The forest was quiet in the pale light of morning. Mist clung low between the trees, thin and white like breath that refused to fade. The rain had washed the world clean, and droplets still slid from leaf to leaf, tapping softly against the earth.
Subaru stood with her arms folded, trying to look annoyed rather than cornered.
Übel's words lingered in the air between them.
"I just want to understand you."
Subaru blinked at her. "Understand me? What does that even mean?"
Übel tilted her head slightly, studying her the way one might examine an unusual insect. "You have an unnatural aura."
Subaru immediately pointed at herself. "Yeah, that's because I haven't bathed for three days and I've been walking for miles. That's called odor, not aura."
For a second there was silence.
Then Übel laughed.
It wasn't loud. It wasn't polite. It was genuine, bright amusement, like she had just discovered something entertaining.
"That's not what I meant," she said, still smiling. "I've met a lot of mages. A lot of people. Your presence feels… wrong. Not in a bad way. Just different."
Subaru rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I'm unique. Everyone tells me that. In what way exactly?"
Übel didn't answer immediately. Instead, she took a slow step forward.
Subaru didn't move.
Another step.
The distance between them shrank.
Subaru kept her face neutral, shoulders relaxed, as if this meant nothing. Inside, her pulse ticked faster. Don't flinch. Don't show fear. Don't give her anything.
Übel stopped about three feet away. Close enough that Subaru could see the faint freckles dusting her nose. Close enough to notice the way her purple eyes didn't blink much.
Übel lifted a hand and brushed her own green ponytail back over her shoulder. "A demon pretending to be human is quite rare, you know."
The world paused.
Just for a second.
Subaru's eyes widened before she could stop them.
That was enough.
In the next instant Subaru launched herself backward, feet kicking off the ground with explosive force. Wind rushed past her ears as she shot into the air without hesitation.
Übel's grin widened.
Her staff materialized in her hand in a flicker of mana. She didn't even look surprised.
"Ho?" she murmured.
She pointed the staff upward and lifted off the ground smoothly, as if gravity had simply decided not to apply to her.
Subaru was already soaring through the mist, heart hammering.
She didn't need a staff to fly. It came as naturally as walking now. Her body cut through the air cleanly, climbing higher, faster.
Behind her, Übel followed.
And she was faster.
Not by a ridiculous amount. Not instantly overtaking. But steadily closing the distance.
"Didn't you say you wanted to fight someone strong?" Übel called out, voice carrying easily through the wind.
Subaru grit her teeth. "Shit, shit, shit, shit—"
Trees blurred beneath her.
"I'm so cooked!"
Her mind raced. Think. Think.
She had not told Übel the full extent of Erafassen. She had downplayed it. Lied outright. She had options. Weapons she could replicate. Techniques she could borrow from a hundred stories.
But imagination-based magic against someone who could cut anything she imagined she could cut?
What if Übel simply imagined her split apart?
The thought barely formed before Subaru felt something change.
There was no pain at first.
Just… lightness.
The wind shifted oddly against her body.
Her vision tilted.
She looked down.
Her body was no longer whole.
A clean, perfect line ran through her torso.
Her lower half was no longer attached.
For a strange, detached second, Subaru watched herself separate in midair. Two halves drifting apart. Blood suspended in the air like scattered petals.
Then the pain arrived.
White-hot. Total.
Her scream tore out of her throat, raw and furious rather than frightened.
"This is so unfair!"
The sky spun.
The forest rushed upward.
Black ether crept into the edges of her vision, swallowing the green of the trees and the gray of the clouds.
Her last sight was Übel descending gracefully toward her falling pieces, staff in hand, expression unreadable for a moment.
Then her lips curved faintly.
"Huh," Übel said, almost to herself. "She didn't even fight back."
There was something like disappointment in her tone.
"What a loser."
Darkness swallowed everything before Subaru's body could hit the ground.
Subaru blinked into existence with a violent gasp, lungs dragging in air that felt too thick and heavy.
The clearing.
The damp smell of soil.
The faint echo of rainwater dripping somewhere out there
Her heart slammed against her ribs like it was trying to escape.
