The moment they stared at each other lasted only a few seconds, but to Subaru, it felt like hours.

Rem’s eyes, which seemed devoid of reason, suddenly regained emotion after a fleeting blink.

“—Sister and Subaru-kun?”

Hearing her surprised tone, Subaru let out a sigh of relief, and as Ram stirred in his arms and opened her eyes…

“Ah, Rem, I was worried! You shouldn’t act on your own like that.”

“I’m sorry, Onee-sama. Rem was desperate to do something…”

“You didn’t have to push yourself so hard, I found a way! If we use Balus here as bait, it’ll be perfect!”

“Oh! I see! That’s brilliant! Rem is moved to tears!”

The twin sisters rushed toward each other, grasping hands and communicating with unprecedented synchrony. With their eyes filled with expectation, Subaru felt his heart thump in his chest.

“Well, leave it to me! I’ll be the best bait of the century!”

““Kyaa, wonderful! A man worthy of Emilia-sama!!””

Cheered on by the two, Subaru puffed out his chest in pride.

With this, the long loop of hardships came to an end, and illuminated by hope, Natsuki Subaru began to walk the path of glory――.

※※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※

“That was the ideal scenario, but…”

Subaru let out a pitiful voice, gradually backing away as he dismissed that fanciful development.

In front of him, Rem’s eyes, now locked on him, showed no sign of the warm emotions from his daydream, only an overwhelming, pitch-black killing intent.

There was no doubt that she was in no condition for a conversation.

Each droplet of sweat felt as heavy as lead. The weight of the sweat pooling on his eyelids threatened to obscure his vision, so Subaru blinked one eye at a time to withstand it.

Blinking both eyes at once would only create an opening for a painful outcome, and he had enough of those encounters with the Beast.

—Realizing that he was viewing Rem as an enemy at this point made Subaru bitterly smile. What on earth had compelled him to rush into such a situation?

“Rem-chan, it’s your friend, Subaru-kun!”

Unintentionally switching gears to lighten his growing wariness, Subaru put on a cheerful tone to break the silence.

In stark contrast to his amiable greeting, Rem’s response was,

“Don’t look at me with those heated eyes; you’ll burn me.”

Her tone was so sharp that it seemed one could hear the sound it made as she fixed her gaze on him.

Until then, she had been surveying her surroundings cautiously, but it was clear that she had now locked her focus entirely on him. He might have made a mistake.

The bloodcurdling aura emanating from Rem was tremendous.

Drenched in the blood of the beasts and soaked in dark red and bright crimson hues from the freshly spilt blood, her familiar maid uniform was a ghastly sight. Something about her ripped sleeves unveiled a white arm where greenish veins writhed, and her claws were as sharp as those of a Beast.

The “self-defense” iron ball hanging from her right arm was a testament to her skill in battle, and it only added to her menacing aura.

He could state with certainty:

He was maintaining a semblance of calm thanks to his anticipation of Rem’s actions, but if he encountered her in an alley at night, he would undoubtedly soil himself in terror.

Amidst the madness, the white horn extending from Rem’s forehead alone remained untouched, as if it were blissfully ignorant of the horrific scenery around her.

It was the most symbolic feature that transformed Rem into a fearsome “Demon,” but its pristine beauty seemed confusingly out of place to Subaru.

However, the scene didn’t seem to care about his feelings at all.

Looking around, he noticed the scattered beasts that had fallen into the ravine; they too kept their distance under rocks and trees, observing them closely.

They were likely gauging Subaru and Rem’s movements. If those beasts deemed it easy prey, it was easy to imagine they would join the fray again.

With Subaru standing at the bottom of the power balance, the beasts joining in would spell certain doom for him. This made Rem’s next move all the more critical.

Taking a breath, he closed his eyes for a moment, then looked squarely back at Rem.

He focused intently on her gaze, trying to catch even the slightest fluctuation of emotion.

And then,

“Onee-sama…”

It was a wavering, exhausted voice.

