Re:ZERO; Ram:IF (Original)

Chapter 24: Sinking

CANON ARC 5 SPOILERS IN THIS CHAPTER

Sitting in the familiar village once again, Subaru ran thoughts through his head. Right after being violently stomped by Regulus, he knew that this opponent was no joke and had to come up with a plan in order to defeat him. Thinking of possibilities, the thought of Reinhard came up to his mind.

“Apparently, Regulus is doing something that blocks all attacks on him... Maybe this is some sort of magic? Can Reinhard stop him?” He sat in thought as he was soon interrupted by the familiar voice. “Subaru, what’s wrong?” Emilia spoke to the stunned Subaru with a worried tone in her voice.

Coming back to his senses, Subaru awoke back to his checkpoint. He saw the remains of Lye once again, turning to Emilia as he spoke. “I think we should get Reinhard...” Emilia stood with a confused look on her face. “What for?” 

Emilia was confused at Subaru’s sudden request, seeing as they had just defeated Lye. “I don’t think we will be able to defeat the Sin Archbishop of Greed.” Subaru’s explanation only made Emilia more confused. “Why should we be worrying about the SIn Archbishop of Greed? We just defeated Lye, and we don't know the current location of-”

Emilia was cut off by Beatrice who was approaching the two. “What makes you say that, I suppose?” Subaru looked to his left and saw the familiar girl with drill pigtails approaching him. “I think this greed guy has a way to block all attacks sent at him...” 

“Quit being so worried Barusu, it’s pathetic.” Ram scoffed at Subaru from a distance. “Oh would you just shut up already?!” Subaru could tell Ram was trying to hide her feelings and show a tough front toward everyone else present. However, Subaru was the only one who knew how she truly felt under her words.

Subaru pointed at Frederica, who was peeking out of a nearby building she was hiding in during the battle. “I need you to go tell Otto to go get Reinhard.” Frederica stepped out of the building as she quickly nodded. “Right away.” She started walking toward the area the carriage was last seen. Subaru followed her, ready to explain everything he needed to.

“If you say so Mister Natsuki..” Otto hesitantly agreed to Subaru’s request. Frederica then spoke. “I’ll go along with you.” Otto showed a small expression of surprise as he responded. “H-huh? Y-you don’t need to, it’s fi-” Otto was trying to stop Frederica from going with him, however, she insisted.

“I must make sure nobody gets hurt.” Otto sat, thinking for a lil as he muttered in response. “If you say so...” Frederica nodded and smiled. She stepped into the back of the carriage as Otto whipped the land dragon to start moving. As they disappeared into the distance, Subaru walked back to the abandoned city, where all the others were.

The sun started to set, painting a twilight glow across the sky. At the moment being, it was quiet and peaceful. Subaru then remembered that Regulus would be appearing soon after they killed Lye, so he rushed back to the small village to meet with the others.

Making it back, he was glad to see that Regulus had not appeared yet. Looking at the small group of people, he put his hand up and signaled them to gather around him. Once everyone was present, Subaru explained. “I have a bad feeling that the Sin Archbishop of Greed will be showing up soon… No, I’m sure of it. I want everyone to try their best to not anger him.”

Rem speaks from the gathered people. “But what if he attacks any of us, especially sister and you?” This of course was a possibility, considering Subaru could say something that could agitate him even more without him knowing. As he thought about this, he reassured her. “That's why we have to try our hardest not to anger him, let's be civil with him and buy as much time as possi-”