"I just want to understand you."
The voice was light. Curious.
Subaru's blood turned to ice.
Slowly, mechanically, she lifted her head.
Übel stood a few meters away, exactly where she had been before everything went wrong. Green ponytail resting over one shoulder. Purple eyes calm. Watching.
Waiting.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Another loop.
And this one had a flying lunatic who could slice her in half without even looking strained.
Subaru forced her breathing to steady. She knew this part now. The conversation. The distance between them. The faint morning mist weaving between tree trunks in the forest.
Her mind moved faster than her body.
Übel knows.
She knows I'm a demon.
How?
The turban still wrapped securely around her head. Horns hidden. No visible clue.
Was it her mana? That strange aura she mentioned? Could she sense something corrupted? Something inhuman?
Or was it instinct? Some predator's intuition?
It did not matter how.
What mattered was that last time, the moment she reacted, she died.
Subaru catalogued her options.
Option one: ignore it. Pretend she had not heard. Turn around. Walk. Act like nothing was said.
Option two: repeat the conversation. Ask why she wanted to understand her. Let Übel reveal the demon comment. Control her reaction better this time.
But that path had ended with her body falling in two neat halves.
From what she had observed, Übel had known from the beginning. She did not attack immediately. She did not strike while Subaru slept.
She wanted something.
A fight.
Of course she did.
She had that look. That bored hunter expression. The kind of person who sought stimulation, not survival.
Like some battle-obsessed anime rival. Except this one could actually kill her without effort.
Still, there was something else.
Übel had been disappointed when Subaru did not fight back.
That meant something.
Subaru's fear settled into something colder. More analytical.
If Übel had wanted her dead immediately, she would be dead.
So what did she want?
Information? Doubtful. She did not carry herself like someone part of an organization. No uniform. No insignia. No companions lurking in the shadows.
She felt solitary.
Which meant this was personal curiosity.
Subaru swallowed.
Then she did something different.
"Hm. And why are you heading North?" Subaru asked casually.
Übel blinked, caught slightly off guard.
"Oh?" she said softly. "Why the sudden interest?"
"Humor me," Subaru replied, crossing her arms as if bored.
Silence lingered for a heartbeat. Then Übel smiled again.
"I was going to attend the First Class Mage Exam."
That matched what the priest had said.
"Surely not for the certificate," Subaru said.
Übel's smile faded, just a fraction. She lifted a finger to her chin, thoughtful.
"That is actually one reason," she admitted. "But I was mostly bored. I wanted to have some fun."
"By slaughtering people?" Subaru asked flatly.
"Not really." Übel tilted her head. "I like fighting. But not pointless fighting."
Subaru studied her carefully.
There was no madness in her eyes.
No frothing bloodlust.
Just genuine interest.
A beat passed between them.
Subaru exhaled slowly.
"You know what I am," she said.
Übel's eyes widened in mock innocence.
"Ara? Do I?" she replied lightly. "What are you? A traveler? A cute girl with strange headwear? Or…"
Her gaze sharpened.
"A demon pretending to be human?"
There it was.
Subaru did not flinch this time.
She met Übel's stare evenly.
"You didn't kill me," Subaru said quietly.
Übel's lips curved.
"I can now."
Her staff appeared in her hand as if it had always been there.
Before Subaru could react, Übel swung it lazily to the side.
A sharp hum sliced through the air.
Right to Subaru, a massive boulder split cleanly in half.
No explosion. No debris shower.
Just a smooth, perfect cut.
The two halves slid apart and crashed to the ground with a heavy thud.
Subaru's spine went rigid.
That was not a warning shot.
That was a demonstration.
Übel looked genuinely intrigued.
"Can't get enough of this satisfaction," murmured, glancing at the fallen stone. "Fun."
Her purple eyes lifted back to Subaru.
"So…" she continued, staff resting lightly against her shoulder, "are you going to fight me now? Since you admitted that you're a demon?"
Subaru did not answer immediately.
The split boulder still echoed in her ears. The clean cut. The absence of resistance.