Yet it resonated clearly, vibrating against Subaru’s eardrums.

Trembling lips, filled with hesitation, as Rem fixed her gaze unwaveringly upon Ram’s profile. There, he could see a genuine and positive emotion, and Subaru was filled with admiration.

Despite being engulfed in a primal rage, her consciousness had clearly recognized the figure of the sister she cherished dearly.

“You truly are the epitome of a siscon. I’m so glad we could reunite. From here on…”

“Let it go.”

The moment Subaru was cut off, a fist-sized iron ball came flying through the air.

It was nothing short of miraculous that he managed to tilt his body to the right in time.

The cut on his right calf had just slightly compromised his stance, allowing him to dodge.

The spikes of the passing iron ball grazed his left shoulder, unleashing a searing pain that boiled through his brain.

Shaking under the agony, he had no time to focus on it.

Stepping diagonally forward, he shouted,

“That freaking hurts!!”

Whirling around from the shoulder that bled, Subaru quickly sidestepped beneath the chain of the iron ball. Almost instantly, the chain slammed down in the exact spot he had just occupied, etching a pattern of a metal serpent into the ground.

Had he delayed even a moment in dodging, his back would surely have burst apart like the earth.

The thought of that pain sent a chill down his spine, and Subaru desperately looked back at Rem.

However, her expression remained unchanged. Her gaze, soaked in hostility, remained distant and devoid of sanity.

“So, while it’s great that you became a Demon, you can’t keep it under control…”

Subaru speculated based on Rem’s current behavior.

If that was the case, the issue lay in figuring out the difference compared to last night. Rem must have undergone the same transformation last night, but at that point, she had instantly regained her sanity.

The problem could be time elapsed, or perhaps some shocking visuals had triggered her state.

If Subaru protecting himself from an assault led to such an impact… then,

“Want to try taking a hit from that iron ball? It’ll turn you into mince meat…”

If it were under the same conditions as last night, surely she would return to herself.

Though he’d be turned into ground beef.

“What’s the next best option…? Get totally ravaged by those mutts.”

If he threw himself to the ground, the beasts hiding behind the rocks would undoubtedly rush him, thinking “What, a free meal!” But that would certainly lead to Rem not being able to look past him. It would likely turn into a disastrous chain reaction.

At worst, it could even lead to Rem abandoning him entirely—the words “a wasted life” came to mind.

Giving in to his pessimistic thoughts, it truly felt like he had no options left.

Rams consciousness seemed far away, and despite his efforts to rouse her, it didn’t seem to be yielding results.

And neither Rem nor the lurking Urgalm would wait for that.

Sweeping his tongue along the sweat dripping down his face, Subaru wet his lips and decided to try a common technique for interacting with someone who had lost their mind. Simply put, he was scraping the bottom of the barrel for options.

So, he’d do what he does best—

“Hey, Rem. I know you’re not quite yourself right now. But listen! I’m your buddy, Subaru-kun! Remember those crazy days three days ago when I was all hyped up about laundry? I was like, ‘oh man!!’”

He tried to rapidly spin the conversation around through emotional recall, only to be interrupted immediately by the short-tempered Rem.

The iron ball came swirling in, obliterating trees in its wake, and Subaru barely managed to roll forward to dodge it. The chain swept past, and while he aimed to dodge while holding Ram, he elegantly hopped, stepped, and jumped to evade.

He turned back to exclaim,

“Dude! You can’t just murder someone mid-sentence! Show some manners!? I’d love to see your family’s faces… oh, here they are!”

“Return my Onee-sama…!”

As he yelled down at Ram cradled in his arms, Rem leaned forward softly, then suddenly drew back the iron ball she had thrown. Using the recoil to spin sharply, she…

“—!”

Landed a powerful spinning kick right into the torso of the beast that jumped up behind her—an explosive sound echoed as the Urgalm crashed down, maimed beyond recognition.

This was the aftermath of the earlier ambush.

