4 CH 4. Victory? But not really

CH 4.

.. 

Where was his head?

DUCK!

He didn't know what happened. It came too suddenly. Maybe it was someone shouting at him, simply his imagination, or his instinct. Nonetheless, he obeyed and dropped himself to the ground as fast as possible.

It was just in time as a black blur passed just above where his head was one moment ago.

JUMP RIGHT!

He followed this weird instinct again, sprung forward and to the right in time to avoid being turned into minced meat. Elsa's swinging dagger turned another part of the floor into splinters.

BLOCK!

Red eyes met emerald green. Alex quickly raised his sword to block the dagger that was about to pierce his face. This time, though, he did not manage to block perfectly, and his body was flung backward because of Elsa's monstrous strength.

He crashed against the furniture and stolen goods laying on the floor. How long he rolled on the ground, he didn't know, but judging by how dizzy he felt, it must have been long enough. A headache began to appear, and he clutched his head, trying his best to repel the dizziness invading his mind.

'Shit! What was that?! What the hell is-'

ABOVE!

He raised his face and sword as quickly as possible, listening to whatever was screaming at him. Too late this time, the dagger was already very close to his face. Blocking was not possible; he instead tried to deflect it. That caused the tip of the blade to graze his cheek – deep enough for blood to show – making Alex bite his lip to not scream in pain.

It hurts! God damn it, it hurts!

Something heavy smacked into his stomach. Alex realized too late that it was Elsa sitting on top of him. Still in possession of her new appearance–blood-red eyes and long fangs –she raised her dagger with murderous intent.

'SHIT!'

"DIE!"

With a snarl, the vampire brought down her dagger towards his face.

His green eyes widened as he felt something clutch his heart that was beating far faster than usual. He saw the dagger coming down to end his life and–

BANG!

All of a sudden, something smacked into the back of the vampire, knocking her away and saving him from a painful death.

"Whoa, that was a close one, right boy?"

Hovering not far away from his contractor was Puck. The cat spirit had both of his paws pointed in the direction of the armored man. His blue-colored eyes twinkled with mischief while he watched Alex slowly rise.

"Get back here boy! This woman is more dangerous than you think!" called Puck urgently.

Still dazed by his flirt with death, Alex snapped out of his lethargic state. He briefly glanced at the vampire now against the wall, pushed by a massive block of ice before deciding to follow Puck's order.

"I would have been very grateful if you had come a few seconds earlier," Alex dryly told the spirit.

"Well, I can't manifest while Lia heals someone," replied Puck with a small glare. "I absorb mana from the surrounding area just by existing; this will cause disturbance in the healing process. It can be very dangerous bothering the healer."

"Alex, are you okay?" Emilia asked, standing at his side with a worried look. "You're injured."

He was very tempted to say 'thank you for pointing out the obvious, mistress,' but held his tongue since he knew Emilia didn't deserve this.

"Yeah, she got me," he said instead, wincing because talking made him move his cheek. A lot of blood was pouring down and falling on the ground. It was hurting enough while standing still, damn it!

"This woman… I thought she was human," commented Puck with wariness. "But with these feral features, red eyes, and fangs… She is a vampire," he said in a grim voice. "This won't be easy."

As if on cue, the giant block of ice exploded with force. Seeing this, Puck wasted no time and summoned other ice blocks, making them rain down on the vampire's supposed position.

A black blur shot through the white mist, avoiding all the icicles that were falling down like bullets. No longer was she wearing her coat; it was destroyed in the previous attack and left her only in her black skintight outfit. Her red eyes and monstrous face were also gone. She looked like a normal human once again.

Puck did not stop though; his paws moved toward Elsa's position, and icicles kept appearing from empty air, raining down on his target's path.

Alex couldn't help but be impressed. There were so many shards of ice, their spawn time was amazingly fast. In a way, it reminded the blond armored man of Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon or EMIYA's Rain of Swords.