Übel waited, staff balanced loosely in her fingers, as if this were nothing more than small talk before tea.
Subaru forced her shoulders to relax.
"I'll fight you," she said.
Übel's brows lifted slightly.
"But not now."
A pause.
"Oh?" Übel tilted her head. "Why? And when?"
Subaru inhaled once, steadying her racing thoughts.
"Only if you take me with you to cross the Northern Plateau."
For a second, there was silence.
Then Übel laughed softly.
"Heh. That's a good one."
She stepped closer, boots crunching lightly against the damp soil. Her staff rose, not quite aimed, but ready.
"But what if you're not worth it?" she continued, purple eyes narrowing. "What if you're just a waste of my time?"
The staff angled just a little higher.
"Careful, cutie," Übel said lightly. "Your answer might decide your fate."
Fate.
The word hit Subaru harder than any spell.
Fate.
Loops.
Death.
Reset.
Her throat tightened.
No.
No more dying pointlessly.
"Alright!" Subaru blurted, lifting a hand. "Hey, Übel, I challenge you in something!"
Übel blinked.
"A spar?" she asked, confused.
"No," Subaru said quickly. "I evade one attack from you. Just one. If I live… you become my partner instead of my hunter."
Übel's expression shifted from confusion to amusement.
"Partner?" she echoed. "What's my benefit in being your partner?"
Subaru's mind raced.
Money? She barely had enough to buy stale bread.
Power? Übel clearly had her own.
Status? Übel did not look like someone who cared for authority. And Subaru had nothing to give her any authority.
Think. Think.
"I have extremely powerful people who want to kill me," Subaru said at last. "If you stay with me, you'll get to fight them."
Übel stared at her for a long moment.
"…I am not suicidal, Subaru," she replied flatly. "I like a good fight. I don't like hopeless fights. And I have terrible luck when it comes to fighting."
Subaru winced internally.
That had sounded much cooler in her head.
She cursed herself.
This was slipping.
Then Übel's lips curved slowly.
"But," she added, tapping the end of her staff against the ground, "you did say you'd take one of my strongest attacks."
Her eyes gleamed.
"Well, bring it on."
Subaru's stomach dropped.
She had walked into this.
Still, this was better than being sliced mid-conversation.
If she could survive one direct strike, that would mean something.
She raised both hands in front of her.
Mana surged from her core like a dam breaking.
Pink light flickered into existence, swirling violently around her palms. The air grew heavy. The cave walls trembled faintly under the pressure.
Übel's pupils dilated slightly.
"What a liar you are," she murmured, smiling wider. "I like it. Tell me when you're ready."
Subaru focused.
Erafassen.
Visualization.
Concept.
She reached into her memory, past anime marathons, past endless nights of escapism in her old room, past the comfort of fiction.
Ajax.
Seven-layered bronze shield.
The ultimate defense against thrown weapons.
A barrier that could block even divine spears.
Pink mana burst outward.
A massive, flower-shaped construct bloomed before her. Seven radiant petals unfolded, layered and solid, each one shimmering with dense magical structure.
Wind roared outward from the pressure of its manifestation. Loose stones skittered across the ground. The cave mouth trembled as energy spilled into the forest beyond.
It was beautiful.
Massive.
Intricate.
A seven-petaled blossom of pure defense.
Originating from Greek legend. Reinforced through heroic spirit. Reproduced through imagination.
Subaru's arms shook under the output.
Could it hold?
Could it block something that did not obey normal logic?
Übel stared at the shield, fascinated.
"Well," she said softly, "that's a hell of a… flower."
Her smile sharpened.
"I wonder…"
Subaru planted her feet.
"Rho Aias—!" she shouted, voice echoing violently through the cave.
The shield blazed brighter.
Seven petals layered atop one another, overlapping, compressing, strengthening.
The ultimate conceptual defense against projectiles.
Übel lifted her staff lazily.
"Reel—" she began.
Subaru's pulse hammered.
"—saiden."
The staff moved.
Not fast.
Not dramatic.
Just a simple swing.
There was no explosion.
No beam.
No visible projectile.
For a fraction of a second—
Silence.