When the beasts had attempted a wave assault, they froze at the grisly sight of their comrade’s death.

In other words, they had completely exposed their bellies to the hunter.

The horizontal strike shattered the bellies and heads of two staggering beasts. With not a thought given to the flying pieces of flesh, Rem stepped forward. Crushing the front legs of the already cowering beast, she kicked up its snout with her other foot—an unmistakable crack reverberated as the beast’s neck twisted at an unnatural angle and shattered.

Continuing, Rem leapt right into the fray of the last beast, seized it by the scruff of its neck, and casually hurled it into the air.

As it soared in a parabolic arc, the mewling of the beast echoed until it suddenly ceased, ending with the sound of it hitting the ground like a fruit splattering.

A massacre followed by another massacre. Slaughter upon slaughter. Death amidst death.

In response to the horrors unfolding before him, Subaru found himself utterly devoid of words.

The disparity between their strengths was essentially child’s play. The biological hierarchy was different. There could be a competition for clout between a “Demon” and a “Beast,” but there was no contest when it came to absolute strength.

Nonetheless, Subaru found it difficult to fathom why the beasts dared to challenge the unyielding “Demon.” They trembled in fear, howled in despair before death, and mourned their fallen comrades, yet they never sought to escape.

Perhaps this reckless charge was precisely what led them to be labeled as “beasts”—creatures birthed by the Witch, deemed external foes to humanity.

Witnessing this reckless engagement—essentially, a suicidal charge—caused a fleeting doubt to flicker within Subaru.

The overwhelmingly brutal Rem laid waste to the horde of beasts.

The thought crossed his mind that the might she displayed hadn’t been fully unleashed during her previous attacks against him.

Not that he was bragging, but Subaru was fairly confident in his physical abilities.

He could execute flips and somersaults with ease, and his agility surpassed the national average.

Yet, when comparing his physical prowess to the beasts living wild, he doubted he surpassed them in speed, explosive power, or endurance. He could potentially beat them in a direct strength contest, though recalling times he had been floored by brute force, he wouldn’t wholeheartedly agree.

With such disappointing self-assessment weighing down on him, the display of Rem’s devastation before him was beyond what he could conceive of countering.

A strike capable of reducing the beasts to mince, Subaru most definitely wouldn’t escape it either. Yet here he was, having miraculously returned from death twice—this paradox made him clutch at thin threads of hope.

“Even if she loses her cool, that means she still recognizes Ram’s presence…”

Looking down at the girl taking ragged breaths in his arms, he gently brushed aside her bangs.

The iron balls aimed at him had all been lethal. But looking at it from another angle, it also indicated a conscious decision to avoid harming him.

Since he was cradling Ram, Rem was evidently holding back in her attacks against him.

Therefore, the ferocity directed toward the beasts and the intensity of her strikes aimed at Subaru differed immensely.

As soon as he reached that conclusion, Subaru held his breath in surprise.

If that assumption were correct, there was a chance of making it through.

—This seemingly grim situation might allow him to cross an old, worn-out bridge just before its collapse.

“For that to happen—”

Subaru glanced around.

The current positions at the ravine placed Subaru at the center. To the north stood Rem with her back against the cliff, while the Urgalm surrounded them from the east and west.

To the beasts, both Subaru and Rem were equal prey; however, the situation implied that Rem was the more immediate threat. Although she was also paying attention to Subaru, her focus was largely on the approaching beasts.

Yet if Rem could focus on rescuing Ram, it wasn’t difficult to imagine her targeting Subaru should the number of beasts hindering her diminish.

With that in mind, there was only one action Subaru could take.

Resolute, he widened his stance, inhaled deeply, and fixed his gaze on Rem.

—Step forward, man. Courage above all, charm on the ladies.

“So don’t look scary; smile, Rem. —I’m ’bout to die…”

A sudden halt of the world ensued, followed by a cacophony engulfed by the dense black fog.

Even bracing himself for searing pain couldn’t prepare him for the agony that followed, especially since it wasn’t just one hand—a second hand appeared.

