Subaru Natsuki's Awakening

"No! Impossible! How could this happen?"

Subaru Natsuki stumbled back a step, his eyes trembling violently.

But a familiar figure soon seized his attention.

In the distance, a pink-haired figure sat against a collapsed wall, her head hanging low.

"Ra... Ram!" Subaru's pupils contracted.

If he remembered correctly, Ram and Emilia had returned together. Then what had happened to Emilia?

His heart shook.

No! It can't be! Master's at the manor. As long as he's there, nothing could happen to Emilia!

Unable to bear the dread any longer, he sprinted toward the Earl's Manor.

Will and Julius tried to stop him, but Subaru moved too quickly, pushing Soru almost to its limit.

He vanished in an instant.

Subaru raced all the way to the manor, only to find it unnaturally quiet.

Strange, heavy snow fell from the sky, and a layer of ice covered the grounds.

Subaru swallowed and slowly entered the manor.

He searched room after room, but found no sign of his master or Emilia.

His nerves stretched to breaking point. Then he reached a room filled with ice.

Emilia hung in the center of the room, frozen blood trailing from her chest. His body began to tremble uncontrollably.

"No! No! Emilia can't be dead!"

Subaru broke down again. His eyes turned blood-red, and his pupils began to spin in a strange pattern.

"Emilia, my dear Emilia, wake up!"

He reached out to stroke Emilia's small, frozen face.

But the moment his hand touched her, a stabbing pain made him snatch it back.

Then...

He froze.

Subaru stared at his severed fingers, then at the fingers left on Emilia's face, frozen into crystals of ice.

A heart-rending howl rang through the eerie, silent manor.

"Why? Why did this happen?"

Clutching his hand, Subaru writhed on the floor. Tears