Subaru's grin began forming a fraction too early.
"Excellent," she breathed. "Rho Aias can indeed take—"
Then the world split.
Subaru felt resistance shatter.
Not crack.
Not strain.
Shatter.
The first petal of Rho Aias cleaved cleanly down the center.
The second split instantly after.
The third followed without slowing.
One by one, each radiant layer divided with horrifying smoothness.
There was no grinding. No friction. No struggle.
It was as if the shield had been drawn on paper and someone had run a blade through the page.
Seven petals.
Seven perfect slices.
The entire construct parted neatly in half.
Her vision tilted.
Her body felt strangely light.
The world rotated.
She saw her own body still standing.
For a moment, she did not understand.
Then she saw the line.
A thin, impossibly clean cut across her neck.
Her head separated from her shoulders.
It happened so gently she barely felt it.
No pain.
Just detachment.
Her body remained upright for half a heartbeat before collapsing.
Her head hit the ground softly.
Her vision rolled sideways.
She saw Übel standing there, staff resting against her shoulder again.
Unharmed.
Unbothered.
Almost curious.
Subaru's fading consciousness processed it too late.
It was never a projectile.
Rho Aias defended against thrown weapons.
Übel did not throw anything.
She cut.
She did not send an attack.
She severed the space itself.
The shield.
Her neck.
Everything aligned along the imaginary path of her blade.
Übel stepped forward, examining the dissipating remnants of pink mana as they crumbled like glowing dust.
"It was an interesting shield," she said casually.
Her purple eyes lowered to Subaru's fallen head.
"But it was just a flower, after all."
Subaru gasped into existence.
Air tore into her lungs as if she had been drowning. Her heart slammed violently against her ribs. The clearing returned in a rush of color and sound. Damp earth. The faint scent of rain. The pale morning light filtering through leaves.
"I just want to understand you."
The voice was light. Almost playful.
Subaru looked up.
Übel stood a few meters away, exactly where she had been before. Staff resting loosely in her hand. Green hair tied back. Purple eyes watching her with open curiosity.
Shit.
Even Rho Aias had not been enough.
Seven layers. A conceptual defense. A legend-backed shield.
Cut like paper.
How?
Subaru swallowed and forced herself to stand straighter.
"You want to understand me because I'm a demon?"
Übel blinked.
"Wow. That was sooner than I expected."
Her lips curved. With a small motion, she summoned her staff into her hand again. It materialized seamlessly, as if it had always been there.
"Well, yeah," Übel continued. "You're too human-ish for a demon."
Subaru's jaw tightened.
"How do you know that?"
Übel shrugged lightly. "I have good instincts."
That was not reassuring.
Subaru took a slow breath.
"I see. What exactly do you want from me? You think I'm strong, so you want to fight me?"
"That too."
She said it so casually.
Subaru felt irritation rising.
"What will convince you to leave me alone?"
Übel tilted her head.
"I don't know. I don't want to leave you alone."
Subaru stared at her.
"Then what will convince you not to kill me?"
Übel hummed thoughtfully, tapping her chin with a finger.
"Hm. I don't know that either."
"What?!" Subaru's voice cracked with frustration. "You're just saying things!"
"…but," Übel added calmly.
Subaru froze.
Übel's expression shifted. Not playful now. Curious.
"I can copy techniques," she said. "By empathizing with people. Understanding how they think. How they feel. Their impulses."
Subaru's stomach dropped.
"And… I've never heard of a demon who is this human."
The implication hung in the air.
"You want to replicate my spell?" Subaru asked slowly.
"I guess," Übel replied, almost blissfully.
Subaru cursed internally.
So that was it.
She wanted Erafassen.
It makes sense. But…
"Did I not tell you that my technique is just summoning a sword and fight? It's lame."
Übel scratched her ears. "What was that weird thing that you had used last night? Like a mushroom?"
Subaru froze.
Of course she had seen her use Erafassen to conjure an umbrella.
"That was a mana construct," Übel continued. "So you lied about your spell." She tapped her staff. "You can create anything with your mana, right?"
