It was already dark. Darkness engulfed the entire slums area of the royal capital and one could barely see a meter in front of you without any source of light
Holding a magical lamp in his hand to light up their surroundings, Subaru stood next to Emilia in front of a large wooden building, looking around the area. They came here after being guided by some people from the slums - this building was supposed to be Old Man Rom's loot house.
"Why do I have to pay money to get back something stolen from me?" Emilia asked with a puzzled expression.
"... Well, at any rate, leave this one to me," said Subaru, looking at the building. "I'll negotiate with him."
"... Okay," said Emilia, looking at Subaru. "Then I'll leave it to you, Subaru."
"You agreed to that awfully easily…" Subaru said, looking at Emilia. "With the way you've been acting, I thought you'd say:"
Subaru suddenly mimicked a high-pitched girly voice, saying: "~Leave this to a useless boy like you? Hihi, that's so ridiculous, I'm laughing my head off!~"
"And I'd be hurd, but still make up my mind to help you anyway," Subaru finished, saying seriously.
"I wouldn't say something so mean," Emilia replied slightly indignantly. "... Of course, I'd be lying if I said you haven't been holding me back, Subaru."
"Ha! So it would be a lie?!" Subaru yelled out.
"But… I'll try believing in you." In truth, Emilia did not want to bring Subaru to this dangerous-looking location, since he was just an ordinary little boy with no strength, but he was so confident and hell-bent on helping her that in this situation she could not help but want to trust him and give him a chance.
Subaru looked at Emilia with a surprised look. "Oh."
"If it actually goes well, I'll consider it a bonus," Emilia said with an angelic voice.
"If you'd look up at me and say," Subaru said and then clutched his hand and mimicked a girly voice again, saying and blinking excessively: "~Do your best for me!~"
"Then I'd feel a lot more motivated," Subaru finished normally.
Emilia raised her hand, saying, "I can't force myself to say something like that. But…" After a moment, she smiled gently and said, "Do your best."
Subaru looked at Emilia's angelic face for a while, before smiling. "Yeah. I will! I'll go in first. You stay outside and keep watch. It won't be back home too late, but you can have dinner without me."
"Don't say silly things like that. Be careful," said Emilia.
"Sure, sure," Subaru said lightly as he approached the doors to the loot house. "Don't come in until I say it's okay, Satella."
Subaru then glanced at Emilia only to see a stunned expression on her face.
They looked at each other for a while.
"What?" Subaru asked in confusion.
"Nothing," Emilia stuttered. "Never mind." She gently smiled, saying, "If you can get my insignia back, I'll apologize."
A while later, Subaru entered the door and walked in, lightly muttering, "Sorry to intrude."
Searching around the loot house, Subaru saw all kinds of various items stored around the room. Walking around, at one point he was utterly shocked and terrified as he noticed a giant man's corpse.
A while later, Subaru's stomach was slashed wide open and he dropped to the floor, bleeding out.
…
In the distance, Mordred was focused on watching the loot house. Thanks to his superman senses it wasn't difficult for him to see in the night with only a fraction of the light that was coming from the moon, his green eyes shining like a cat's.
Subaru went inside.
'I feel that someone strong is inside the building. It must be Elsa,' Mordred thought to himself, watching. 'Now Emilia entered after Subaru. What should I do? Well, let's see what happens first.'
…
Subaru lied on the floor of the loot house with a wound on his stomach in terrible pain, bleeding out to death, being unable to even move.
He then heard the door open and someone walk in. He heard an angelic voice: "Subaru? Subaru?"
It was Satella! With this thought, Subaru desperately tried to warn the girl to not come over, however, he was unable to.
Suddenly his eyes opened wide as he watched the half-elf girl get slashed and drop to the ground unmoving next to him.
Satella wasn't moving, laying in a pool of blood.
-Dead. She was dead?
Subaru stared in shock looking at the dead girl. He moved his hand with difficulty, placing it over Satella's and squeezing it with emotion.
Feeling at the edge of death, he barely managed to mutter, "I'll definitely…"
'Save you.' Subaru didn't manage to finish. His world went dark.
…
Time gradually passed.
On the outside of the building, Mordred wrinkled his eyebrows, thinking, 'Quite some time has already passed. Subaru and Emilia should be dead by now. Why didn't I loop?'
'...'
'...'
'No way, don't tell me that Subaru's Return by Death doesn't affect me and we have separate ones. Or does Subaru even have one?! Do I only have it? Then what about Subaru? Isn't he the one the Witch obsesses over? Or are Emilia and Subaru still alive?'
After a while, having made up his mind, Mordred summoned Clarent and started silently sprinting at superhuman speed through the darkness toward the loot house to check it out.
Unless he was fighting someone with red or white hair, or voiced by Dio, he was not afraid.
Apparently Mordred also had some kind of Return by Death, so perhaps he wouldn't even die if he wanted to.
"Ara ara, it seems like we have an unexpected guest," a charming voice sounded out as a tall beautiful woman in a black dress walked out of the loot house with a smile. She walked with grace, alternating her long legs.
Elsa Granhiert. She was certainly beautiful in person, inhumanly so. Her black dress barely covered her body and was tightly wrapping around her body, showing her curvy and sexy figure. A black cape over her back only made her look more exotic.
Her long lustrous black-gren hair trailed down to her back; the left part was tied and curled into a braid.
"Elsa," Mordred said in a low voice, standing not far from the building. Elsa's deranged and erotic look on her face put him slightly on edge.
