Re:Zero Light Novel Volume 9/Synopsis

Volume 9
Returning from his death, Subaru realized that he had returned to the point where he had his meeting with the Petelgeuse attack group, quickly getting his mind straight when the others began worrying about him. Going through the meeting once more, he explained the basics behind Petelgeuse's Authority based on experience, then headed off with the group to Roswaal's land. The group arrived as planned, with Wilhelm visiting the mansion to alert Emilia, and had her evacuate in a Dragon Carriage with the village children. A short while later, Subaru confronted the disguised Witch Cult members in the group of merchants he hired, preventing them from contacting the others through a Conversing Mirror Meteor. Two of the three members tried to fight back, however all three of them were incapacitated by Wilhelm, Julius, and Ferris, allowing Subaru to interrogate them. He began interrogating them after Ferris "encouraged" them a little with his Water Magic, nonetheless he was unable to get any worthwhile information out of them, as they apparently didn't know anything more than what they were told.

Turning his attention away from them, he tried fiddling with the Meteor, accidentally undoing the magic on them, helping Julius determine where the Meteor was connected to, which he deduced were two places; one was a place in the forest to the west and the other was at a place a short while away. Seeing that the Meteor had been compromised, the incapacitated Witch Cult members tried to attack them, forcing Wilhelm to kill Ketty and Ferris to incapacitate the other two even further. Sensing an opportunity, Subaru asked Ferris to use his Water Magic to control one of the members to give false information to the others, subsequently having the Fang of Iron members to go off and clear them out. When the Fang of Iron members returned to report on the results, he was shocked to see that Otto was with them, who they found captured by the Witch Cult. Otto explained that he had tried to reach the village first to make sure he got a part of deal, though unfortunately he had been captured by the Witch Cult on the way there, and finishing his tale, was horrified to learn that he had missed out on the opportunity. To add on to his misery, he was ordered to stay in the village, as they couldn't risk letting him escape if he was a spy.

Once their preparations were complete, Subaru visited Petelgeuse in front of his cave, pretending to be a supporter of their ideals in order to infiltrate them. He was a little worried asking about the trial, as the last time he did so Petelgeuse asked him to present his gospel book, nevertheless this time around the madman obliged, revealing to him that he was commencing with the trial in order to determine if Emilia was a worthy vessel for Satella. Subaru expressed his disgust at the thought but made sure to keep his Witch Cult persona in front of Petelgeuse, yet he asked him to present his gospel book, which he avoid by successfully talking him into accepting him regardless. Leaving the gospel matter aside for the time being, Petelgeuse asked him if he had taken in Witch Genes, thinking he was pride, but at that moment the Conversing Mirror Meteor in his pocket activated, causing him to turn his attention away from Subaru. Taking advantage of his confusion as to why someone other than his subordinates had the other Meteor, Subaru landed a hate filled punch straight to his face, sending him flying off to the side. Petelgeuse was confused at first, though he quickly regained his composure, attempting to kill Subaru with his Unseen Hands, and was shocked to see that he could see them. Realizing that almost all of his fingers had all been killed, he began thinking about what could've happened, coming to the conclusion that he could just use the remaining finger and their group in the cave to overwhelm him with numbers, nonetheless his hopes were dashed when Mimi and Tivey collapsed the cave with their attack.

Not understanding the situation, Petelgeuse referred to his gospel, coming to the conclusion that Subaru was pride based on his actions, however he rejected his answer, stating that he was Natsuki Subaru, the Half Elf Emilia's knight, prompting Petelgeuse to declare that he was going to kill him. The three immediately started running as the madman began throwing things at them with his Unseen Hands while being carried by several others, and soon after both Mimi and Tivey were hit by the black wave caused by his Authority, forcing Subaru to carry them to Patrasche. Riding on Patrasche, the three of them ended up at the place where Subaru had committed suicide before, where they were joined by Julius. Leaving the two incapacitated siblings on Patrasche, Subaru agreed to fight with Julius against Petelgeuse, who appeared at that moment from the forest, intent on crushing them with a massive amount of Unseen Hands. To his surprise, Julius cut them all down with a sword strike imbued with the power of his Spirits, with Subaru explaining that Julius was seeing what he was seeing through Nect. Julius continued to fight against the Unseen Hands with his imbued sword while relying on Subaru's vision, causing Petelgeuse to attempt to get rid of him first, forcing him to fall back and protect him, subsequently returning to his fight.