There's no point in hiding.
"So if I let you copy it," Subaru spoke slowly. "You'll leave me?"
Übel tilted her head again.
"Hmmm…"
Subaru clenched her fists.
"I don't know," Übel said honestly. "But… show me how strong you are. Just a teeny tiny fight. And I'll consider it."
"How about fighting later?"
"Nope."
Subaru's shoulders sagged slightly.
Of course not.
Übel bounced lightly on her heels. "Come on. Just a little."
This is inevitable.
Übel knows what her power is. But not the scope of it. If she refuses to entertain her, Übel might kill her again.
If Subaru agrees, what's the chance that Subaru will win?
Rho Aias had failed.
What else can she try?
Subaru exhaled sharply.
"Alright. I'll take one of your attacks. If I survive, you'll accompany me to the Northern Plateau. After you become a First Class Mage."
Übel raised a brow.
"Why would I do that?"
"Because you want to empathize, right?" Subaru shot back. "Traveling together would help. That's what you want, isn't it?"
Übel paused.
Then she smiled.
"Hm. Fair. Fair. Alright. Ready when you are."
"Just give me a moment."
"Oookay! I'm waiting!" Übel said cheerfully.
Subaru stepped back.
Her mind spun.
She could not outrun her. Not yet. Übel was more experienced in flight. Faster. More precise.
Last time, Rho Aias had failed instantly.
Why?
Because it had form.
It was visible.
It was a flower.
Übel only needed to imagine cutting a flower.
And it was cut.
Anything that had a recognizable shape could be severed if she could picture it splitting.
So what could she create that Übel could not imagine cutting?
What object defied simple visualization of division?
Subaru's thoughts raced.
Blade against blade would fail.
Armor would fail.
Barriers would fail.
She needed something more conceptual. Something ambiguous.
Her gaze drifted downward.
Übel had crouched slightly, peering at a puddle left behind by the night's rain. She tilted her head as she examined her own reflection in the water.
"Ready or not?" Übel called lazily.
Subaru's thoughts accelerated.
Puddle.
Water.
Reflection.
Mirror.
Her eyes widened.
A mirror did not block.
It reflected.
What would happen if Übel tried to cut something that only returned her own intent?
Subaru's pulse quickened.
It was absurd.
It might fail.
But it was different.
She straightened abruptly.
"Time to test it…"
Übel looked up.
"Übel! Can you cut this—?"
Mana surged from Subaru's core, spiraling outward in shimmering waves. The air distorted around her as pink and gold light intertwined, forming something flat, angular, ancient.
Übel blinked and stood up fully as Subaru shouted—
"Yata Mirror!"
A flare of orange light burst outward in front of Subaru, swelling like a sudden sunrise between them.
Übel's grin faltered.
The thing that formed was roughly Subaru's height, wide enough to swallow her silhouette whole. It shimmered, not flat like a simple barrier, but layered, rippling, alive. Subaru vanished behind it completely, her presence reduced to a faint pulse of mana leaking around its edges.
Übel tilted her head.
"A cloak of fire?" she murmured.
The surface crackled faintly, tongues of orange licking upward, heat bending the air around it. Yes. Fire was simple. Fire could be cut. She had cut flame before, split it down the middle just to watch the halves recoil like wounded serpents.
"I can cut it," she thought.
Her fingers tightened around her staff. The wood thrummed in her palm as she poured intent into it. The concept formed clearly in her mind. Flame divided. Flame parted.
She swung.
Before the invisible arc even reached the barrier, the orange shifted.
The heat vanished.
The surface turned translucent blue, fluid and heavy, rippling like a vertical lake suspended in midair.
Übel blinked.
"…Water?"
Her cut sliced through the air and struck the barrier. The impact produced no sound. The water-like surface simply folded around the invisible blade and then smoothed itself out again, as if something had been dropped into deep sea and swallowed.
"I can cut water," she muttered. She had done it before too. Dividing currents. Splitting rain midfall.
She sharpened the image in her mind. Not surface water. Something denser. Something like a compressed wave.
The blue deepened.
Then hardened.
The shield became gray.
