Subaru dove into Felt at about hip level, and while hugging her light body tumbled across the ground. Just before he hit the ground, he felt something metal scrape across the back of his head, which made all his hair stand on end.

But, feeling the weight of the person in his arms, he did his absolute best to ignore it and kept rolling to put as much distance as possible from where they were before.

When at last Subaru looked back, standing on his knees, Elsa was staring back at him in surprise. Feeling as though he had pulled one over on Elsa, Subaru couldn\'t help but smile back, awkwardly but proudly.

"Are you all right?!" he said to Felt. "I was desperate there, so if I accidentally touched somewhere I shouldn\'t have, please forgive me, okay?!"

"If you hadn\'t said that I would have thanked you like normal! …But why?"

"I don\'t know! My body moved on its own. If I had to give a reason…well, you don\'t know about this, but with this now we\'re totally even, okay? Remember that! We\'re even now!" said Subaru, clenching his fist after he let Felt go.

The second time around, Felt had saved Subaru from Elsa\'s blade. That memory didn\'t mean anything in the world this time around, but with this he was able to repay his debt.

Subaru thought that even so, his debts should be returned, so nothing about what he needed to do before had changed.

"Listen here, Felt. Right now I\'m going to do the same sort of thing as Rom did before he was knocked out to help stall for time. When that happens I\'ll be sure to open up a window for you, so I want you to use that opportunity to run out of here as fast as you can. You got it?"

"What?! No! Are you telling me to just turn tail and flee?!" said Felt, glaring up at Subaru with her red eyes. But Subaru just got closer and stared right back at her. As he did so, he was sure not to miss the moment when Felt looked as though she was scared at what Subaru was trying to say.

"Yes. That\'s what I\'m telling you to do. Turn tail and flee. To be honest, that\'s exactly what I want to do right now. I don\'t want to stay another second in this violent space," Subaru said, patting Felt roughly on her head. As Felt started to say, "But…" Subaru interrupted her and continued.

"You\'re fifteen and I\'m seventeen. Out of all of us, you\'re probably the youngest one here. So it\'s the right thing to do to give you the highest possibility of getting out of here alive. It\'s what\'s only natural."

"D-don\'t give me that… You were just shaking yourself a minute ago!"

"That was then, this is now! I\'m not shaking now, so it\'s okay! Really, before I remember and start shaking I\'ve got to do this now. Okay? So get ready to run!"

Subaru put his hand on Felt\'s forehead as she looked as though she was going to object again, and then pulled himself to his feet. Not far away on the ground was Rom\'s club. It looked really heavy, but Subaru thought he would still be able to swing it.

As Emilia continued to shoot barrages of ice at Elsa, there was not a sign of dullness in her movements as she danced to avoid the shots. In the first place, Subaru wasn\'t really sure if he, faced with a superhuman like Elsa with absolutely no real fighting experience himself, could open up a window for Felt to run. All that he could do was wordlessly spring a surprise attack on her when she wasn\'t paying attention to him.

So right after Elsa had swung her knife and shattered a large icicle, and Subaru was completely in one of her blind spots, Subaru sprang forward at her, forgetting even to breathe, and swung the club down on her. Perhaps Subaru\'s adrenaline had finally kicked in, because the speed of his swing was far faster than he had imagined it would be. It sliced through the air toward the back of her head, and…

"You picked the right moment and angle to target me, but unfortunately I could have sensed your intent to kill a mile away."

"Intent to kill?! I have no idea how I\'m supposed to hide that!"

In order to block the swing that came directly behind her, Elsa struck the club with the blunt edge of her blade, changing the course of the swing enough for it to miss its mark. However, at that very instant Subaru opened his mouth wide, with his teeth bȧrėd, and yelled.

"Now, Felt! Run!!"

"!!"

Like a spring Felt launched her small body onto the wind and raced forward. She was going so fast that Subaru couldn\'t keep track of her with hiseyes, and the girl, now turned to wind, rushed to the exit.

"Do you really think I\'d let you go?"

To stop Felt, Elsa took another knife out of her brėȧst pocket and threw it toward Felt. As if it were a symbol of payback from what Felt did before, the simple undecorated knife flew straight at her back. However…

"Too bad, but I wanna let her go!"

Subaru kicked the round table that was beside him upward, which collided with the knife and sent it off course.

"Man, I\'m awesome! That was awesome! Wow, my toe hurts more than I thought it was going to! Uwah?!"

Maybe it was Subaru\'s adrenaline again, or some power that had awakened in him that failed to activate the last two times, but as Elsa\'s long leg came up and kicked him in the side of the head and sent him flying, his self congratulations were cut short.

He was hit so hard the world seemed to spin around, and together with the onset of pain and taste of blood in his mouth, Subaru threw up.

"That\'s the first time in a long time someone\'s made me actually a little bit angry."

"Well, that\'s something I\'m happy to hear! Ha-ha! Serves you right! I let one of us get away!!"