'Well, if I compare it with the Nasuverse, Puck should be on an even level with a laser Divine Beast.'

It was the second-highest rank a magical beast could attain. One that had even higher Magic power than Saber, who could tank spells from Age of Gods Magus. Alex wouldn't be surprised if Puck was that strong. If not, Puck could at least be considered a Phantasmal Beast–which still was bad news in his opinion.

Elsa approached swiftly, zig-zagging on the floor; she hopped on the wall as if denying gravity, spun around, and ducked down to the floor so low that she looked like a crawling spider.

Such skill, such agility. There must have been over two hundred pieces of ice thrown at her, but other than the first attack–that caught her from behind–not even a single one found their mark. Watching the scene in the anime and beholding it directly was clearly different. This was the real Elsa Granheirt, the real Bowel Hunter, at her best without holding back.

Maybe not best, with one hand hardly hanging on her shoulder. I also noticed it wasn't healing, or more precisely, it was healing but so slow that it was nonexistent.

Now Alex felt lucky she was toying with him before, enough that he was able to deliver a direct strike on her person.

'The sun… It is already the afternoon, but I don't think Puck will retreat soon. If we keep going like this, we will win, but…' noted Alex as he stared at the sunlight through the hole in the wall.

Moreover, Elsa's condition was not the best; her left arm seemed to be hanging and barely moving. Alex could have believed it to be useless if he had not seen it trembling slightly.

"Very agile and flexible, as expected from a vampire," commented Puck, still launching the shards of ice.

"Praised by a spirit of your calibre, you are going to make me blush." Elsa chuckled while parrying the few icicles coming close to hitting her. "But if this is all you can do, then I will kill you!"

And Alex believed her. Despite the odd standing against her, he had no doubt that Elsa could deliver another blow. He remembered that her healing ability was superb to the point that she could still regenerate after being sliced in two. Heck, she survived a point-blank attack from Reinhard in canon!

Even his holy sword only slowed down her regeneration, yet her regeneration was still trying to heal her.

Right now, time was not on their side. The longer the fight lasted, the better Elsa's condition would become.

'It seems I need to rejoin the fight,' thought Alex as he raised Excalibur and prepared to dash over to Elsa.

"On the contrary, I don't think you will kill anyone today."

Every person in the room paused when the new voice entered the fray. Puck, who was launching ice shards, Elsa, who was standing on top of an ice block, and Alex, who had already made one step forward. They all stopped moving. They turned to the entrance where the new voice came from and saw a certain red-haired knight who was standing there with a smile.

"Checkmate," muttered Alex with a grin as he stared at Reinhard.

"When I heard a girl screaming for help about the Bowel Hunter attacking her friends, I actually expected the worst," Reinhard said as he stepped inside the ruined warehouse.

"However, I did not expect that the one needing help would be the killer herself. This is clearly a surprise." He chuckled, staring at Elsa's bloody lip, forehead, and left arm. He then shifted his gaze towards Alex and Emilia and smiled at them in a praising manner.

"Reinhard van Astrea."

Elsa's beatific face turned into a deeper frown. Any other day she would be delighted to see him or even to cross swords with him. But right now? In her current condition? No, this would end badly. And as much as she loved fighting, she valued her life a lot more.

The odds were not looking good for her.

"Is it alright if I take over from here, Emilia-sama, Alex, Puck-sama?" asked Reinhard as he glanced at the trio.

"Why not?" Puck shrugged as he dismissed all the icicles still in the air. "It means I don't need to work."

"I don't mind either," agreed Emilia.

"Same here. Always welcome a Knight with open arms," Alex nodded, he already fought enough in his opinion.

He felt very satisfied with this result, actually. Everything went smoothly–despite almost dying several times, of course.

Is this how Subaru felt when he returned from death and shocked all his enemies thanks to his knowledge of the future? If yes, then it was very, very satisfying!

Reinhard smiled at them and gave a nod before turning to Elsa, "I suggest you surrender now."