Rough.
Layered like rock face.
Stone.
Übel's eyes narrowed, interest sparking brighter than irritation.
"Huh."
If it was stone, then it could be cleaved like stone.
She imagined the fracture lines. The stress points. The weakness running through it like veins.
The surface crumbled.
No.
Not crumbled.
It softened into brown earth, granular and uneven, soil packed tight as a cliffside.
Übel exhaled a short laugh.
"It's adapting to what I think."
She stepped closer, boots pressing into the grass. "If I think I can cut stone…"
The barrier shifted again, this time into something pale and fibrous, almost wooden.
"Then it changes."
Subaru's presence pulsed faintly behind it, steady but strained.
Übel licked her lower lip.
"Hehe. Very easy."
If conscious thought triggered its transformation, then she would simply act without thinking.
No image. No concept. Just instinct.
She flicked her wrist and released a clean, sharp cut with no defined visualization attached to it.
The invisible blade tore through the space between them in a heartbeat.
It struck.
And the barrier changed again.
Not to flame.
Not to water.
Not to stone or soil.
It became something colorless.
Not transparent.
Not opaque.
Just… wrong.
The air around it felt distorted, like looking at heat haze, except there was no heat. The blade hit and did not slice. It slipped. The sensation rebounded through her staff like striking oil on glass.
Übel froze.
"…Ho?"
She leaned forward slightly, peering at it.
"What's that thing?"
She sent another cut. This one sharper. Cleaner. Focused.
It struck.
Slid.
Dissolved.
"It's slippery," she murmured. "I can't really cut it?"
Behind the barrier, Subaru's thoughts raced.
Yata Mirror.
The name echoed in her mind as her arms trembled from maintaining the thing.
It was not merely a shield. It did not block by hardness alone. It shifted. It responded. The instant Übel's intent reached it, the Mirror altered its nature to something incompatible with that intent.
If Übel imagined wood, it would become fire.
If she imagined fire, it would become stone.
If she imagined stone, it would become wind.
If she imagined wind, it would become something with no substance at all.
The moment cutting intent touched it, it became the thing that could not be cut by that intent.
Formless.
Void-like.
A state without edges.
You cannot cut a vacuum.
You cannot divide something without defined existence.
Übel's entire magic depended on visualization. On understanding what she was cutting. On grasping its structure in her mind and asserting dominance over it.
But this shield refused to settle.
It was a lie made solid.
A hologram with teeth.
Originally, the Yata mirror was supposed to be bigger. But not only is this smaller but this is also very lightweight.
Subaru had to pour every ounce of her mana to maintain it.
There is no doubt.
That coin, that katana, axe... Even this, all of them are of the same mass. And inferior to the original ones.
Outside, Übel's grin returned slowly.
"Interesting."
She began to walk in a circle around it.
The barrier rotated subtly to keep Subaru fully hidden.
"You're not just defending. You're playing with my head."
She thrust her staff forward and unleashed a rapid flurry of invisible slashes, one after another. Grass around them split cleanly, trees in the distance shedding leaves as stray arcs carved air.
Each strike hit the barrier.
Each time it changed.
Ice.
Fire.
Mist.
Glass.
Shadow.
Every transformation occurred a fraction before impact, as if the shield anticipated her thought before she finished thinking it.
Übel clicked her tongue.
"Fine."
She closed one eye and focused deeper.
If she could not cut its form, she would cut its concept.
She imagined the shield as a defined object. A magical construct. Mana condensed.
Mana could be severed.
She had done it before. Cut spells mid-formation. Severed enchantments.
Her staff glowed faintly green as she carved downward.
The barrier shimmered.
Its color shifted to something almost pearlescent, like moonlight caught in oil.
Her cut met it.
There was resistance this time.
For a breath.
Then her slash bent sideways and slid off, slicing harmlessly into empty air.
Übel staggered one step back.
Her pulse quickened.
She laughed.
"This is fun."
Another barrage.
Left.
Right.
Diagonal.
She jumped, slashing from above. She crouched and sliced upward. She even kicked off the ground and spun midair, sending a crescent-shaped arc aimed at the barrier's lower edge.
