A Random in Re:Zero

Loop 3 - Part 7

"The cultist isn't here anymore! He went over there!"

At that moment, everything clicked in Rem's head. She had wasted precious time.

"Miss?" Meili snapped her out of her temporary daze.

"I have to go back immediately!"

Manifesting her horn, Rem exerted her full physical strength to return to the mansion as quickly as possible. After some thought, Meili decided to follow her.

"Waaaait!"

***

I had to do something right now, or I'd die. I could only think of one thing, but I wasn't sure it would work.

To begin with, I wasn't even sure I had the same affinity as Subaru, but I had to take a chance.

It wasn't like I had any choice but to die...

I closed my eyes and focused on drawing the mana through my gate, turning it into a dense, black cloud. To my relief, I didn't lose control of my gate and managed to cast the spell successfully.

The assassin was enveloped in Shamak's darkness, which isolated him from his senses for a few seconds.

I would have liked to celebrate my first successful spell but I had to run for my life, so I resumed my escape into the forest.

My fear was overshadowed by a growing determination to defeat this guy. If I could punch him in the face, his level wasn't that far from mine, at least physically.

The trees helped protect me from the incessant gunfire coming from behind. Thanks to my mana training and my survival instincts, I'd been running with all my might for the past half hour without collapsing.

I congratulated myself for trying hard, even though the idea seemed pointless at first.

Soon I came to a familiar spot: a cliff. I stopped near the edge and turned to face the cultist.

"Well, it seems I can't keep running away." I sighed, mentally preparing myself to end this conflict.

The cultist approached slowly. I noticed he was running out of ammunition for his crossbow, as he tossed it aside to shed the unnecessary weight and pulled two daggers from his waistband.

Unarmed, I could only smile wryly as he lunged at me. As he was about to stab me, I caught his shoulders and dropped backward, shoving my foot into his stomach and pulling his torso up to send him flying.

The cultist's figure disappeared as he fell off the cliff, probably dying in the fall.

"I did it... Shit, I really did it!"

My legs weakened as the adrenaline wore off. I fell to the ground, but I ignored the pain: I was too euphoric about my surprising victory.

"I can't believe my plan worked..."

I didn't hear the crunch of the rocks, nor the soft flutter of the robe. I only noticed the shadow cast against the light of the full moon shining in the sky behind me.

A pointy head like a triangle, a hand raised holding a knife. The damned killer was behind me. How had the bastard survived? Only Echidna knew, if she was even watching this.

Even when I understood what was going to happen, I was unable to move my body to dodge the attack. I had completely let my guard down.

However, a second before the attack landed, a huge black beast leaped at the assassin, saving my life.

"The alpha...!" I muttered, staring in amazement.

Two more figures emerged from the forest: Rem and Meili. Seeing them, everything started to fall into place.