Had he grown accustomed to the sensation of his right arm, he now found it violating his chest as if it quantified two large palms.

One hand caressed his heart, and the other tenderly brushed against Subaru’s cheek as if it cherished him. —The horror surged, immediately followed by a wave of trembling pain.

Cutter and agony—!

The world flipped upside down, and everything within him felt like it was going through a blender. He was more distasteful to himself than he had ever been. An unrecognizable disquiet overtook him. While his nerves boiled over with an overwhelming sensation, simultaneously, the warmth of the gentle palm lightened his spirit, convincing him he could transcend these feelings because he already understood something even more profound—.

“I’m back…”

His vision wavered. His soul felt as if it were fraying. Nothing of the pain or suffering he had retained made it back with him.

Time seemed to have ceased. Before him, the standoff between Rem and the Urgalm continued in full swing—yet the instant Subaru returned, the atmosphere shifted dramatically.

As if an enormous presence had interrupted their confrontation, the gazes of both Rem and the horde of Urgalm honed in on him.

Just as he had intended, the oppressive aura of the Witch enveloping him grew stronger, prompting their attention.

—Rem roared.

Howling, she sought to reclaim her beloved sister from the enemy, radiating the scent of the dreaded witch.

—The Urgalm collectively unleashed their howls.

Drawn by the familiar scent wafting through the forests, they called all their kinfolk to converge.

—Subaru also howled.

He narrowly avoided the claws of a pouncing beast, dodging a lethal iron ball by the barest margins, igniting the flames of his determination.

※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※

The chaos commenced.

Demons, beasts, ordinary folk—Subaru, situated at the heart of this unnatural upheaval, continued to dance on the precipice of disaster.

His movements were deceptively simple.

Maintain a close, yet safe distance from escalating combat while evading oncoming sparks of danger—just that.

Before him, one beast was pulverized by an iron ball, becoming little more than a stain on the rock. Undeterred by their fallen kin, the beasts organized into tuples of three and charged at Rem, aiming to injure her. But their shallow strategies fell short, as they were met by a swift counter, and one by one, they became victims to her deadly grace.

Out of the corner of his eye, Subaru managed to gather Ram, who was sliding off his grip, and leapt backward. He barely evaded the beast lunging towards him and found himself within Rem’s attack range.

Just then, Rem noticed his approach and prepared a counterattack. He ducked under the iron handle thrust toward him, gracefully avoided the chain that came later, and the iron ball passed overhead, blooming a crimson flower atop the head of a beast that had charged toward him.

Confirming his escape, he tossed aside all thoughts of dignity and crawled across the ground like a cockroach. The beast pursuing him blocked Rem’s way, and he successfully extracted himself from the fray.

Maintaining a safe distance, Subaru admired his own judgment with a sigh of relief.

“—Hah! Turns out, I can hold my own pretty well.”

Desperately hopping to avoid the biting hounds, he shoved them onto the maid girl, escaping as she scolded him, looking more irked than furious.

Though saying he wanted to die would reduce it to mere foolishness, his thoughts twisted into the ironclad resolve of not dying made the absurdity somehow more appealing in his mind.

Currently, Subaru’s envisioned plan was unfolding well. Whether in stalling or in reducing the number of Urgalm, the situation was starting to turn in their favor.

Glancing upward, he sensed the familiar aura of beasts converging from various angles toward the base of the ravine.

Subaru’s scent had spread extensively through the forests, tugging the beasts’ instincts with its sweetness. It was a sinful notion.

Thus, he felt a fleeting ember of hope igniting.

Even if the situation remained unchanged, that spark of optimism had flared into existence.

“—Huh?”

Then it struck.

A new pack of Urgalm stormed into the ravine, throwing themselves into the deadly dance with Rem. In the blink of an eye, Subaru prepared to evade but felt a dizzying sensation crashing through his stance.