Every time.
Shift.
Slip.
Fail.
Sweat began to gather at her temples.
The grass around them was shredded. Trees bore clean diagonal wounds. The air hummed with residual mana.
The barrier remained intact.
Subaru's breathing grew ragged behind it. Maintaining Yata Mirror was not effortless. Each adaptation cost mana. Each shift demanded awareness.
Her legs shook.
But she held it.
Übel planted her staff into the ground and inhaled deeply.
"Alright. Stronger, then."
Mana swelled around her, thicker now, the air tightening like a drawn bowstring. The sky above seemed to dim slightly as her focus sharpened.
She visualized nothing specific.
Just severance.
The pure act of dividing existence.
She swung with full power.
The invisible arc screamed forward, splitting wind itself.
The barrier did not become stone.
Neither did it turn into some gem.
It did not become fire.
Nor something else.
It vanished.
For a split second it simply wasn't there.
Her cut passed through empty space.
Then the barrier reappeared, calm and unmarked.
Übel stared.
Subaru nearly collapsed from the strain of that maneuver, teeth gritted hard enough to hurt.
"You can't cut what isn't present," Subaru muttered weakly from behind it.
Übel's shoulders began to tremble.
Then she laughed.
Laughed harder.
"Again!"
Another slash.
Shift.
Another.
Shift.
Minutes blurred.
The sun crawled across the sky.
Übel's attacks grew more reckless, less precise. She experimented wildly now. Trying to cut it as fabric. As bone. As memory. As illusion.
Every time the Mirror refused definition.
An hour passed.
Übel's breathing grew heavy. Her swings slowed slightly. Mana reserves thinned, each strike less sharp than the last.
Subaru's vision swam behind the barrier. The world narrowed to the back of the Mirror and the steady pulse of her own heartbeat.
Two hours.
The field was a ruin of carved earth and shredded grass. Distant trees leaned at odd angles where stray slashes had bitten too deep.
Übel launched one final, desperate strike.
It hit.
Slid.
Dispersed.
Silence followed.
Her staff slipped from her fingers.
She fell backward onto the grass with a dull thud, chest rising and falling rapidly.
"Ahh…"
She stared at the sky.
"I'm empty."
The barrier flickered.
Subaru let it dissolve at last. The strange, shifting surface unraveled into particles of light before vanishing completely.
Subaru herself wobbled, knees buckling. She managed two shaky steps forward before collapsing onto her side not far from Übel.
Both of them lay there, staring upward.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Then Übel began to laugh again, softer this time.
"This is so crazy. So crazy."
Subaru turned her head slightly, lips dry, and laughed too. It sounded fragile but genuine.
"I know, right?"
Übel rolled her head to look at her. Green eyes bright despite exhaustion.
"Yeah,"
"So are you still gonna kill me?"
"Nah, that's one spell, what's it called?"
"Not telling,"
"Awww, I thoughy we were partners."
"...we are?"
Sein wasn't entirely certain why he had decided to come along.
The question had followed him ever since he stepped beyond the church gates, ever since the familiar stone walls had shrunk behind him and the northern road stretched ahead like an uncertain promise.
He had nothing else to do, he told himself.
He couldn't heal Stark.
That truth pressed heavier than the travel pack strapped across his shoulders.
He had examined the wounds thoroughly. Tested herbs, sutures, prayers, divine channels. Everything failed. The mana embedded in Stark's body was neither spreading nor weakening. It simply existed, stable and untouchable. Sein had reached the limits of his knowledge and found them lacking.
He had told them the truth: only the Mage Serie might understand that kind of mana.
He had said it plainly.
But the words still tasted bitter.
A healer who cannot heal.
What use is he?
As they had prepared to leave, Frieren calmly lifting Stark's unconscious body with careful magic, Fern standing beside her with quiet resolve, Sein had felt something twist in his chest.
They were going north. Toward danger. Toward someone who might help.
And he had nearly stayed behind.
He remembered that moment clearly, the faint creak of the church doors as they opened, the cool wind drifting in from outside, carrying with it the scent of frost.
