm had asked him to. A short while later, Kiritaka announced on the loudspeaker Meteor that the Witch Cult had been defeated, much to the joy of everyone in the city.

Subaru and Emilia quickly returned to the ruined city center building, where they regrouped with the others, promptly hearing of everyone's survival. Spending some time with each of them, he listened to Liliana's song over the loudspeaker Meteor partway through, them visited an evacuation center, where he, after discussing the Book of Wisdom a little with Otto, learned that a Sin Archbishop was being held prisoner in the next evacuation center over. Heading their immediately, he discovered that the Sin Archbishop in question was Sirius, who refused to properly talk with him unless Emilia and Beatrice left, forcing him to have them temporarily leave so he could talk with the Witch Cult member. When he asked her if she was following the gospel to resurrect the Witch of Envy, she corrected him, saying that each Sin Archbishop followed the gospel only to fulfill their own desires. This caused him to ask about the Witch Cult's purpose, to which she answered that she was only a member because of him, adding that they didn't really have a leader or a meeting place. Eventually Subaru got too close to her, allowing her to lick him, causing his disgust to grow due to her Authority, though fortunately Emilia intervened, knocking her away from him to protect him. As he was about to leave, Sirius warned him to be careful of "Gourmet", "Bizarre Eating", and "Satiation", asking him to kill them since they were a bother to her, making him realize that there were three Sin Archbishops of Gluttony.

Fearing that someone might've been eaten, he left the evacuation center in a hurry to check, and while he did so he met Julius, who he quickly learned had gotten his name eaten once he saw Emilia wonder who he was. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he tried to test his theory as to why he was able to remember Julius, such as having him meet with the others during their meeting, however in the end no one remembered him. During their meeting, the members present agreed to have the people transformed by Capella to be frozen like the wives, then moved on to the victims of the Authority of Gluttony, with Anastasia suggesting to visit the Sage Shaula at the Pleiades Watchtower. Despite the useful information they could gain from her, they were also worried of what would happen if they failed, since Shaula killed anyone that came near the tower or the shrine where the witch was sealed, and even Reinhard was unable to reach the tower. Leaving the decision for the time being, the others spent their time in Priestella as normal. Later on, Subaru visited Anastasia, telling her that the number of people heading to the tower was currently five, which included himself, Emilia, Beatrice, Anastasia herself, and Julius. Anastasia questioned why Echidna wasn't included, prompting him to reveal that he knew the "Anastasia" in front of him was still the Artificial Spirit Echidna, leading her to drop her impersonation to discuss her current situation, revealing that she was unable to leave her body, which was why she suggested going to the tower in the first place. He agreed to work with her but decided to head back to Roswaal's Mansion first.


 * -|Arc 6=

Making their way to Roswaal's Mansion, Subaru, Emilia, and Beatrice headed there with Julius and Anastasia, who were accompanying them in the same Dragon Carriage. After being greeted by both Petra and Ram, the group made their way to the parlor where Roswaal was waiting. He had already learned of their plan through their letter, allowing their conversation to move along smoothly, though when it came to the topic about the effects of the Authority of Greed, he noted that Subaru seemed to remember Julius like Rem, telling him that he should take care of it as it meant he was special, and added right after that it was something many people couldn't get even if they wanted it. The group soon dispersed to head to take care of business, with most of the group heading to the confinement room to see Meili, while Beatrice stayed behind with Roswaal to check if he was plotting anything. During their conversation, he mentioned that Subaru "now had two" following the defeat of another Sin Archbishop, prompting her to mention that there were other candidates, though he refuted her claim by saying that none of them compared to Subaru. She was uncooperative, stating that as she was Subaru's, he would stay the same, however he simply told her that it worked in his favor if the numbers lessened.

