Prior to Garfiel and Ram being sent out, Natsuki Subaru followed events similar to the previous loop.
Having both Reinhard and Petra walk with him towards Roswaal's office to speak with him.
During this walk, Echidna was curious on something:
"What's the strategy now? Will you play events the same or will you decide to do something different?"
'...' He had no response to this.
For starters, playing everything the same would just be equivalent to showing your opponent your winning strategy and giving them a chance to counter.
'Doing the exact same thing as before is just asking to lose.'
"Of course. Then what exactly are you going to do then?"
Echidna asked, her curiosity peaking.
Natsuki Subaru took a moment to think, trying to see what the right answer to this question would be since it would be something that he would be asking himself.
After thinking on it for a moment, he responded to the Witch of Greed with:
'I will do what needs to be done, for everyone's sake.'
Once said this to her, he entered onto the Margrave's office on his own to once again hear the same words as before:
"Well, it's gooooood to see you, Subaru-kuuuun."
"You summoned me?"
"Yeees. It seems that something is brewiiiiiing. Are you aware of what's aboooout to take place?"
"..."
Subaru remained silent since this would be pointless to respond.
He gives Roswaal a look, indicating to the Margrave that he indeed knows what's going to happen next.
Roswaal closed his eyes while saying:
"Buuuuut of course. You've already haaaaad this conversion before."
"Yes, one too many times now."
Roswaal was intrigued by this comment, wondering what exactly had happened prior to this world.
He leaned towards his partner in crime's direction while questioning him:
"What aaaaare we dealing with? Whaaaaat's the reason for repeating events?"
"...let's say we got someone who can follow me when I get a do over."
Although being vague about Return by Death to avoid the punishment, it was enough words for the margrave to understand the situation.
"I see. Quiiiite the troublesome foe you've found yourself."
"..." Subaru didn't like this comment at all since it was true, his counterpart was quite the annoyance to deal with.
"And whooooo is this troublesome foe?"
"A counterpart of mine."
"Counterpart?" Roswaal was curious about what exactly his partner meant by that.
"Just someone who shares my looks."
"An imposter, perhaps?"
"Not quite." Natsuki Subaru said before proceeding to explain the important details of the opponent they are facing, "He is a different version of me, a literal counterpart of myself."
Roswaal was curious about this now.
Another Natsuki Subaru, such a thing should be impossible, granted when it comes to his partner in crime nothing is impossible.
Though the only real concern would be that an alternative version of his partner being the troublesome opponent they would have to deal with.
He leaned back onto his seat before asking his partner in crime:
"What wooooould you like to do this time around?"
Natsuki Subaru was silent for a moment, knowing that he will need to play his cards right if he wishes to achieve true victory this time around.
The last loop proved that it is possible to beat his counterpart though if there were some changes that were needed to insure that he wins, he would need to remove some pieces from his side of the board to make sure there aren't any his counterpart can use this time around.
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Garfiel Tinsel, now in his beast form, looked around and spotted both of his opponents.
Although Otto would be the logical choice, his hatred for Subaru was too much to overlook.
He began to give chase to the boy, prompting him to smile.
'He took the bait.'
He was counting that Garfiel's hatred would blind him enough to give chase to him.
He began to run like hell, wanting to keep a distance from the beast.
Beatrice looked at the beast form of the demi human boy that's chasing them before turning towards her contractor.
"This is the most reckless thing you've ever done, in fact."
"A little reckless but everything is calculated."
"Reckless is still reckless!"
Beatrice smacked him in the head, not wanting him to excuse his reckless tendencies.
Subaru just took the hits, knowing that Beatrice dislikes it when he puts himself in danger.
As he continued to run, he waited for the right moment before telling Beako:
"Okay, you ready?"
"Always."
Knowing her part in the plan, space distorted with the pair vanishing from the sky right as Garfiel had reached the two and attempted to kill them.
As they disappear from the beast's view, he looks around to search for his target.
While he was looking around, Otto slowly moved closer as he held a blue crystal in his hand.
'Natsuki-san gambled correctly. Garfiel-san seems to be hunting him down.'
"Worried about me?" Subaru said as he suddenly appeared right behind the merchant along with the little spirit by his side.
