Re:ZERO; Ram:IF (Original)

Chapter 34: Eternal Sleep

Regulus stares at Reinhard with a massive grin on his face just after the group escapes back to the hotel.

"Do you really think you can defeat me?" Regulus says, poking fun at Reinhard.

"Let's finish this, shall we?" Reinhard let out a small sigh before dashing toward him.

With a raised fist, he launched the attack toward Regulus. However, his fist couldn't feel Regulus at all. Regulus stood unfazed by the attack, his clothes were spotless, with not even a single scratch on them at all. Reinhard quickly shook his head, dashing toward another direction and hitting him from a different angle, which unfortunately yielded the same result.

"Huh?" Reinhard questioned the bizarreness of the situation in his mind. A large cloud of gravel appeared in the air, launching toward Reinhard. He swiftly dodged the attack and attempted to punch Regulus once more. However, no result was shown. Regulus jumps back with a disgusted expression on his face.

"What is this?" Reinhard took a moment to think. Regulus was not taking a singular hit, it was almost as if he was invincible. He wouldn't even flinch at Reinhard's incredibly fast attacks. This, of course, was a bizarre situation for Reinhard.

"This will be a troublesome battle..." Reinhard thought.

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"Barusu!"

The pink-haired girl slapped the resting boy, in hopes to shock him awake. After multiple attempts, she came to no avail.

Seeing as they were back at the hotel, the girl put him in bed, hoping he would wake up soon. The boy laid on the bed, his eyes shut tight. Two hours had passed since Reinhard and Regulus were left to fight on their own accord, yet the boy had still not awoken.

Suddenly, she heard a knock on the door. The pink-haired girl turned around to see her twin sister standing before the scene at the doorway.

"Where's Subaru?" Rem asks

Before Ram could respond, Rem looked to her left to see him still asleep, in bed. Understandably, Rem had a worried expression on her face. She slowly approached the bed. She observed Subaru, who did not make a move. His eyes were held shut, breathing in and out at a slow, uneven pace.

"It has been two hours since he's gone unconscious..." Rem thinks to herself, looking down at Subaru. She pulls up a chair, sitting by him along with her sister. Once again, another knock comes from the door. A short, cream-haired girl steps into the room and begins speaking.

"What is this, I suppose?" Beatrice notices the two girls sitting by her contractor with melancholic expressions on their faces. She approaches the sleeping boy, as the saddening mood in the room fell onto her.

"Subaru..."

She spoke in a pained tone, tears swelling up in her eyes. She grabbed his hand gently, letting a couple of her tears roll down her cheeks.

"It seems he won't be waking up soon, in fact." Beatrice gently sobs, challenging Ram and Rem to hold back their tears.

Subaru meant a lot toward his group of friends, to the point where they could be considered family. They had been through thick and thin, only making them grow closer and closer together. This is why the three were heartbroken to learn he was in a coma.

Emilia knocks on the door and quickly speaks. "Subar-" She quickly stops her speaking as soon as she notices the three in the room accompanying him. "Huh? What happened?" She spoke in a worried tone. Now walking into the room, she notices Beatrice with tears rolling down her cheeks, along with Ram and Rem looking away from the depressing scene.

Emilia took a moment to process what was occurring, and came to the realization rather quickly. "----" she was left speechless.

Emilia checks Subaru's pulse just to at least confirm he's still alive, and sure enough he is.

A very slight relief washed over her, but there is still the problem of when he would wake up, if he ever did. A sudden whimper came from her left, turning to see Rem's face flowing with tears like a waterfall. Loud sobs were let out by her, as Beatrice used her magic to close the door.

No longer holding back her emotion, Beatrice let out her short sobs. Emilia stepped back, tears welling up in her eyes from the emotion welling up in the room. Her back hit the wall, staring at the comatosed Subaru. Her fists clenched in emotion, she gritted her teeth as the tears also began to fall from her eyes.

Ram looked down at her love, with a hand over his arm. She shut her eyes, letting out tears. The room's silence became softened by the sobs of the four reacting to the tragic event that happened to Subaru.

"Barusu..." Ram's thought echoed in her mind.

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"Gah! Fucker! quit jumping up and down!"

Regulus expressed his rage to Reinhard, who only returned it with more fighting, in an attempt to somehow bypass Regulus's impeccable barrier that rendered him invincible. At this point, the fight virtually went nowhere. Reinhard was still unable to harm the Sin Archbishop in any possible way, it was only wearing him out.

In a fit of rage, a large wave of gravel was sent toward buildings, sending them crumbling down.

Reinhard began to dash around Regulus in hopes to confuse him. To Regulus, he would have been equally as weak as Subaru. However, Reinhard's speed was too fast to keep up with. Approaching from all directions, it was impossible to tell where and when he would be attacking.

"You fucker, what in the world areee---!?"

Regulus spoke out his frustration once again. He was interrupted by a hasty response by Reinhard.

"I am but a knight to the Royal Candidate, Miss Felt. Please be sure to give her all your support."

"---!"

Even if this was a joke, it infuriated Regulus. Being overconfident, he yet again responded to Reinhard's loop attacks at inhuman speed.

"The one to prevail will be me, can you not understand? Although I have no clue how well you've been doing with this violent power that can only think of oppressing others; someone like you, whose happiness is built upon the sacrifice of others, will be stopped here! With this power, how many people's lives have you trampled upon? That greed of yours truly is despicable."

Regulus spoke with sheer hatred in his voice.

The fight continued, with the same tactics being used again and again, to no avail. How would Reinhard be able to defeat Regulus with his invincibility?

Reinhard attempted another blow, only to end up with no result. They both jumped back, and stood face to face staring at each other. Footsteps were heard to the left of them. They both turned their heads to see a knight, with purple hair and golden pupils, and his knight sword. Reinhard gave a small smile to the man, as Regulus' face showed more frustration.

"Sorry I couldn't make it here earlier."

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"W-where am I? It's cold..."

Subaru sat in a white void. He looked around frantically for any signs of life, but was only met with white. He soon lost track of his original direction, as a small feeling of nausea rose in him. Soon enough, his vision met with a familiar scene.

"---"

He sat in front of a desk in a dimly lit room. The familiar scent flooded into his nose, along with the study materials that were laid across the desk.

"The mansion?"

To be continued...

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With Subaru in a coma, he is unable to assist in the battle against the Sin Archbishops any longer. Reinhard and Regulus continue their fight, but to no avail. Julius makes an appearance to assist Reinhard in defeating Regulus. However, what could Subaru be doing in the Mathers mansion? Chapter 35 of Ram:IF coming soon!