His knees buckled, nearly toppling him forward. Instantly, he turned to shield Ram in his arms, losing his balance on the injured shoulder and slamming into the ground. A groan buried in the thick mist escaped his throat, muffled by the pain.

But what dominated his mind above all else was—

“That chilling sensation—”

An abnormal cold settled deep within his core.

After taking so many risks to engage in dealings that were nothing but dangerous, this sudden chill was a spurious interruption.

The more he gathered numbers, the more perilous it became. The foreboding presence in front of him was too overwhelming that if the beasts needed to gain an edge, invoking the curse he withheld might easily leap to their minds as an option.

Looking around, any of the Urgalm present could have triggered the curse aimed at Subaru, but scanning yielded no signs of the cursed beasts. More so, he couldn’t even begin to fathom how one wound up under its effects prior.

And having grown weary to the point where raising a single finger felt exhausting, even finding the source of the curse would offer little hope of stopping it.

“…Is this the end?”

After getting thus far, would all be rendered useless?

The increasingly piercing chill drained Subaru’s consciousness. No matter how hard he reached out, he only grasped empty air.

Abruptly, a claxon of thunder resonated and jolted him back into his faculties.

With clearing vision, he scanned for the sound’s origin and found Rem pounding against the ground, hammering an iron ball into the earth while standing atop a fallen Urgalm, its corpse shattered beneath the impact.

Realizing the surge of vitality through his body linked back to that moment, Subaru stood tall.

The Urgalm that Rem had completely crushed was the very beast that had enacted the curse upon him. With its demise, the curse abruptly ceased.

Given such unbelievable luck, Subaru found himself exhilarated—.

“That’s ridiculous.”

Just a moment ago, Rem had stood far from that spot.

She’d entirely ignored the other beasts while barreling past, her intent fixated solely on one target.

Rushing through everything to charge at them, she had taken on wounds from the beasts’ claws aiming to finish him off and pinpointed the one responsible for the curse, ending it.

He understood what this meant, regardless of the madness she’d displayed.

Even in this mindless state, she never mistook Subaru for someone else. Despite lacking knowledge of why he had jumped into the fray, her mission to save her sister remained at the forefront of her mind.

“In that case…”

Subaru rubbed his eyes awake, determining his next action.

Instead of exploiting Rem through this deception, he ought to honor her original purpose. Simply put,

“The ideal scenario: the two maid sisters, Rem and Ram, on a thrilling joint mission against curses!”

That was the key to their escape, the foundation to surviving this curse-ridden predicament.

For that reason, he had to restore Rem back to herself. He needed not the Demon but the polite, impulsive one who was prone to making hasty decisions and loved creating chaos.

“—Horn!”

All of a sudden, a voice soared sharply through the air.

Looking down, he caught Ram instinctively stirring awake, her hazy consciousness parting as her lips moved.

“Have you regained your senses?”

“I thought it was the best timing…”

“Ah, you called something special, huh?”

With a small chuckle directed at Ram, Subaru half-declared with bravado, half-jokingly. She responded with a slight dip of her brow.

“The horn turning Rem into a Demon… If you can land one powerful hit on it… she’ll return to normal.”

“Are you sure?”

“I believe so… I really hope so.”

“That seems pretty vaguely sure!? But, I’ll trust you!”

With Subaru’s energetic declaration, he turned his attention to Rem.

Emerging from her forehead, the white horn stood about ten centimeters long. Just picture a pack protruding from her forehead; that size should be about right.

—All that was left was a single strike.

“Doesn’t that seem impossible?”

“Channel your wisdom and courage and make it happen.”

“Finding a clever and brave path is indeed possible, but—”

Subaru grinned sheepishly as Ram raised her brows in surprise.

“Still, pretty sure you’d be mad about it.”

“If it brings my sister back to normal, I wouldn’t be mad at all.”

“Really?”

“As true as it can be.”

“Swear it on Roswaal?”

“…You’re reckless to throw that out there. Yes, I swear it on Roswaal.”