Otto was startled by this, which had accidentally caused him to drop the blue crystal.
"Don't do that! It's not funny!"
"Sorry, I wasn't trying to scare you."
As he apologized, the merchant realized that he dropped the crystal.
He goes to pick it up but just as he does this, the three notice that Garfiel was running towards their direction.
"Seems like you are up." Subaru said before once again space distorted, allowing Beatrice and him to teleport out of the area.
Otto turned around only to see that they were gone, causing the merchant to be completely annoyed.
'Seriously!?'
Before he could even complain, he saw the beast form of Garfiel Tinsel running right towards him, causing him to scream in fear before beginning to run for his life.
As this was happening, the merchant was reminded of his previous encounter with the demi human boy all the way back in the Sanctuary.
Back then it was scary dealing with this beast form, just watching Garfiel running right towards him.
To be in this situation once again was not only humiliating but very annoying.
As he's running away from Garfiel, he looks at the blue crystal, knowing what he needs to do in order to reverse Garfiel's beast form back into his human form.
He continued to run for a good while; just as it seemed like he was going to get caught, a sudden wave of purple projectiles was sent towards Garfiel's way.
The beast stopped on its tracks as he turned towards the directions the projectiles were sent from.
Once looking at his right side, he spotted Subaru holding onto Beatrice's hand with his left hand while the other was pointed towards him.
The anger he has towards Subaru once again consumes the mind of the beast, prompting him to start charging right towards their position.
Beatrice waited until Garfiel was within range before using the last of her mana to use El Shamak.
As the area was covered with black smoke, Garfiel was stunned due to all his senses suddenly not working properly.
This gave Otto the chance to charge into the black smoke to stab the beast with the blue crystal he had on him.
Once he did this, the crystal shine bright all around the smoke.
'There we go!'
Otto felt hopeful at first since Subaru had explained that when the crystal glows, it'll be a matter of time before Garfiel reverts to his human form.
As the crystal continued to glow, it seemed like Garfiel wasn't affected by it one bit.
'This isn't good!' Otto thought to himself as he can see vaguely from the smoke around them that the beast was prepared to kill him right there.
He was frozen in place for that moment before suddenly he felt something shove him to the ground.
As he was on the ground, he felt that Garfiel had swung his right arm towards the position he was just at.
Had this force not interfered, he would've been killed for sure.
Once the smoke cleared, Otto began to run though he noticed Subaru was standing to the side with his nose bleeding and his eyes red.
"Natsuki-san!"
"...G-Go...I'll be fine..." Subaru said this as he was struggling to move.
Otto knew that if Garfiel saw him, he would go right at him while he was in this condition.
He turned around and using his divine protection, he managed to get the attention of the beast by speaking its language.
The beast turned towards Otto's direction, at this point no longer thinking clearly.
He saw the merchant and could only think about attacking him, prompting him to charge towards him.
Before Otto began to run away from the beast, he looked at the blue crystal to see that it was still glowing bright.
'Perhaps Garfiel being stronger here means it'll take longer than what Natsuki-san thought.'
That was the only conclusion the merchant could think of.
Regardless, he will need to keep Garfiel Tinsel busy until either the plan works or Natsuki Subaru recovers from his sudden injuries or a combination of both.
While he gets the giant beast away from his friend, Subaru looks from a distance with Beatrice by his side, worried for his safety.
"What did you do, I suppose?!"
"...S-Something that w-was worth it..."
Subaru said this as he thought back to a failed loop when Otto had saved his life which resulted in his death.
He didn't want a repeat of that as well as the fact that he doesn't have Return by Death to rely on.
He used Invisible Providence to push Otto out of the way though he had already used the sloth witch factor more times than he wanted to which resulted in his eyes turning red and his nose bleeding.
There was also his body straining which is the core reason why he can't move as much.
He slowly looked at Beatrice, seeing that she was mad at him for putting himself in such a position.
"...hehe...s-sorry about this, B-Beako..."
"You should be!" Beatrice shouted, angry at him once again for taking such a gamble.
She understood that it had to be related to the merchant, yet she didn't like that he was risking his life as well in the process.
He turned towards Otto's direction, seeing that he lured Garfiel away from them.
