Requiem

"..."

The village chief was dead. The horrifying manner of his death made Rem's legs go weak.

Setanta had been the strongest fighter in the village after her sister, so why? Why had someone so powerful died so quickly, so miserably?

The Witch Cultists besieging the village turned in unison, all fixing their eyes on Rem and Subaru at the edge of the square.

Fear poured over Rem from head to toe. Her hands trembled and her knees knocked together, but her body still moved, placing her firmly in front of Subaru.

Meanwhile, Subaru spoke rapidly with Antares in his mind. There had to be an explanation for what had just happened, for the way the village chief had been consumed by flames from inside his body.

What on earth happened?!

The Witch Cultists raised their blades and charged at Rem. She gritted her teeth, the light from her horn flaring as she prepared to fight to the death.

"Swish! Swish! Swish-!"

It was the all-too-familiar sound of wind blades tearing through the air.

The Witch Cultists were sliced to powder in an instant, killed so completely that they had no time even to scream or wail. Fragments of flesh and black robes scattered on the scorching night wind.

"Rem! Are you all right?!"

Ram came rushing over from the other side of the square. The sister Rem had believed would make everything all right if she could just find her had finally appeared.

Ram spread her arms in front of Rem and the troublesome human behind her. A barrier of wind spread outward with her at its center, temporarily keeping the flames and thick smoke at bay.

"...Sister."

But the black-robed figures kept coming. Witch Cultists emerged from the flames one after another, like an endless swarm of locusts. Brandishing strange curved blades and sharp swords, they surged toward Ram.

Ram roared and met them head-on with her small body. What followed was a slaughter born of absolute power.

Empowered by Mana, Ram's limbs unleashed terrifying strength utterly at odds with her size. Every blow cut the enemies who came near her to pieces.

The Witch Cultists charged at her one after another, only to be ground to powder as though thrown into a meat grinder. This was the power of Oni God Reborn. If the fight continued like this, no matter how many Witch Cultists there were, they would be nothing but moths to a flame.

"Ram! Dismiss your horn, quick!!"

Subaru cried out in a scream. His brain had finally put the pieces together.

"Boom-!!"

Flames exploded before his eyes. But not on Ram. It was Rem. Rem, standing beside Subaru, was engulfed in flames in an instant.

"Rem-?!"

Ram's eyes went wide. She immediately abandoned the fight and leaped back to her sister. Seeing her sister's body wrapped in flames, Ram's face twisted beyond recognition, and she threw herself forward, beating at the fire with both hands.

"The air! There's something wrong with the Mana! Stop absorbing Mana from the air!!"

Subaru had finally understood the whole truth.

Antares had been warning him for some time that the Mana in the air tasted strange.

And the Oni fought by absorbing Mana from the air. To wipe out the race, the most thorough method was to strike at the source of their power.

The Mana in the air had been contaminated.

Every time they absorbed it, every time they cast magic, every time they used their horns to draw on the Mana in the atmosphere, they were pouring contamination into their own bodies.

The more they absorbed, the more contamination accumulated inside them, until it reached a critical point and they began burning from within, just like the villagers, just like Setanta. If Ram kept fighting, this was how both she and Rem would die.

"...Just me? Am I the only one who can fight now?"

Subaru murmured the cruel truth aloud. For the Oni to fight in an environment like this was pure suicide.

Scorch marks still covered Subaru's body, and fear of pain and death brought tears uncontrollably to his eyes.

This is terrifying. I don't want to die. I don't want to die at all.

But... but Rem and Ram can't fight anymore. If even he did not stand up, who else could?

Subaru gritted his teeth and got to his feet, raising his handgun at the Witch Cultists closing in on him.

"Anta! Please!"

Suddenly, a violent shock wave struck from the side.

It was a complete high-level spell! Of course the Witch Cult had sent more than mere grunts. Subaru was blown off his feet, tumbling through the air several times before crashing to the ground, dizzy and disoriented.

Before he could get up, he saw a massive fireball plummeting from the sky. The explosive fire spell, carrying a devastating heat, struck him squarely.

"Aah-!"

His body hit the burning ground, and the searing pain of flames scorching his skin spread from his back to his limbs. Antares desperately cast ice magic. A faint red light flickered frantically in the thick smoke as Antares fought to counter the flames, keeping Subaru from being burned to ashes on the spot.

The Witch Cultists closed in on Subaru as he lay on the ground, a ring of black shadows tightening around him in the firelight.

"Stop... stop it!!!"

The voice was weak, but filled with utter rage. Rem had only just managed to dismiss her horn with her sister's help and barely escaped with her life. But the moment she raised her head, she saw Subaru struck by explosive fire magic and lying on the burning ground, while a group of black-robed figures raised their weapons and moved to surround him.

Her eyes were swallowed by crimson in an instant.

"Rem! Don't!"

Ram's cry was left behind her. Rem's single horn appeared on her forehead once more, and contaminated Mana poured wildly into her body.