Ram declared womanly seriousness, inspiring Subaru to duly respect her words.

With that, Rem gradually turned to face their direction.

Despite the core of her consciousness drifting their way, her vigilance remained sharp, directed outward at the Urgalm.

In response to that full-scope readiness, Subaru set his own plan into motion to strike at the horn.

He prepared to achieve his goal,

“Here we gooo, that’s it!”

Twisting his body, he poised to launch Ram toward Rem.

Presumably caught off guard, her shocked face floated through the air, colliding with Rem. Even in her beast state, Rem must have been bewildered by this, but as soon as she realized it was her defenseless sister flying through, she swiftly relinquished the iron ball to catch her.

With agile precision, Rem wrapped her bloodied arms around her sister, and in that moment, a wave of warmth washed over the destructive aura clouding her expression.

—To ensure that he could match their moment together, Subaru launched himself at that instant.

As he thrust Ram through the air, he propelled himself forward, weaving neatly under Rem’s guard while she focused on Ram.

Scuttling close, he drew his sword, aiming squarely at the horn perched above Rem’s head. The perfect timing sliced through the air.

At this point in time, even the marvelous Rem remained unresponsive to such a ploy—however,

“—Ah”

The sword missed the target slightly, the edge caught just shy of the impressive tip due to a particularly bold advance.

The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity slipped from Subaru’s grasp, leaving him flabbergasted,

“I totally choked! If only I’d been just a little braver!!”

The miss sent him spinning around awkwardly.

Just as he turned away, at the edge of his vision, he saw Rem’s left hand positioned dramatically, piercing through the proximity with deadly intent. It aimed straight at him—if she thrust it forward, Subaru would be reduced to mere embers.

To be taken down by Rem’s hand again—Subaru bit his lip in frustration.

At that moment, the ground shook violently as an explosion rent the earth, sending dirt flying in a torrent and launching Subaru high into the air.

“Whoa!?”

He ricocheted off the ground, having received cuts and bruises from the debris, feeling agony surge through every fiber of his being as he soared, catching the reason for his current exasperation in his sight.

The explosion that had erupted sprung from the south of Subaru’s location, igniting from a trampled pup-sized beast hiding in the underbrush. This troublemaker had been tracking the moment that Subaru and Rem would be in perfect alignment.

Presuming they could eliminate both targets, it aimed to unleash its magic, skillfully deploying an earth-shifting blast.

But that ploy failed miserably.

“—!!”

Roaring, Rem charged straight ahead, soaring into the chaos as she countered the blast.

As the newly-born landslide threatened to engulf them, her force met it head-on, negating its effect and only ruffling her azure hair slightly.

A direct confrontation against magic with sheer violence—while not simple, it was a method close to demolishing magical spells functionally.

Cradling her sister carefully, Rem stepped aside to evade the magical recoil. —Forgetting entirely that Subaru was just below her outstretched neck.

The world spun out of control in erratic tumblings, far from ordinary clarity.

Yet in his right hand, his sword remained firmly gripped, and by chance, the area he landed happened to be more soil-structured than rocky.

And there lay Rem’s vulnerable head above him.

No other moment could suffice; this was it—Subaru swung his sword high overhead and began to charge powerfully.

Perhaps this was pure coincidence stacked on more coincidence; perhaps he could barely reach it.

Hail to the whims of convenience and divine interventions that occasionally paved the way.

—It was a shame the last opportunity hadn’t presented itself earlier.

Bitter irony twisted on his lips. Time was pressing; just inches away, the world slowed down, Rem remained in position.

As the horn came into view, he hefted his sword back, unleashing all his pent-up force.

“Smile, Rem. —Today, I’m more of a demon than a Demon!”

The gleaming blade was released, zipping straight for the white horn like a shooting star, slicing through the air with purpose――.

The high-pitched clash of metal echoed strikingly through the Forest of Magical Beasts.

Almost immediately after, came Subaru’s comical wail at his own fumbled landing as he failed to stick the landing.