Subaru stood back up and pretended to be in better shape than he was, doing his best to continue drawing Elsa\'s attention.

As if Elsa had read Subaru\'s mind, she smiled at him, and forgot about Felt for the time being.

"Fine, if that\'s what you want, I\'ll pay attention to you. Your dancing had better not bore me."

"I\'m going to go ahead and warn you, but if you\'re going to dance with me, you\'d better be careful. I haven\'t learned a thing about dancing so I\'ll be sure to step all over your feet," said Subaru, spitting out the blood that had risen in

his mouth. He readjusted his grip on the club that was still in his hands. It wasn\'t as though Subaru was going to have very many chances to land a hit, so he used everything he had to focus on striking Elsa as she rushed toward him.

From such a low height that it looked as though she was crawling on the ground, Elsa slid toward Subaru. As he kept his eyes on the dull glint of her blade, Subaru swung the club with all his might.

Subaru\'s swing held nothing back; he was prepared to beat Elsa to death. But Elsa just ducked even farther, like it was nothing, and was so low it looked as though she was ŀɨċkɨnġ the ground.

"You spider-woman!!"

"Well, I suppose it\'s correct to say that you\'re tangled in my web."

As Subaru saw Elsa\'s sword rising upward, Subaru quickly threw his body back. However, he still couldn\'t pull out of the striking range of her sword.

Fear raced up Subaru\'s spine, and without thinking he kicked up his knee. Even though he hadn\'t meant to aim his knee anywhere, as Elsa was right in front of him, it landed straight in her stomach. The path of the blade shifted a little, and then right in that path came a bluish white light, followed by a high-pitched sound.

"An ice shield! Nice cover!"

"I\'m not good at making those at a distance. I could have accidentally frozen someone!"

"Her, right?! You mean her, right?!" replied Subaru, with a mix of jest in his thanks.

Even if the fight didn\'t is three again one but might as well said it two again one, Elsa look very bored and she can dodge any attack that comes toward her with ease.

"I\'ve started to grow tired of you little buzzing insect. …I think it\'s about time I wrap this up."

If Elsa really wanted to, it was clear that she could quickly take care of

Subaru, like she did Rom. The only reason it appeared that they were on equal

footing was because Elsa would not divert her full attention to him. Elsa\'s

caution was instead directed to the possibility that the spirit Puck would appear

again. That was enough to keep the current situation holding.

Another reason that Elsa didn\'t act was because Subaru\'s cowardice was

holding him a step back. He was taking care not to put himself in range of

lethal danger. If Subaru had been a brave idiot, she would have cut him down

and the balance would have shifted. However, it didn\'t look as though Subaru\'s

cowardice would serve him much longer.

As Elsa\'s counterattacks grew more severe, Subaru\'s retreats weren\'t

making it in time, and he was getting slight cuts all over himself.

few slight cuts to his neck, and as those injuries increased, Subaru\'s gray

tracksuit began to be stained with blood.

"Damn, it hurts! Argh!! How about this?!"

Even though the pain was enough to bring him to tears, Subaru swung a

kick, trying to do something new to catch Elsa off guard.

However…

"I\'ll just take that," said Elsa.

"…Damn."

Elsa had easily avoided Subaru\'s kick and to top it all off, she had easily

grabbed his leg. Elsa raised her kukri, aiming to lop off the whole leg. With the

strength of Elsa\'s swing, its speed, and the sharpness of the blade, Subaru knew

what would happen next. His leg would be cut off at the thɨġh and he would die

from shock as the loss of blood and pain overwhelmed him. Subaru could just

see the words BAD END 4 rising up in front of his eyes.

I shouldn\'t have done that! Subaru\'s thoughts screamed.

He tried to raise the club to block, but with the handicap he was facing, with

one leg held in the air, he wouldn\'t make it in time.

Not-Satella screamed. The cut would mercilessly reach his leg in moments.

As Subaru thought of the pain and spilling of blood it would bring a scream

rose in his throat, the blood he would vomit when…

"That\'s enough."

A flame appeared, burning through the roof from the center of the loot

cellar. The flame was filled with a ghastly malice that swept through the room, and stopped even Elsa in her tracks.

Subaru\'s leg released, he hopped back before falling down. Right before

his eyes, in the middle of a rising pillar of smoke, he saw a red, burning,

shining figure.

"That was close. I\'m glad I made it in time. Now…"

"Y-you\'re…"

The flame wavered and stepped forward. Its very existence was enough to make Subaru, Emilia, Rem and Elsa all freeze.

Taking in the gazes from everyone present, without being shaken one bit, stood an absolute sense of will. With sky-blue eyes shining with a pure sense of justice, the young man smiled faintly.

"I think it\'s time to draw the curtain on this performance!" the hero declared, brushing back his red hair.

"…Reinhard?"

"That is correct, Subaru. I suppose it hasn\'t been too long since we\'ve last met. I\'m sorry I\'m late."