At the confinement room, the group walked in on Meili playing around with dolls, causing her to refuse to speak with them, nevertheless Subaru quickly curried her favor by giving her a panda like doll he made on the way back, which she named "Big Bear Cat". She agreed to join them in their trip to the tower, earning her a proper room in the west wing of the mansion and bringing their total to seven including Rem. During the time before their departure, Subaru visited Rem, telling her that they might be able to save her. He was then interrupted by Ram, who, after several insults toward him for supposedly acting like a perverted man, shocked him by informing him that she was going with them. The group prepared to leave in the morning, but not before Roswaal informed them of Ram's condition, and the group began their twenty day journey to the tower. Upon arriving at the closest town, Mirula, the group spent that day and the next there getting ready for their attempt, learning that there were three "Sand Times" that raged every day, then left the day after. Once they arrived at the Augria Sand Dunes, they slowly made their way through, taking breaks during the Sand Times, and also making ice towers to mark their progress in case they became lost. Partway through, Subaru became doubtful of Meili, who had joined him in the driver's seat with Julius, causing her to summon a giant Sunamimizu out of spite, yet ordered it to disappear a short while later as she mentioned that it was smelled terrible. Unbeknownst to them, Shaula destroyed the ice towers as they proceeded.

The group spent their first night in the sand dunes as braving the midnight Sand Time would be disastrous. Discussing their situation, Julius revealed that they weren't getting any closer to the tower for some unknown reason, prompting Anastasia to theorize that space between their current location and the tower was being distorted, essentially making them travel the same place over and over again. Subaru questioned her on a way to get through it, however she added that it was caused by the miasma in the area, but despite that she theorized that there would be an opening during a Sand Time, which they attempted to find the following day. Unfortunately, they spent several days looking for an opening, eventually succeeding in getting through a Sand Time, only to find themselves at the beginning of an Oiranguma flower meadow. The flower meadow was too large to avoid, forcing them to quietly make their way through while using Meili's ability to move the Demon Beasts out of their path. They succeeded in doing so until they had a brief moment of trouble with some of them, after which the Earth Dragon they rented at Mirula made a sound and stomped the ground, causing all of the Oiranguma in the vicinity to wake up. As they ran from them, Shaula attacked them from the tower, vaporizing everyone from the neck up, effectively killing them instantly.

Returning from death, Subaru realized that he had returned to the point where they had the brief moment of trouble with some of the Oiranguma, and attempted to warn the others about heading straight to the tower, though he was too late as the Earth Dragon repeated its behavior from his previous loop, forcing them to run from the Demon Beasts again. Fortunately he managed to convince the others thanks to Emilia's intervention, nonetheless as they changed their path the Sunamimizu Meili had summoned to aid them was split into two by some force, its body beginning to fall down onto them. Subaru, Beatrice, and Patrasche escaped being crushed by the body but realized that they had been separated, and subsequently Shaula began attacking them, with the three of them managing to avoid the attacks until Subaru and Beatrice were impaled by a needle and killed. Returning for the second time, he calmed the Earth Dragon using his Unseen Hand, then advised the others to retreat, succeeding in returning to the spot at the beginning of the flower meadow. After a discussion on what they were going to do, Subaru suggested using EMM to block attacks, however they were hit by a space distortion attack after some time, resulting in everyone getting separated. Subaru ended up being transported to the area underneath the sand dunes along with Ram, Anastasia, and Patrasche. As she watched them get swallowed by the attack, Shaula happily remarked that she had found him.

Regrouping together underground, the four of them decided to venture through the area, choosing the left path when they reached a fork in the path. While Ram and Anastasia chose the left path because they had a bad feeling, Subaru had a separate reason as to why he agreed with them, which he kept to himself, the reason being that he felt something inside of him get excited about the right path. A while later down the left path, they encountered a Gabaou, which promptly incinerated him along with the rest of his group when they tried to help him. Returning to the point where he found Ram, the group once again ventured through the underground, with Subaru attempting to take the right path this time around. Farther down the path, the high concentration of the witch's miasma started to affect them as they were near the witch's shrine, making Subaru and Ram get into an argument, causing him to strangle her once he knocked him off of Patrasche with his Unseen Hand. After she knocked him away with her Wing Magic, Anastasia tried to calm them down, though the situation quickly escalated into an all out fight between them, resulting in his victory. However, a crazed Patrasche, who had already killed Ram, attacked him, killing him by crushing his head with her jaw.