Taking another step forward, "You're completely surrounded and also injured."

"Yes, things are obviously not looking good for me," agreed Elsa with a chuckle while holding her injured arm.

She looked very calm for someone cornered, "Boy, what's your name?" she asked, looking at Alex.

The blond knight raised his eyebrows, "I fail to see why I should give my name to a dead woman."

"How rude of you to treat a lady like that." Elsa wrinkled her nose in disapproval. "You won't graduate into knighthood if you keep that behavior."

"I don't want to hear that from someone who enjoys the color of someone's intestine splattered on the ground while smiling and orgasmic," replied Alex dully. "That is a very unladylike behavior, so stop referring to yourself as one."

"Touché," said Elsa with a smirk. "Well, then I will retreat. However, know that this is not the last time you will see me, Alex."

"You aren't going anywhere," interrupted Reinhard in a serious voice as he took a step forward.

"I won't be so sure…" purred Elsa as she pulled out something from her pocket and showed it to them.

"If you try to catch me, this will be destroyed."

It was an insignia… Not just a normal one but the Royal Insignia belonging to Emilia.

"That's!" Emilia let out a small gasp, instantly recognizing the badge.

"Without this, you won't be considered a Royal Candidate, little girl." Elsa's smirk turned into a full grin.

"If you let me go, I will return this. So, how about it?"

Reinhard and Alex glared at the vampire, the former gentle look turned to anger while the latter was beyond rage.

He had her! He had her just where he wanted! They could kill her now, preventing her from coming in the future and becoming a troublesome enemy! She would be in Arc Four or Five, after all!

And now she pulled this kind of shit?!

'This shouldn't have happened in the first place now that I think about it. If I remember correctly, Elsa goes to meet Felt in the afternoon! So why did she come early? What changed? Could it be that I caused some anomaly? Reinhard's appearance is also a bit later than it should have been.'

He must have made some kind of error. His original plan was actually to wait for Elsa to come and strike her down. However, he didn't expect the killer to be there already when he arrived at the warehouse.

'Wait… In the first two loops, Felt arrived in the afternoon because she was still trying to escape from Emilia. But here, she didn't have to since I accompanied Emilia around and… Could it be because of that?! Because she was early, she decided to call Elsa earlier too?'

Well, that was kind of shitty! God damn it! It was just a small mistake, but it changed the result of this encounter! It was supposed to end with her dead or apprehended by Reinhard!

Damn it!

"How about it, little lady?" asked Elsa of the silver half-elf."What do you say?"

"I…I…" Emilia looked very troubled; it was clear she didn't want the woman to escape.

However, the destruction of her insignia would cause too much trouble. People were already looking down on her due to her being a half-elf. If they found out about the loss of her insignia, it would be one more reason to label her as an 'improper' King, and her chance to be crowned would be close to zero.

"Go," ordered Alex, his face solemn and filled with anger barely restrained. "Leave and drop the insignia."

"Alex!" protested Emilia.

"Emilia-san, you're a kind lady, and despite lacking common sense, you have the right heart to be King," commented Alex. "You're what this country needs, and it would be a shame to lose you because of this small occurrence."

Emilia bit her bottom lip and looked even more conflicted. Her eyes showed that she clearly opposed this, and yet she couldn't find her voice to say it aloud.

"Go, leave the insignia," repeated Alex.

Hearing this, a satisfied look appeared on Elsa's face, "I knew you would see it my way."

"Well, at least from now on, people will know that the infamous Bowel Hunter got chased away by a knight-in-training, some old giant, and a little brat."

Elsa's eyes twitched in irritation and threw a glare at Alex, who was looking very smug. Reinhard smiled in amusement while Puck let out a snicker. Emilia seemed torn between amusement and worry that Alex kept provoking the serial killer.

"What? The story is written by the victors, and obviously, we are the winners here," said Alex when he noticed the vampire's glare.