Eventually, Julius managed to get rid of all of the currently deployed Unseen Hands at once, creating an opening for him to aim an attack straight at Petelgeuse, who used Ur Dona to create earth walls to try to protect himself. Subaru destroyed the wall in front of Julius with a fire magic stone, allowing Julius to impale Petelgeuse against another earth wall with his imbued sword, nevertheless the man himself wasn't that concerned about losing his body as he could take over Subaru's body. Just as he undid Nect, the madman took over Subaru's body, which he claimed was a good vessel for him. He tried to attack Julius, however Ferris incapacitated Subaru's body with his Water Magic, preventing him from using his Authority while Julius had Patrasche escape with the siblings. Petelgeuse refused to accept his defeat, stating that he was dedicating everything to Satella, prompting Subaru to let him meet the witch herself by mentioning his Returns by Death. Immediately, their consciousness was pulled into the shadowy area where Satella was waiting. Petelgeuse was excited that he was meeting with the witch, nonetheless she wasn't happy at all, stating that he wasn't "that person", and started to become angry, forcing him out of Subaru's body. As he disappeared, she began expressing her love for Subaru over and over again. Returning to his original body, Petelgeuse couldn't understand why the witch rejected him, and began retreating to the rock face to escape from Julius. Not having any energy left, he let out one last Unseen Hand that eventually destroyed the rock face above him, causing the rocks to fall down onto him and crush him to death. Confirming that he was dead, Subaru told Petelgeuse that he had been slothful.

Reflecting on his battle against Petelgeuse, Subaru noticed his gospel on the ground, picking it up to discuss it with Crusch or Roswaal later. As there was nothing left to do, the group returned to the village, where Ferris informed them that the Witch Cult members they captured had revealed that a separate group was keeping watch over Lifaus Highway. At that moment, Otto spoke up, telling the others that since the merchants were evacuating the villagers, they needed to unload their goods first, however he couldn't find what the dead Ketty had been carrying, which was a massive amount of fire magic stones that could potentially obliterate seven to eight Dragon Carriages.

The group considered their use against Emilia and the villagers, though they agreed that the Witch Cult members wouldn't be using it as Petelgeuse had already planned an ambush, nevertheless Subaru was still worried for their safety, prompting Otto to promise to take him as fast as he could to Emilia and the villagers if he promised to give him an audience with Roswaal. He agreed to the deal without hesitating, and Julius lent them his Fire Spirit, Ia, to detect the fire magic stones. Chasing after the merchants' Dragon Carriages as fast as possible, Subaru spotted Petelgeuse pursuing them using his Unseen Hands to forcibly move his dead body, intent on claiming Subaru's body once again. Not having any other way of fighting back, Subaru threw a pot of Otto's oil at the madman, then used Ia's power to set it on fire, creating an explosion that hit him straight on.

Despite this, Petelgeuse forced his seriously damaged remains to their Dragon Carriage with an Unseen Hand, stating that he would kill Subaru as he was a dangerous threat to the Witch Cult. Expecting this to happen, Subaru threw Petelgeuse's gospel book, causing him to use an Unseen Hand to catch it, yet as the book was outside of the Divine Protection of Wind Evasion's effect area, it was hit by powerful wind resistance, forcing Petelgeuse to fall back from the force of the wind. Subaru followed up by delivering a punch straight through his face, knocking him off of the Dragon Carriage, but as a portion of his robe was stuck on the carriage, Petelgeuse's body was dragged along the ground. The friction began to break his body apart, nonetheless he still refused to give up, prompting Subaru to write "the end" underneath the last entry in the gospel book with his own blood, and at that moment Petelgeuse's robe ripped free from the carriage. Unfortunately for him, his robe got tangled up in the carriage's wheel, dragging him underneath the carriage where he was crushed to death for the second time, this time for good.

A short while away, Wilhelm and the knights that had gone along with the evacuees to protect them had the Dragon Carriages stop for a moment in order to get off, then sent them on their way. As the Dragon Carriages left, Pack informed Emilia that Wilhelm's group was fighting a group twice their size. Turning her attention away from the battle, she tried to comfort the children, only to learn that Subaru had come to the village when they accidentally let it slip. Subaru and Otto caught up with them soon after, and immediately had Ia check for any fire magic stones, finding a hemp sack full of them under a floorboard. He managed to remove it with Pack's help, taking it with him on Patrasche, and placed it inside the Hakugei's remains through a wound, then hid on the other side of the collapsed Flugel's Tree as the fire magic stones exploded. Surviving the explosion, he fell asleep out of exhaustion just as Emilia reached him.