Returning for the second time, he was reminded of the previous loop the moment he saw Ram's face, causing him to feel nauseous. Ram helped him calm down and the group made their way through the underground for the third time, this time unanimously deciding to take the left path. Just like his first loop, the group encountered the Gabaou, though fortunately Shaula saved them during their fierce battle against the Demon Beast. Letting go of his consciousness, his mind visited the shadowy area he'd been to a couple times when he returned from death, and while there he saw hallucinations of Petelgeuse and Regulus, yet he ignored them to focus his attention on Satella, whose appearance was much clearer than before. As usual, she expressed her love for him before he returned from death. Subaru awoke to find himself in the Pleiades Watchtower, where he learned that everyone was all right from Beatrice, and at the moment Shaula arrived. She immediately hugged him, refusing to let go, earning him a kick from Emilia.

Eventually, everyone gathered to discuss the recent events, nonetheless Shaula refused to say anything, forcing Subaru to convince her to talk. Obediently obeying his order to talk, she confirmed that she was Shaula, however she revealed that she wasn't the Sage, which she added was the title of her master, whose name she claimed was Flugel, shocking everyone present. Hearing this, the group was doubtful that they would get any useful information on how to reverse the Authority's power, nevertheless Shaula began her explanation about the tower following Emilia's suggestion. She revealed that the underground floor that they were on was the sixth layer called Asterope, the ground floor fifth layer was called Celaeno, the fourth layer Alcyone, the third layer Taygeta, the second layer Electra, and the first layer was called Maia. Continuing with her explanation, she mentioned that Taygeta and above were trial rooms which needed to be cleared to access the corresponding library. On their way to the third floor, he questioned her as to why there wasn't Merope, to which she confirmed that there was indeed a zero layer called Merope, yet she refused to tell him about it as she claimed that he hadn't fulfilled the necessary conditions. He noted that there seemed to sorrow in her eyes and a new firmness in her voice, making him decide to not inquire any further about it.

During their way up the tower, Subaru and Ram visited the Green Room on Alcyone, a room that was covered in plants which was essentially one Spirit that tried to heal anyone inside. He noted that Patrasche was healing but Rem wasn't, making his renew his resolve to save her, and left the room to return to the others while Ram stayed behind to take care of Rem. Joining the others, the rest of the group made their way up to the third layer, Taygeta, to find themselves in a completely white space with a floating monolith right in front of the stairs they just climbed. The others told him to touch the monolith, and when he did the monolith shot out a massive amount of monoliths of varying sizes across the room that floated just like the original, then told everyone to "touch the brightest of the hero destroyed by Shaula", starting the trial. Not knowing what he needed to do, Subaru took Julius' advice, touching a random monolith to test it, resulting in him failing the trial and resetting it. The trial restarted the moment he touched the original monolith again, prompting Emilia and Beatrice to suggest for him to ask Shaula about it, though after he determined that it wasn't Reid, he left Beatrice and Julius to continue with their questioning, taking Emilia and Anastasia with him to investigate the monoliths. As they did so, Emilia noticed similarities between the trials they were taking in the tower and the trials at Echidna's Grave.

Soon after, Subaru realized what the answer was, but had Beatrice use Murak on him so he could look at the trial from above to make sure. His suspicions confirmed, he told the others that the key to the answer was "Orion", bringing up the tale of Orion and the Scorpion, adding that the monoliths, when viewed from above, created the shape of the constellation Orion. Taking this into consideration, the monolith he needed to touch would be either Betelgeuse or Rigel, leading him to pick Rigel as he had bad memories of a name similar to Betelgeuse. The moment he touched the "Rigel" monolith, the room was filled with light which transformed the surroundings into the Taygeta Library, showing that his answer was correct. Subaru noted that the trial would've been impossible to anyone that didn't know the constellations from his world, nevertheless he pushed the thought to the back of his mind as they checked out the library, finding books titled "Noah Libertas", "Libre Fermi", "Palma Eule", and "Coyote", making him come to the conclusion that the books were titled with people's names. While the group browsed through the library, Subaru incidentally found Typhon's book, and upon reading it, he saw portions of her past, however he was forced to have Emilia knock the book from his hands in order to completely bring his soul back from the book. Beatrice tried reading the book, causing him to try to prevent her from reading it out of worry, yet nothing happened. On the other side of the library, Julius, like Subaru, required Anastasia's help to return from the book he was reading, which was titled "Balroy Temegrif", containing the memories of a former general of the Vollachia Empire.