"You bring shame to every knight with that way of thinking," said Elsa with an exasperated sigh. Seriously, this man would be better if he became a villain. He certainly had a good mindset for it.

"Still in training and not from these lands," replied Alex in a smug and cheerful manner.

Briefly, he wondered about his sanity. They were just about to kill each other, and yet… Right now he was bantering with her like they were old friends.

It was his own way of saying "Fuck You" to her; at least she didn't entirely get what she wanted. Let this be a lesson that showed he could be that petty.

Deciding she had joked enough, Elsa slowly put the insignia on the ground, her eyes remaining locked on the group. She then rose but not before placing her foot on top of the badge, ready to crush it if they made any movement toward her.

Her eyes shifted to one person of the group, one who obviously was the most inexperienced and yet managed to deal her more damage than anyone in years–ever since she became an assassin, really. Her calm face was slowly replaced by a smiling one, yet this time it didn't look kind or gentle. Quite the opposite, in fact.

It was filled with a sinister intent, a smile promising pain in the future.

"Next time… It will be different, boy," she said to the blond armored man. Her purple-colored eyes shifted to crimson red, glowing with ominous light.

In response to the threat, Alex narrowed his eyes back and called the mana inside him. It burst out, creating green electrical-like energy that cracked with power around him, and even the floor below him had spider cracks. "Yes, next it will be different," Alex replied with confidence and a promise of pain.

The sudden outburst prompted Emilia to stumble away in surprise–even Puck, who was hovering in the air, showed a surprised face.

'The amount of mana I sense from him…' Puck appraised the blond in a new light. 'He is not an ordinary knight-in-training… and I can sense he hardly used the mana in his body…'

"This is my line, old lady, next it will be different," responded Alex in a cold way that promised pain.

Elsa's sinister smile turned into a grin, seeming happy that her prey chose to respond in such a way.

"Keep yourself safe, boy, and keep that promise, because you are mine."

She then raised her left arm that hung from her shoulder, showing an ugly scar. Ugly was too light a word though; it was safer to say that the injured arm looked deformed, as if her cells had lost the sense of how her arm was supposed to look so now cellular regenerating is deformed grinded by something tough and unclean.

"My name is Elsa Granheirt, I will repay you for this wound you gave me, mark my words."

Then, before the boy could retort, she jumped back, spinning in the air and running as fast as possible. It was a wise decision in Alex's opinion, considering there was a chance they would chase after her. He would have if he had better control of his powers or his body and was not wounded. For now, chasing her by himself would be suicidal.

"Well…" Reinhard broke the silence, clearing his throat. "That went pretty smoothly."

"No, it didn't." Alex let out a sigh of disappointment and held his forehead.

"She managed to escape; this is clearly not smooth." He was really annoyed right now; this clearly soured his victory. "And it annoys me that it was my decision that allowed her to escape. I apologize for that, Reinhard."

"No." The red-haired man shook his head. "You did the right thing; I would have done the same thing if I were in your position."

"That doesn't change the fact that I just let an infamous and dangerous killer get away," replied Alex while clicking his tongue in annoyance.

"Alex, it's not your fault!" spoke Emilia with a strong voice. "It's mine! If only I didn't get my badge stolen, this–"

"Are you the one who let her get away?" cut Alex with a quirked eyebrow.

"No, but it's my decision! If I had agreed to have my badge destroyed then…"

"I'm the one who pressured you to let her go, Emilia-san. Had I not, I'm sure you would have decided to capture her."

"You don't know that!"

"I know enough; we only met for a short time, but I can tell you're a very passionate and kind person. You wouldn't have let her go and would have sacrificed yourself in the end."

"In my opinion," Reinhard steps forward between the arguing duo. "Rather than trying to decide who's at fault, I think it would be better to be grateful that no one died. The Bowel Hunter usually leaves someone dead whenever she strikes, but we have no casualties here, right?"