"Oh my, so you even know my name?" Elsa asked charmingly, her face full of surprise. Elegantly waving her hands with her daggers, she said, "Have we met somewhere? I'm pretty sure I would have remembered someone as cute as you."
Elsa sent Mordred a flirtatious look and then smiled widely, adding: "That, or, I have emptied the stomach of someone you know."
"Neither really, you're just a little famous, Bowel Hunter," Mordred responded nonchalantly. He smiled, saying, "I have to say that you're even more stunning in person than the rumors say."
Elsa raised her eyebrows, surprised by Mordred's displayed confidence. She smiled in overflowing amusement and joy, saying, "Oh, what a sweet talker you are, boy. If you only learn how to hide your bloodlust and fear, you will surely make a killing with the ladies one day."
Elsa waved her daggers, saying, "But I'm curious. What do the rumors say about my looks? I always make sure to leave no survivors."
Mordred raised his eyebrows, feeling a little speechless.
Smiling widely, Elsa said, "Anyway. Since you already know my name, can you please tell me yours before I disembowel you?"
"My name? Sure, my name is Mordred. But sorry to disappoint - my stomach has a strict no-disembowel policy," he said, moving his hand in denial, while not leaving his eyes from Elsa.
Elsa smiled deeply in amusement, saying, "Is that so? Then I suppose I have no choice but to be a little forceful. Yes, I have no choice indeed. I already planned to disappear, but after seeing you, ~Mordred~, I really can't resist it and need to have a good look at your bowels."
Mordred's gaze hardened as he watched Elsa take a very slow step toward him with a smile that seemed to overflow with deranged joy, her cheeks burning red.
Perhaps Mordred should be in a hurry to check on Emilia and everything else, and not chit-chat with Elsa, but since Emilia was likely already dead and Mordred was very likely to reset the loop anyway (through killing either Subaru or dying himself), he decided to take this chance to have a nice battle with Elsa, not feeling that pressed for time.
Puck would start his rampage once Emilia dies, but then he would first kill Subaru near him and only then Mordred, so the world would reset either way. Furthermore, Reinhard was also nearby, and in case of need Mordred felt that he could escape from Puck before the Beast of the End gets serious.
This fight with Elsa was an incredible opportunity for him!
If his Return by Death works as it should be, then Mordred is able to revive after each defeat in a serious battle anyway, which would allow him to amass countless life-and-death battle experiences. At one point, his senses and combat proficiency would reach a frightening level that no one could possibly ever hope to match!
Once again, Mordred was incredibly grateful to Satella for this opportunity. Perhaps compared to Reinhard, Dragon Volcanica or some of the Witches he was still vastly inferior, he still had incredible potential to reach a frightening level.
With a flash of crimson light, heavy armor appeared all over Mordred's body; a solid helmet also protected his entire head.
Elsa raised her eyebrows upon seeing the sudden change. Moving her blades gracefully, she said charmingly, "Oh my! How interesting. What a splendid set of armor."
Reading a stance and holding Clarent with both hands for a while, he said, "Come!"
Elsa smiled. "As you wish. Please, do entertain me!"
She pulled out a dagger and flared it, before beginning to dash at Mordred.
Meanwhile Mordred held his sword in a battle ready stance, his gaze cold as he prepared his attack.
'On the very first blow Elsa will definitely greatly underestimate me with her character, especially since I'm a nobody with no reputation. In the anime she even allowed herself to get kicked by Reinhard the Sword Saint on the first probing move. This will be my chance to deal a heavy injury to her,' Mordred thought.
As Elsa approached, Mordred poured as much magical energy into his body as possible. When the distance shortened, he ignored defense and instead explosively launched a horizontal cut that he practiced with his full strength and speed, pumping magical energy into the movement.
Elsa's eyes flashed with surprise as she hurriedly bent to avoid the strike while also attempting to block Mordred's blade at the side with her dagger.
However, it was useless.
Mordred's Clarent slashed deep into Elsa's waist from the side, going all the way through and cutting her in half!
MOVE!
Not a moment later, an instinct told Mordred to move.
Crrrgh!
Elsa's dagger slashed across Mordred's vambrace. Even though Elsa was cut in half, she still sent a counter-attack at the same time.
Mordred hurriedly retreated a step. Looking down, he saw Elsa's upper and lower body laying on the ground in separate parts.
Elsa looked at Mordred with eyes wide open, before her face suddenly flashed with a deranged joyful grin.
Mordred quickly took a step forward, sent his leg out and kicked off Elsa's lower body away before she had a chance to merge with it, sending it flying.
Seeing that, Elsa pushed off her upper body with her arms and launched herself back, flying through the air a few meters. Her hips and legs miraculously regenerated before she landed on all fours.
Elsa stared at Mordred with an orgasmic joy on her face.
"Aaaah! How lovely!" Elsa laughed. "Going right for someone's stomach all of a sudden, you're not very nice."
Mordred clicked his tongue. "Tsk. You're one to talk."
He frowned behind the mask. At this moment, as Elsa's lower body was regenerated from nothing, she didn't have anything covering her lower parts. 'So she shaves? Or is it a vampire thing to have no body hair or something? No, she isn't a vampire but a curse doll...'
"Where are you looking?" Elsa asked innocently, tilting her head and crossing her legs.
"Oi, it's not my fault!" Mordred snorted, completely forgetting that his helmet was hiding his entire face. He thought of something and said, "Anyway, is making you lose your panties enough to chase you away maybe?"
"I'm afraid not." Elsa chuckled with a joyful smile, blushing. "In fact, right now I only want to gut you more, ~Mordred-o~."