The red-haired young man Reinhard turned to face Subaru, who was still toppled over on the ground, with a slight apologetic smile.

Even as Reinhard wiped the dust from his sleeve, every motion seemed trained and deliberate. The way Reinhard carried himself was different from when Subaru first encountered him in the alley with Dumb, Dumber, and Dumbest, and as Subaru watched him, he thought he was now seeing a glimpse of Reinhard\'s true self.

Without letting his guard down for a moment, Reinhard looked ahead, and turned his eyes toward the black-clothed beauty who was now focusing her animosity toward him. Reinhard\'s blue eyes narrowed, as if he were remembering something.

"Black hair and black clothes, and your weapon is the bent blade particular to the northern countries. With all of those characteristics aligned, there\'s no mistaking it. You are the \'Bowel Hunter,\' aren\'t you?"

"What\'s with that super-violent-sounding alias…?" muttered Subaru.

"It\'s an alias given to her based on the way she kills. She\'s well-known in the capital to be a dangerous individual. However, from what I hear she appears to be more of a mercenary," replied Reinhard faithfully in response to Subaru\'s rhetorical question as he trained his clear eyes on Elsa.

"Reinhard. Ah, yes. The knight among knights…and of the \'Sword Saint\' lineage. Well, that\'s amazing. I never thought I\'d meet such an enjoyable opponent. I\'ll have to thank my employer now for giving this job, now won\'t I?"

"There are many things I would like to ask you. I recommend you surrender, however…"

"Would you say to a starving predator as it stands before its wounded prey, a perfect specimen and already dripping blood, to bear its hunger and move on?"

Elsa licked her thin red lips ėrȯtɨċally with a look of ecstasy in her case as she stared at Reinhard.

"I see." Reinhard responded, scratching at the side of his cheek as though he wished there was another way.

"Subaru, I\'m going to have to ask you to get farther away, and please take that elderly man with you out of harm\'s way. After that, if you could stay beside that two girl it would help me a lot."

"That woman\'s quite the monster, so don\'t let your guard down, all right?"

"Fortunately, you could say that fighting monsters is my specialty," said Reinhard confidently, and walked forward without any sign that he was preparing himself for battle.

Reinhard did not even reach for the sword at his waist, but continued on empty-handed.

After a sharp intake of breath, the kukri in Elsa\'s hand flew forward, in a flash, toward Reinhard\'s neck.

Unlike when Subaru was her opponent, there was no sign that Elsa was holding back as she made her silver strike, and it seemed to kill the very air as it raced toward Reinhard\'s slender neck.

Yet Reinhard was completely defenseless. Not only did he not make any move to defend himself, he didn\'t even make a move to dodge the attack. Subaru could already picture Reinhard\'s head flying off his body.

However…

"I don\'t really want to be violent against a woman, but…" said Reinhard, starting off in a gentlemanly way, but Subaru thought that the tone of his voice had dropped.

"…you\'ll have to excuse me."

Reinhard planted one foot down, the pressure behind it fracturing the ground beneath him, and with the other leg launched a kick so strong it created a shock wave as it collided with Elsa and sent her body flying. The back blast was strong enough for Subaru to feel it where he stood. He was speechless.

All it was, was an ordinary forward kick, but the air pressure it caused was enough to create a wind that shook the entire building.

Elsa, who took the hit head-on, was blown away like a leaf. However, she was able to reduce the damage taken by springing off the walls to kill the force of impact with her legs. Still, when she looked up, you could see the look of shock on her face.

"No, no, no, no, no. There\'s no way. You\'re kidding me, right? ….Just what the hell was that?"

Subaru had described certain things as being "on a totally different scale" several times before in his life, and it was at this very moment that he realized he had been mistaken. That phrase, "on a totally different scale," existed solely for the purpose to describe this hero who stood in front of him. Before Reinhard\'s existence, all of the extraordinary phenomena of this new world dulled in comparison.

"It\'s just as they say…or rather, you\'re more than what everyone says you are," said Elsa.

"Well, I can only hope I\'ll live up to your expectations."

"Will you not use that sword of yours? I would like to have a taste of its legendary sharpness."

Elsa pointed at Reinhard\'s sword. She wanted to face Reinhard at full force, without him holding back. However, Reinhard shook his head.

"This sword is made so that it can only be drawn when it should be drawn. The fact that the blade has not removed itself from its sheath means that now is not the proper time."

"I suppose I\'ve been underestimated."

"Personally, I would have preferred to take you up on your offer. So…"

Reinhard suddenly turned his eyes away from Elsa, and looked about the inside of the loot cellar. Eyes eventually settled on an old-looking two-handed sword propped up against the wall. Reinhard used his foot to kick up on the hilt, sending the unsheathed sword spinning through the air. He easily grabbed it in his hand, and swung it once lightly as if testing it out.

"…I\'ll use this one to face you. Any complaints?"

"No… This is wonderful, wonderful! You had better show me a good time!"

Now the fight between monster is start