Hearing that, Emilia seemed relieved and accepting of the situation, especially thanking Alex deep in her heart. Reinhard was right; rather than arguing about who was to blame, it would be better to focus on the present.

Alex merely gave a stoic look to the red-haired knight. It was a positive answer, a good one, but that didn't change the fact that they just let go of a serial killer who had a high possibility of killing someone else tomorrow, maybe a whole family.

It was not something you could easily shrug off like that.

Well, it didn't really matter, though, as long as it wasn't related to him in any way. Moreover, Emilia stopped blaming herself, so it was fine.

"I guess you're right in a way," agreed Emilia.

"Hn." simply grunted Alex.

"Well, as things have already calmed down. I guess I might as well go back," commented Puck, staring at the setting sun. "It's almost five in the afternoon."

"Thank you for the assistance, Puck!" said Emilia gratefully.

"No problem!"

With that, the cat spirit slowly became translucent and disappeared in motes of blue lights, leaving Emilia, Alex, Reinhard, and Felt who were looking from afar.

"You are…" began Emilia, noticing the thief's presence who flinched at being caught.

"H-Hi?" she greeted awkwardly, waving her hand.

The glare Emilia sent her undoubtedly told the blond thief that she made a very poor choice of words.

"You stole my insignia."

"I-I was hired! T-That crazy lady hired me to steal your insignia! But she attacked us at the moment of paying! I'm a victim too!"

"But unlike Emilia-san, you are a victim of your own mistake," butted in Alex with a dry voice.

"You're working in the slum; you should know there is always a risk when dealing with the people around here."

The thief squirmed under the knight's stern gaze, not knowing how to respond to that line.

"Alex, I think that was too harsh," said Emilia, seeing Felt showing genuine regret. "I mean, sure she stole my insignia, but I think she regrets it."

'Of course she does! She almost got killed! I would smack her on the head if she didn't feel any regret.' Alex deadpanned in his mind.

He shook his head and sighed, "Well, I guess I can understand her situation. She doesn't live in a good environment and doesn't have many options. But what I was trying to say is, do not try to make excuses, girl. When you are at fault, regret it and apologize. Understood?"

His words were still quite harsh, but everyone could hear his voice softening, going from a chiding to a lecture.

"Yes." Felt bowed her head in acceptance. "I'm sorry I stole your insignia, Onee-chan."

In response, Emilia smiled benevolently, "As long as you learn your lesson, then it's fine."

Felt only looked down and refused to meet the silver-haired girl's eyes. Then her head snapped up as something crossed her mind.

"Wait! Old man Rom!"

"He's fine." Alex was the one who answered, stepping aside to show the unconscious old man. "Emilia-san has healed his injury."

"Uh-huh," nodded Emilia in a kind and reassuring manner. "I already healed his fatal injury; however, he still needs to rest a few days."

The wound was not fatal thankfully; it only caused him to bleed a lot. It seems the Bowel Hunter loved to see her prey die in a slow and agonizing way. That's probably why she avoided killing him in an instant.

Felt could feel her eyes starting to become wet as she saw the giant unconscious form. Almost an hour ago he was bleeding so much, and his usual warm body felt so cold. There was so much blood coming out of him. He was very close to death; she remembered when he was gurgling in his own blood and about to die. The thought of the old man dying instilled terror in her heart.

She knew he was old; he obviously looked like one and he did not even deny it. However, she firmly believed that Rom was strong. For all his old appearance, it was clear there was a fire burning in that old soul.

So it was very shocking to see him dying like that…

"Old man Rom..." she choked out as she grasped the giant hand gently, tears dripping from her eyes. They were the result of a mixture between sadness and happiness.

Reinhard, Emilia, and Alex watched the scene, each with their own feelings. The first two found it very touching and joyful,Especially Emilia, since she did not remember her own parents. When Puck unfroze her, she did not remember anything except her name. It was kind of saddening not to know who she was.