Then he heard his own voice.
"I'll come."
He had surprised himself.
Frieren had glanced at him, mildly curious.
Fern's eyes had widened just slightly.
Even his older brother, standing near the altar, had blinked.
Sein himself had wondered who had spoken.
"I can at least carry him," he had added, almost defensively. "You shouldn't waste mana the whole way."
Frieren had studied him for a second.
"Are you sure?"
Sein had nodded.
"Yeah."
And that had been that.
Now, days later, they were far from the warmth of the village. The Decle Region's border lay behind them, marked by worn stone pillars half-buried in frost. The air here was sharper, colder. Their breath lingered visibly in front of their faces with every exhale.
The sky was pale, washed thin by winter light.
Sein adjusted Stark's weight against his back.
The boy was feverish. Even through layers of cloth, Sein could feel the heat radiating from him. Stark's breathing was uneven, occasionally hitching in discomfort. Every so often, a faint groan escaped him, and each time it did, Sein felt the sting of failure all over again.
He should have been able to help.
He was trained. Devoted. Blessed.
Yet he had stood there, powerless.
His thoughts drifted unwillingly to a different face.
A broad grin.
Wild laughter.
"Gorilla Warrior," the man had called himself proudly, pounding his chest like a beast.
Sein could still see him, years ago, standing at the crossroads of youth and foolish ambition.
"Come with me!" Gorilla Warrior had said back then. "We'll go on adventures! Slay demons! See the world!"
Sein had laughed nervously.
"I am content here."
"There is more fun exploring the world!"
Gorilla had left.
Sein had stayed.
His friend had gone alone.
And he never came back.
Too late.
The guilt of not joining him had never truly faded. It lingered in quiet moments, in sleepless nights, in the echo of unspoken possibilities.
Now he walked north anyway.
Too late for a friend.
Perhaps not too late for another.
Fern walked ahead beside Frieren, her expression calm as always. But Sein noticed the way her hands flexed occasionally at her sides, the faint tightness in her shoulders.
She was worried.
She just didn't show it.
Frieren walked with her usual unhurried pace, silver hair moving gently in the cold breeze. Stark floated occasionally when terrain grew rough, supported by her careful magic. Other times, Sein insisted on carrying him to spare her mana.
The road thinned as they progressed.
Trees grew sparse.
The land flattened into something barren and wind-swept, patches of dry grass poking through pale soil. The horizon stretched wide and empty.
Sein shifted Stark's weight again.
"Hang in there," he muttered quietly.
They reached a shallow valley just as the wind began to pick up.
Frieren slowed.
Her gaze sharpened slightly.
"Fern," she said calmly.
Fern's posture changed immediately, subtle but precise.
"That person is dangerous."
Sein felt it then too.
A presence.
Not hostile outright. Plain.
From the far side of the valley, a lone figure approached, cloak swaying gently around his legs. His steps were measured, unhurried, as if he had all the time in the world.
Sein tightened his grip on Stark instinctively.
Please don't let this be a fight.
As the figure drew closer, details became clear.
Green hair.
Long ears.
An elf.
Sein's eyes widened faintly.
An elf was rare enough. Most elves he had heard of were… well. Frieren.
The man stopped several paces away.
He did not draw a weapon.
In fact, he did not appear to carry one.
His expression was relaxed, almost amused.
"How unexpected," the elf said, voice smooth and even.
His eyes drifted over them, resting briefly on Frieren.
"I'm Kraft," he continued. "A monk."
Frieren gave a small nod.
"I'm Frieren. That's Fern. And this is Sein."
Kraft's gaze shifted to the unconscious boy draped across Sein's back.
"And your companion?"
"He has a fever," Sein replied evenly.
Kraft frowned faintly.
"Nonsense."
The air shifted.
Sein felt it clearly now.
A faint pressure in the atmosphere.
"I could sense the vile miasma from miles away," Kraft continued.
His eyes narrowed slightly, not in aggression, but in curiosity.
"Tell me," he said, voice lowering just a touch, "just how did that boy get cursed by the megami?"