Hearing this, Subaru read the book to see if he could see the memories himself, but to his surprise nothing happened. At first Julius was reluctant to share information about the man, nonetheless he changed his mind following Subaru's words, apologizing for his earlier behavior. He then revealed that the man was currently dead, as he had killed him himself, and revealed that the man had been planning a coup while he, Reinhard, and Ferris were in Vollachia. Based on their experiences, Anastasia theorized that the books allowed people to see the past of people they personally knew, though it was limited to deceased people, pointing out to them that the Taygeta Library probably contained the books of every deceased person. Keeping that thought in mind, Subaru read Minerva's book next, nevertheless they still couldn't find a way to the next layer. They considered bringing in more people to help, but Anastasia was suspicious of Shaula based on her experience as a merchant, and when they questioned her, she guessed that Shaula had five secret rules when it came to protecting the tower. Coming to her own defense, she explained that she simply didn't mention anything about it since no one asked. Continuing on with her explanation, she revealed that she would kill them if they tried to leave the tower unless they reached the first layer's library, she would forbid them from violating the trial's rules, she would forbid them from disrespecting the libraries, she would forbid them from damaging the tower itself, and added that there wasn't a fifth one. Following their discussion, Emilia, based on the assumption that whoever made the tower was disobedient, suggested that the stairs to the second layer might be on the fourth or fifth layer, and true to her words, the group found the stairs in a newly created room on the fourth layer which was right next to the Green Room.

Before the group headed up the stairs, Subaru wondered if the stairs had been there in the first place, causing the others to recall that they had unconsciously avoided searching the room the stairs were in. Ascending the stairs soon after, the group arrived in a white room that looked exactly the same as the one on the layer below, making them question if they arrived at the correct layer. Fortunately, the room was different, as instead of a monolith, there was a sword stuck in center of the room. Subaru made his way to the center of the room, and upon grasping the sword, a voice told him that as a fool that arrived at the heavenly sword, he needed to obtain his forgiveness. As he looked to where the others were looking, he noticed that a man with long red hair had appeared, who kept on repeating what the voice said. Hearing a sound from behind him, he saw that Shaula seemed to be afraid of the person. However, after repeating the phrase a couple times, the man suddenly started screaming, causing the frightened Shaula to latch onto Subaru. This made him accidentally let go of the sword, and she subsequently lost consciousness. Picking up the sword Subaru dropped, Julius confronted the man, who stopped screaming to survey his surroundings. Following a brief talk, the man noticed that they were in the white room, then told Julius to try and move him from his position if he wanted to get him to talk, later introducing himself as a simple "stick swinger".

Before their battle, Julius threw the trial's sword to the man for him to use, however he rejected his offer, kicking the sword back past the knight. The fight began with Julius' attack, though the man effortlessly stopped it with a pair of chopsticks, then kicked him away, following up by repeatedly attacking him with a chopstick in both hands. Seeing this, Anastasia tried to help by using Jiwald, but to her surprise the man easily cut through the magic with a chopstick. She tried increasing the amount of Jiwald she cast, causing him to drop down to the floor with Julius, then drag the knight along the ground by placing the tips on his solar plexus, all the while taunting her to aim properly. Eventually, Anastasia's body reached its limit, prompting Julius to try to force his way over to her. At first the man was happy that Julius was taking it seriously, nonetheless he began mocking the knight when he began to disappoint him, labelling him as an ugly failure. Agitated by his words, Julius was unable to stop the man as he broke his sword in two and punched him, sending him flying over to where Anastasia was.