She had created a bond with Puck, though, and even if he was not her real parent, Emilia was happy to have him in her life. And this, this scene that she was currently seeing—it was proof. It was similar. Felt was not a giant; she was only human, and yet she loved Rom so much. The old giant also clearly felt the same thing for her.

It was heartwarming to watch people not related by blood and from different species love each other like family members.

Meanwhile, Alex didn't know how to react to what was happening in front of him. When he watched Felt and Rom's death in the anime, he barely felt anything other than shock and surprise. They were only fictional characters, after all, so it was no use crying over them.

However, seeing the real deal stand in front of him like this…

It made the man realize that he was now part of this world. This fictional place… And it brought a pang to his heart as he knew it would be a very long time before he could see his real family again, if he even got the chance to see them. Re:Zero was not an anime showing joy and happiness.

No… It… What it was about…

It was about human emotions.

It was a tragedy.

He turned away from the scene and stared at the stars that were slowly becoming visible, the sun starting to set down, and the moon replacing its place in the sky.

His mind wandered to what he just went through, and he couldn't help but feel nervous and afraid recalling what he just did.

'Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! I just provoked a crazy serial killer! By the Gods! What have I done?!'

He was pretty much panicking as he remembered his conversation with Elsa. He was very tempted to smash his head into a building to punish himself for acting this foolishly. He wanted to be subtle, damnit! Was provoking a dangerous criminal subtle? Gaaaah! Maybe his head was damaged from the beating Elsa gave him.

No, now it's no time to panic. You just get used to it and now to train and prepare for our next encounter.

His panic slowly died down and turned to dread as he remembered just how many times he almost died today. Each attack Elsa managed to land on him was supposed to be an instant kill. The only thing that saved him was his magical armor. Without it, he would have really died in their first exchange.

'I'm… Weak…'

He had superior strength and speed. He was sure he was stronger and faster than Elsa since he could dodge her attacks or block them even when she transformed. However, the problem was in his skill and the stat he could hardly use. The vampire was right; he was only average at best.

He panicked easily and wasted too much energy, making himself open. He only dared to attack her openly once. Besides that, he only defended, proof of his inferiority.

He only managed to land two solid strikes, and both of them were surprise attacks. The last one landed because she underestimated him. She knew he was unskilled after their first exchange.

Re:Zero was an anime that related a story about tragedy. Just thinking about that made him clench his fists.

'Well, there's no way I am going to make this story become a tragedy! Not when I'm the one who stands in the middle of it! I have no intention to make it one!'

No intentions of dying and replaying my life again and again. And I don't even know if I can even do this. It could be the only chance for me, and even if it wasn't, he won't die no matter what happens.

He survived on his first try against a superior enemy. Elsa Granhiert was someone who should not be messed with, one of the worst criminals, and yet he did not just survive but sent her back with her tail between her… Butt? Legs? Bah, it was the same in his mind.

He could do this… Yes… He could…

And he should…

He had more than enough power to do this on my first try. I just had struggles and made use of every little thing I have and trained a lot.

But he needs to be careful from now on… Knowing things didn't always make him the winner, after all.

"Alex?"

The blond-haired man turned, hearing a familiar gentle voice calling him.

"Yes? Emilia-san?" he asked.

"You're injured." Emilia pointed to his bloody cheek. "Let me heal you."

Alex only stared at her for a second before he tilted his head, "No need, Emilia-san. I will heal automatically," he replied as he can't use that here. "I mean, you just healed that giant and also supported Puck when he faced Elsa."

"I never faced her directly, so I'm fine," responded Emilia. "True, I'm a bit tired, but I will manage."

Alex did not make any attempt to dissuade her anymore and only kept silent as he again used that in front of everyone. At least he was being polite enough. He needed to make an impression on her, since Puck did not trust him, it meant he had to work on his relationship with her.

'Well... At least I managed to do better than Subaru... Though for some reason, I feel like I am going to make things more complicated in the future, but for now... I guess this is a victory, albeit not one that I hoped for.'