Ram reached out to grab her sister, but her fingertips only brushed the lingering warmth at the hem of Rem's clothes.

Rem charged toward Subaru, heedless of everything else. Icicles appeared around her, and as she leaped into the air, a giant hammer of ice formed in her hands. She smashed it down on the head of a Witch Cultist blocking her path.

Brain matter and blood evaporated in the flames.

"Was taking away Rem's place to belong not enough?! Don't think you can take away Rem's reason to live too!!"

Little Rem unleashed a terrifying strength that even she could not have imagined.

The Witch Cultists began to retreat. It was a despicable ploy. Their objective went without saying.

"Boom-!!"

Sure enough, flames erupted from Rem once again. Just as before, it was a raging fire ignited by contaminated Mana.

Why? When Ram uses her horn, the side effects pass on to Rem, but when Rem uses her own horn, she's still the one who gets hurt!

The Witch Cultists snickered mockingly, waiting for their dying prey to collapse in the flames and turn into a charred lump like the scorched villagers.

But then, this happened.

Rem staggered. This was a state no ordinary person-no, no living creature-could possibly endure.

Her body was burning, her internal organs were burning, and every nerve was transmitting the searing agony of the flames. Her will should have crumbled at once, leaving her on her knees at their mercy.

But the moment a Witch Cultist raised a blade, those eyes burning in the flames lifted.

"Don't... touch him-!!!"

Like a demon crawling back from hell, Rem roared, her entire body wrapped in flames, even her face impossible to make out.

The monstrous strength of an Oni was pushed to its limit on the brink of death. She seized the head of the Witch Cultist before her with her bare hands and tore it clean off his neck.

Blood splattered over her arms and was steamed into a red mist by the flames.

Even the Witch Cultists were cowed in that instant. What kind of obsession could suppress such pain?

But it was only a deterrent. They quickly recovered their senses. This was nothing more than a dying struggle. Weapons rose again, aimed from all directions at the small body engulfed in flames.

Subaru's pupils trembled violently. His body, scorched by the explosive fire, could not move at all, but he saw everything.

The blue-haired girl who had nestled affectionately against him in his arms that very morning was being consumed by flames bit by bit, burning to ashes for his sake.

"Rem!!"

Ram let out a heart-rending scream.

Suddenly, storm magic howled out from among the Witch Cultists, and the wind swept the burning Rem off the ground. Then Ram charged into the sea of fire with her own battered body and struck the back of Rem's neck with the edge of her hand.

"...Subaru..."

Unable to resist the force, Rem slumped limply to the ground. Her horn disappeared, and the flames on her body finally died down, revealing the badly burned skin beneath.

She lost consciousness, but her hand remained outstretched toward Subaru.

Subaru raised his head. After the threat from Rem had been eliminated, a Witch Cultist walked over to him.

Antares desperately cooled Subaru's body, casting ice magic again and again only for the flames to cancel it out. The red light dimmed little by little.

Antares was crying.

As Antares resisted in vain, the Witch Cultist endured the pain of ice needles piercing his arm and drove a shortsword into Subaru's heart.

Cold.

Then boundless darkness began pouring in from the edges of his vision.

Not far away, Ram shielded Rem, who was charred black and unconscious, behind her. Ram, who had never been willing to bow her head to anyone, now lowered her proud head.

She begged the Witch Cultists for mercy. She pleaded that she would stop resisting and let them do whatever they wanted with her, but asked them to at least, at least spare Rem. To let Rem live.

She received only derisive laughter in return. A shortsword was raised high, aimed at Rem. Ram placed her own body in front of her sister.

Then came a scream, and white fragments flew in all directions. The horn on Ram's forehead, hailed as Oni God Reborn, had been severed.

Everything... it's all over.

Subaru's consciousness slowly sank into the darkness. His life had reached its end.

But-!

"Boom!!!"

A massive fireball suddenly fell from the sky, more intense and violent than any magic Subaru had ever seen. The Witch Cultists present were swallowed by the flames before they could react, even their screams burned to ashes.

That person... who is it?

Subaru summoned the last of his strength to open his eyes and caught sight of a figure through his blurred vision.

A tall figure in formal attire was slowly descending from the night sky.

Subaru wanted to see his face, to know who had arrived at the last moment. But the darkness gave him no more time.

His vision was cut off completely, and his consciousness fell into the void.

"...Your forehead and cheek should be fine too, right?"

The moment consciousness returned, Subaru felt warmth in his arms and heard affectionate, almost coquettish words beside his ear.

Sunlight streamed through the window, falling on the spotless floor.

Around him was his new home. The house he had moved into for the first time, only for it to be stained red with flames and blood that very night.

Subaru slowly lowered his head. A blue-haired head was nuzzling against his chest, murmuring in satisfaction and happiness.

The exact same movements, the exact same warmth as that morning.

...I'm back?

(This book will not go to Roswaal's place! Ram and Roswaal will have no relationship of any kind in this book!)