Falling asleep, his consciousness was pulled into the shadow world again. Satella began expressing her love for him again, though this time Emilia's voice reached him from the real world, pulling his consciousness from the shadowy world, but not before he promised Satella that he would meet her himself next time, to which she told him that she would be waiting. Waking up from the shadowy world, he realized that he was being given a lap pillow by Emilia, who informed him that he'd been sleeping for four or five hours, giving the others enough time to regroup with them. While the others were busy doing whatever they were doing, Subaru took the opportunity to apologize for everything, admitting that he hadn't been doing it for her sake but rather "for himself who was helping her". When she asked him why he was willing to help her, he answered that it was because he loved her. Not believing what he said, she reminded him of all her faults, nevertheless he told her that he would always stand by her and love her no matter what, as that was how he was going to give her special treatment. A while later, Subaru and Emilia headed to the capital in the Dragon Carriage with the children, and during the trip there, he tried telling her about Rem, however to his surprise she asked him who Rem was.

On their way back from the battle with the Hakugei, Crusch's group had been attacked by a mysterious man clad in white. Not knowing who the man responsible for destroying the first dragon carriage was, Crusch ordered a different Dragon Carriage to run the man over, yet to her surprise, when the second the Earth Dragon, driver, and carriage touched him they were ripped apart. Shocked by the outcome, she ordered him to state his name, which he ignored and continued on with his self serving speech. After being warned and still refusing to give them his name, Crusch unleashed her One Strike One Hundred Felled Sword Strike, but to her shock, the man stood unharmed. Crusch's actions angered the man, claiming that it was "a violation of his rights to speak", which resulted in him returning hostility and ripping Crusch's left arm cleanly off with a gust of wind created by swinging his arm. As they wondered where the others were, they heard a different voice filled with madness and bliss. Rem saw, to her horror, that the owner of the voice had wiped out the rest of the knights, and both of their assailants named themselves and the Witch Cult's Sin Archbishops of Greed (Regulus Corneas) and Gluttony (Lye Batenkaitos). Lye revealed that he came to check the situation as he felt that his pet had been killed, continuing on with his philosophy about eating, which confused Regulus who was unable to understand how one cannot hold his cravings in check. Seeing that he was the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony, Rem asked him if he came to take back the Hakugei's head, to which he replied that he didn't really care, and revealed that he was much more interested in eating the people that killed it and experienced all those positive emotions of the aforementioned soldiers who defeated the Great Demon Beast. Rem decided to fight them in her exhausted condition, though she made the fatal mistake of naming herself before fighting Lye, leading to her being swiftly eaten by the aforementioned Sin Archbishop of Gluttony.

Upon reaching the capital, Subaru discovered the comatose Rem, and was called to the lounge by an amnesic Crusch, whose arm had been reconnected to her body by Ferris, where they began their meeting. Subaru and the members of the Petelgeuse attack group learned that Crusch's group had been attacked by two Sin Archbishops, and by the time the members of the Fang of Iron returned with knights from the capital, both of them had left, leaving behind a mess of dead bodies and amnesic or comatose people. After an explanation of the Witch Cult, with Wilhelm adding that Satella was sealed in a shrine watched over by the Sage Flugel, Ferris suggested to get rid of their alliance, pointing out that their continued association would cause the Witch Cult to direct attacks at them in addition to the Emilia Camp. This led to an argument between him and Wilhelm, eventually coming to the decision that they would put the alliance talks on hold until they could go over it with Roswaal. Once the meeting was finished, Subaru had a short talk with Wilhelm. Showing Subaru the wound near his left shoulder, he revealed that it was a wound given to him through the Divine Protection of Shinigami by his late wife, then added that since his wound reopened, he needed to keep on fighting against the Witch Cult to determine why it did, as only his wife's presence could do so. Leaving him behind, he returned to Rem's room to find Pack there, who explained the basic functions of the Authority of Gluttony to him, making him recall that he had committed suicide earlier in an attempt to go back and save her. Knowing that he couldn't use Returns by Death to save her, he promised to save her by defeating gluttony.