"We need to help—"
"You need to rest, in fact!" Beatrice interrupted. "In your condition, you will get yourself killed!"
"I know, I know...but we can't leave him all on his own—"
"Put faith in the merchant. He knows what he's doing, I suppose."
Beatrice has seen Otto be capable all on his own and considering how much time he and Garfiel from their world have spent together, he knows Garfiel just as much as the blonde haired maid and Subaru.
Subaru was silent for a second before nodding at her, knowing that what she said was true.
His best friend Otto Suwen can hold his own.
While he goes to rest with Beatrice by his side, Otto continues to run through the forest to avoid getting caught by the giant beast chasing him.
As he goes through a couple of trees, he can hear his opponent destroy everything around him just so he can catch him.
He turned around to check on the distance, surprised that Garfiel was closing in on him pretty fast despite all the trees being in the way.
This short distance between the two forced the merchant to make a sharp turn to avoid the attack the beast was attempting to do at that moment.
Once escaping Garfiel's first attack, he threw the last red crystals he had on hand right behind him, having timed it when Garfiel was somewhat caught by the exploding crystals.
As the explosion set off, Garfiel's leg was burning though the beast did not care.
He continued to run through a lot more pissed off than before, something that Otto didn't account for.
Despite this issue, he continued to run deeper into the forest, counting on his capabilities in holding his own against this strong version of Garfiel Tinsel.
After a couple of minutes of running from the beast, he eventually ran himself into a corner.
The beast started to throw trees at the merchant, managing to trap him even if it wasn't intentional.
As the merchant was surrounded by trees, having no real way of escaping.
He turned towards Garfiel's direction to see that he was closing in on him, slowly and menacingly.
'Just my luck.'
At this point the merchant wasn't surprised, considering how bad his luck had been throughout his life.
However, he wasn't afraid this time.
He knew that despite his luck being the worst, he was around quite fortunate people.
Right before the beast could attack him, another wave of purple projectiles was fired towards him.
This was enough of a distraction to cause the beast to turn towards his right side to see Beatrice.
Although for the majority of his mind was a mindless beast hellbent on destroying everything, seeing Beatrice was oddly different.
It was almost like a reminder of what he had lost long ago.
This distraction was enough for Otto to charge directly towards Garfiel in order to retrieve the blue crystal, seeing that it isn't working.
Right when he was about to grab it, he was suddenly kicked to the side by Garfiel, not with a lot of force but enough to stun him for a bit.
As he was sent to the side, the beast turned and spotted the merchant, returning it to its killing intent.
Right before he could stop his foot onto the poor merchant, someone shouted from the distance:
"Garfiel Tinsel!"
"..." The beast stopped as it turned towards the voice, that being Natsuki Subaru.
With him, his anger was extreme to such an unhealthy point that in the beast form he began to glow a red aura around itself.
Beatrice turned towards her contractor, infuriated that he's once again risking his own life.
"Subaru! What are you doing, in fact?!"
"Trust me, Beako...I have to do this..."
Subaru using Cor Leonis could tell that Otto was in danger.
He had used it to detect if Emilia was in any danger, but she was out of range of his Greed witch factor.
He smiled at Garfiel, knowing that it's a matter of time before a certain cat gets the job done.
The giant beast turned towards Subaru's direction and started to charge right at the boy, his entire mind filled with killing intent.
"Get out of here!" Beatrice shouted, attempting to use yin magic with no mana left in her to try and save her contractor. '
Subaru realized this and immediately told her:
"Don't."
"But—"
"Trust me, we just need to put our faith in him."
"Him?" Beatrice questioned as she was uncertain what exactly her contractor was talking about.
Subaru noticed this yet his priority right now was just putting his trust in him to get the job done since he did see that the crystal was still glowing.
'Come on, you bastard. This is all for Emilia-tan's sake, you stupid cat.'
He was a little infuriated that he was taking his time in draining the mana out of Garfiel.
He remained still with Garfiel's fangs about to cut him down and with Beatrice preparing to sacrifice herself to protect her stubborn contractor until the giant beast stopped right when he was about to make contact with his target.
"..."
"...hm?"
"huh?"