As he looked around to find his next opponent, Emilia activated Ice Brand Arts: Icicle Line, creating a barrier of ice particles around the man, and confronted him. She pointed out that he'd been running around despite mentioning to Julius to try and move him, to which he answered that he only said that as a part of the mood and wasn't serious about it. Regardless, she tried negotiating with him to keep his original promise, and, after thinking about it for a while, agreed to make it her win if she managed to move from his position. Using Icicle Line, she formed countless numbers of weapons around him, which she launched all at once, but he easily destroyed them with his chopsticks. Noticing that the barrage of weapons had no effect, she attacked him herself with a huge battleax, though like the ice weapons he easily dealt with her, deflecting her attack down onto the floor. Not giving up, she used the various weapons formed through Icicle Line to attack him again and again, nevertheless they also proved to be ineffective. She soon missed an attack, forcing her to take a step back as recoil, and the man took the opportunity to attack by stroking her breasts with his chopsticks from below. With him distracted by her breasts, she took the opportunity to smash her ice glove covered fists down on his head, making him flail around in pain. He quickly became angry with her, demanding to know why she didn't get embarrassed by having her breasts stroked, then directed that anger to Subaru, telling him to do his job properly as her attendant. Despite this, he admitted his defeat, but only to Emilia, as she was the only one so far that was able to move him.

As Subaru began despairing over the fact that there was no way the rest of the group could win, Beatrice pointed out that Emilia had said "our win", meaning that Emilia's win counted as the whole group's win. The man protested their reasoning, mentioning that he "woke up" since he didn't like being at the beck and call of the trial, leading Subaru to realize that the trial had changed because of him "waking up" to its current conditions. At that point, Meili suggested for them to retreat for the time being, and the man agreed, stating that he had gotten bored and would "close shop" for now.

Back on the fourth layer, the group discussed their situation with Ram. While they did so, the topic shifted to Julius and Anastasia, causing Beatrice to inform him that Anastasia's gate couldn't absorb mana just like Subaru's own, which meant that she needed to use od to use magic. He wondered why Echidna would risk Anastasia's life to save Julius but decided to forget about it to think about the trial. The group began to wonder who the long haired man was, as Ram had pointed out that there were only three others that were around Reinhard's level: Cecilus Segmunt of Vollachia, the "Crazed Prince" of Gusteko, and "Admirer" Halibel of Kararagi, though none of them looked like the man in question. Fortunately for them, Shaula soon woke up, and with Ram's help, they succeeded in getting her to reveal that the man was Reid Astrea, however she also mentioned that her master had informed her that Reid had died. Immediately, the group returned to the Green Room to come up with a strategy with Julius, nevertheless they were surprised when they saw that Julius' bed was empty. The knight himself had gone back to the second layer to challenge Reid for a second time, and upon hearing Julius name himself again, Reid told him that he couldn't even hope to be his playmate as long as he kept using his boring title.

Since his sword had been destroyed in their previous battle, Julius used the trial's sword. He attempted to fight like usual, nonetheless it proved to be of no use, and eventually Reid became tired of his antics, deciding to finish him off with a sword strike. As the attack hit him, he heard Subaru yelling his name, making him wonder if he still deserved to be referred to by his name. Noticing Subaru, Reid turned his attention to him, but became irritated when he was referred to by name as he thought it was cooler to not name himself. Keeping his gaze on him, Subaru rushed over to where Julius was, and began carrying him down the stairs. As Julius regained consciousness partway through, they began discussing Reid, at which point Julius revealed that Reid fought Satella when he was older. Subaru recalled that Reid didn't recognize Shaula, making him wonder if the man above was from before he met her. Soon after, Julius forced himself off of Subaru's back, claiming that he could walk by himself. Nevertheless, Subaru, who thought of Julius' loss as the same as his own back in the castle, in addition to not wanting to leave him alone like what he'd been through, talked him into helping him down the stairs. The two were then found by Emilia a little over ten minutes later.

Taking him to the Green Room, Emilia ordered Julius to stay put and rest, and Subaru had Patrasche watch him in case he tried to escape, though the knight himself stated that he would obediently rest. Joining up with Ram who was outside, they headed to a room to discuss their options again with the others. They asked Shaula for Reid's weakness, though unfortunately their discussion didn't get anywhere. Seeing them desperately trying to think of way to pass the trial, Shaula mentioned that it was fine if they took it slowly, as she would wait as long as she needed to, just like how she waited for hundreds of years for Flugel to come back.