While Subaru smiled confidently, Beatrice and Otto were confused on why Garfiel had suddenly stopped right when he was about to kill Subaru.
Garfiel remained standing still for quite some time until he was finally beginning to revert back into his human form.
Otto saw this and couldn't help but think about just how lucky Natsuki Subaru can be at times.
Once Garfiel was in his human form, the crystal that was stabbed into him by Otto fell onto the ground with the demi human boy barely conscious.
Subaru slowly approached the demi human boy with Beatrice by his side, worried that the fighting wasn't over.
Otto slowly got himself back up on his feet and also approached the barely conscious Garfiel, feeling the same uncertainty that the little loli spirit was feeling.
Once they closed in on the demi human boy, Subaru could see that he was still awake and alive though he was drained from a lot of his mana.
"Took a while but that's what you get for hiding behind that beast form."
"..."
The demi human boy didn't respond, barely looking like he's listening to what Subaru had said. Otto didn't like that at all.
"Natsuki-san! It isn't wise to aggravate him."
"I know, but he needs to hear these words."
"You do realize how much he hates you, right? Aggravating him will make all of our efforts worthless."
As Otto said this, Garfiel looked at Subaru and prepared to waste his remaining strength in punching the shit out of him.
Right before he could land his fist onto Subaru's face, a female voice with a sharp tone spoke out:
"Enough, Garf!"
"...!"
Garfiel stopped himself as he didn't expect her to tell him to stop right when he had Natsuki Subaru right there.
He moved his arm back in order to try again, not wanting to waste this opportunity.
Right when he swung once again, the pink haired oni maid had stopped this by grabbing Garfiel's arm.
"I said enough!"
"...I-I got him, damn it...!...w-why're ya stoppin' me...Ram?"
"Because Barusu is not the one you hate, it's Subaru-sama."
"D-Don't say that bastard's name like that!" Garfiel shouted before coughing some blood, barely having any strength to stand.
"You shouldn't be pushing yourself."
"Shut th'fuck up, coward piece of shit...!"
Garfiel wanted to punch Otto only for Ram to smack him in the head.
"Rest Garf, you've done enough."
"...ya don't...tell me what t'do...!"
Before he could even protest, Garfiel collapsed onto Ram, having lost the last remnants of energy he had on him.
Ram caught the boy, seeing that he fought with everything he had on him yet somehow was bested by Barusu.
"Of all the people to lose to Garf..." She whispered to him before setting him gently to the side.
As she placed him carefully onto the ground in order for him to rest, she looked at Subaru with a death stare.
He was taken aback for a bit only for his attention to draw when Beatrice hugged him while giving a death stare of her own towards Ram.
The pink haired oni took note of this, prompting her to question this Natsuki Subaru.
"What exactly are you doing here? What is your purpose?"
"I'm here to help."
"Help? How?" She responded sharply. Subaru looked at Emilia, seeing the seriousness in her beautiful purple eyes.
He couldn't help but feel like she was telling him to explain to Ram everything that's going on. Subaru turned his attention towards Ram's direction in order to respond with:
"To stop my counterpart. I'm Natsuki Subaru from another world."
"From another world?" An eyebrow was raised when this was said, questioning this Subaru's response though she can see that he wasn't lying. "Explain."
Subaru was thinking on how to approach this question, knowing that explaining everything would take too long.
The last thing he can afford right now is wasting time on trivial things.
"Let's say I along with Beako, Emilia-tan, and Otto exist in a reality where Emilia-tan completed the trials and Roswaal's book was destroyed."
That sentence alone caught Ram's attention, more particularly the last part of the sentence.
She looked away for a moment to think deeply on her next words.
After a few seconds, she pointed her wand suddenly towards his face.
"And why should I trust you?"
Ram wasn't going to put her faith in Barusu that easily, she needed to be sure that what Emilia had told her earlier was true.
Subaru was silent as he thought back to the three versions of Ram he had interacted with before this one before him.
The first being similar to the second, broken and full of hatred since they both lost Rem.
The third being from his world, the one he has a decent friendship with.
The first one hated him until realizing that he wasn't like the Sin Archbishop of Pride.
The second one still hated him but upon learning the truth about her mistaken vengeance, a hint of guilt could be seen in her eyes since she did push the Purge King into the path of destruction.
As for his world's version of Ram, he had gone through a lot with her since the beginning after the events related to Elsa Grainhart, Felt, Old Man Rom, and Emilia.
It took so long to build some form of trust with her but it's one of the friendships he treasures.
So, knowing that at the very least this Ram had some form of friendship with his counterpart before...well everything is going to shit in the sanctuary, he knows what to say.
"I know I'm not exactly the person you want to trust. The version of me that you know, Natsuki Subaru, helped Roswaal in getting what he wanted. To free the Sanctuary and basically make Emilia a pawn in their shared goal, to make her the King of Lugnica. That's clearly wrong because it invalidates her feelings, her reasons for wanting to become King."
He paused for a second as he looked at Emilia.
He still remembers how much trouble he had caused her before, making a fool of himself and picking a fight with Julius.
Trying to force his feelings onto Emilia as well as telling her that she owes him a big debt.
Trying to take the trials for Emilia because he didn't believe in her.
Those were mistakes he had made and knows he's still got quite a long way to go before truly redeeming himself. He turned back towards Ram.
"I can't say anything to make you trust me but all I can ask is if you can give me a chance to be trusted."
As Subaru finished, he slowly thought on the memories he has of this world's Natsuki Subaru, reflecting on how his counterpart had beaten Elsa Grainhart, forced Garfiel Tinsel to feel useless, and disbanded Felt camp in such an underhanded way that it disgusts him.
Emilia felt a bit uncomfortable hearing this stuff from her knight, seeing just how different this world's Natsuki Subaru is from the one in front of her.
Ram looked right into Subaru's eyes, being able to tell that he's speaking from the heart.
She remained silent for a moment before closing her eyes and walking away from them.
"Not very impressed by what I see but for now you'll have to do, Barusu."
As Ram walked towards the direction of the mansion, Subaru was uncertain at first if Ram did trust him, even a little.
Before anything else can be said, Ram spoke out once more towards Subaru:
"Carry Garf. We are not leaving him here."
"Hold on, Natsuki-san's too injured to do that."
Ram stopped on her tracks before sharply turning towards the merchant, scaring the hell out of him with just a simple glance.
"Then you carry him."
After saying this, she continued to walk towards the mansion, determined to accomplish her newfound goal.
Otto stood still for a few seconds before turning towards the unconscious Garfiel and did exactly what she said.
He picked him up before starting to follow Ram with Emilia, Subaru, and Beatrice eventually following behind.
Before the three followed, Subaru turned towards Emilia to ask her:
"What did you do to get Ram to help us?"
"Well...I just told her the truth. That you wanted to help."
"...and that worked?"
"Yes." Emilia said with a smile, slightly catching Subaru off guard.
He was a bit skeptical on the matter...though he shouldn't really care since he trusts Emilia's capabilities to win people over.
He just smiled at her before turning towards Beatrice, seeing that she was still mad at him.
"Don't be mad, Beako."
"You just never listen, stupid, stubborn contractor!" Beatrice pouted when saying this. Subaru just couldn't help but find Beako cute when she pouts. She knew exactly what he was thinking, prompting her to start punching him. "Take things seriously, I suppose!"
"Sorry, Sorry. I just can't help but find you so cute, Beako."
Beatrice did enjoy hearing that but she's still mad at him for nearly getting himself killed.
"Hmph."
She started to walk towards Emilia to be with her instead of Subaru.
"Oh come on, Beako."
"No! You made me mad."
"I said I'm sorry."
"..."
Beatrice was not having it; she was mad at Subaru and remained by Emilia's side.
Emilia couldn't help but giggle at this interaction.
She does agree with Beatrice that Subaru shouldn't be risking his life so recklessly, however she understands that her knight doesn't do reckless things without reason.
She pats Beatrice's head before the two start to walk towards Ram's direction. Subaru saw this and just smiled since he knows that Beatrice will get over it...hopefully.
This fun moment though will fade away soon since he knows that the ones they need to save first will be the counterparts of Emilia and Beatrice.
The others need saving too but considering how broken those two are, he wants to prioritize them first.