Chapter 3 - Meeting the Witch

'How?' Orion thought to himself. 'It's not even dusk yet! How did I get back here?'

Walking off the road to not impede any foot traffic, Orion cupped his chin in thought.

'Did the reset condition change?' Orion wondered. 'If there even was one to begin with, that is. I'm fairly certain I didn't do anything since I talked to Reinhard in the original 'loop' without any problems. Could it be Subaru who did something?'

Orion turned his head to where his instincts were telling him to go. To where Subaru should be right about now.

'Well… I won't get any answers by just standing here.'

Shaking off his confusion, Orion began running toward the feeling as he thought over his experience, trying to forget the pain while remembering the facts.

'But how the hell are we supposed to deal with that woman? Go to Reinhard? But we got there just in time last time even though we went right away, we might not have time to go to the knights barracks.'

Thinking about how to get out of the situation, or rather, get Felt and Rom out of the situation, Orion eventually found himself in an alley, where a familiar teenager was walking into.

"Subaru!" Orion called out.

"S-Senpai?" Subaru said in return, looking up as his serious expression morphed into one of relief. "Boy, am I glad to see you!"

Jogging up to Orion, Subaru's smile twisted into a concerned grimace, "Hey, if you remember me, do you… you know…"

"Yes, I do. It sucked and I don't want to talk about it," Orion answered, feeling a tingle in his gut and across his arms. "Anyway, we looped again, but it wasn't night. Do you know what happened?"

Subaru nodded, "Yeah I do. And I actually found the trigger."

He then pointed his thumb to his chest with a confident smirk, "I return by death!"

Orion looked at him with surprise before patting the younger boy on his shoulder, "That's… quite the troubling activation requirement. How did it happen last time?"

"I know, right!? It really is unfair, Senpai," Subaru lamented, wiping away a fake tear. "And last time… well, some muggers came to confront me and stabbed me in the back. A pathetic way to go, huh?"

"Don't say that, Subaru," Orion shook his head. "It's way too morbid. And what about the time before that? Were you… not able to get away?"

"You think that damn woman would?" Subaru shivered. "No, after I saw you and Felt, well… I finally was able to get to my feet and then…"

"I get the picture," Orion winced. "Anyway, let's try to get a knight to help us with that woman. I think if we run we can catch Reinhard in time-"

"Ah! That's them!" Subaru shouted, pointing over Orion's shoulder.

Turning around, Orion was greeted by the ugly sight of three thugs walking towards them menacingly.

'Small, medium, and large, huh? And what's with the chain around that middle guy's neck,' Orion thought.

"These three did you in?" he asked.

"Yeah! That middle one's got a pair of knives, but don't worry! I know how to counter these guys now!" Subaru said confidently.

"What're you babbling about?" the little thug said.

"Heh. If you don't wanna get hurt, cough up all your stuff, yeah?" the medium thug said.

"And don't even think of running," the older thug said, cracking his knuckles.

Orion narrowed his eyes as Subaru laughed, "Hah! After doing this four times, I've learned my lesson! Behold my ultimate move!"

Subaru then breathed in before screaming, "Guards! Please save me!"

His voice then changed into a feminine tone, "Someone! Please, I need… a…"

But his shouts died down as he watched Orion leap forth, punching the middle one in the face and instantly knocking him out before snapping his leg out to hit the small one, sending him into the wall. 

Now alone with the large thug, Orion swiftly dealt two punches to the man's kidney, causing him to drop where he was then knocked out with a punch to the jaw.

Subaru, having watched this unfold, simply looked on with awe.

"...Wow. I knew from the loot house you were pretty strong, but you did that like it was nothing!" he praised.

Orion simply huffed, "Compared to a Sword Saint and a crazy assassin, these guys are nothing. Perfectly manageable with my skills. Ah, and we don't want this one hurting anyone anymore."

He then took out a pair of short swords from under the medium-sized thug's shirt before putting one into his pant leg.

"I see… oh, and… sorry about not fighting with you last time," Subaru said, bowing. "I… should've tried to do something and not just leave you to deal with her like that alone."

"Don't worry about it," Orion waved off his apology. "You were clearly shocked, and if I didn't know from your story that she would kill me and Felt anyway, it would be hard to stand up to her."

Orion cracked his neck before gesturing for Subaru to follow him. "Anyway, as I said before, we have to get a knight and bring them with us before it's too late-"

"What seems to be the problem here?"

He was then cut off by a familiar voice, and turning his head, Orion was met with the sight of his red-haired friend.

'Well, I suppose he's not my friend yet. But what luck, to have him come to us,' Orion thought with a smile. 'But… Did he come from Subaru's shout? How did he hear from so far away and get here so fast?'

"It seems there has been a confrontation. Would you care to enlighten me?" Reinhard said sternly.

"Ah! Yeah!" Orion said, shaking away his thoughts. "These guys wanted to rob us and it got violent, so I dealt with it. I might have been a little tough on them, but I didn't want to risk things," he explained, handing Reinhard the other short sword.

Reinhard looked at Orion with surprise as he took the weapon, "I can tell you aren't lying… to think they would be so brazen to do that in the Royal Capital."

He then bowed to Orion, "I apologize for leaving you, a civilian, to defend yourself. As a knight, that is a most shameful occurrence."

"Ah, don't be like that, Reinhard. There's no need for a friend to bow like that!" Orion said, waving his hands.

"Friend?" Rienhard said in surprise.

'Shit! It just slipped out!' Orion thought with a grimace. 

But to Orion's pleasant surprise, Reinhard seemed to take this well, "I would be glad to be your friend. Though I would appreciate having a name to go with that..."

"Right," Orion said, extending his hand. "My name's Orion. Orion Valerius. It's a pleasure to meet you, Reinhard."

"You as well," Reinhard reciprocated the handshake before turning to Subaru. "And what is your name, if I may ask?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, it's Subaru! Natsuki Subaru!" he said, this time foregoing his odd introduction pose, much to Orion's relief.

Reinhard nodded before he was stopped, stunned in surprise as he noticed the potential hidden within Orion as well as his good nature much like the first loop.

'This man… would be perfect for the knights,' he thought.

"Orion… was it? You seem to have some odd clothing, both you and Subaru here. Are you perhaps from another nation?" Reinhard asked.

"Uhh, yeah, you could say that," Orion answered. "But it's quite far away and I doubt we'll be able to return… I guess you could call us homeless right about now."

"I see… that is a shame," Reinhard said. "Then, if I may be so presumptuous, I would like to offer you two to join me at my manor as a guest. After I take these three to the guards, of course," he then gestured toward the three knocked-out thugs.

Orion looked at Reinhard in surprise, but remembering the kindness he showed to him, a stranger, in the first 'loop', it wasn't really that odd.

"Actually," he said. "I was hoping you would come with us. There is something bad-"

As he was about to explain the situation at the loot house and the attacker, time slowed to a stop as Orion stood still.

'Did… did Subaru die or something? Why is this happening? No… this… this is something different,' he thought.

He then felt a chill as a shadow hand wrapped around his body before diving into his chest, where he then felt pain emerge from his heart. 

And an instant later, it disappeared and time resumed, leaving Orion to kneel on the ground as he clutched his chest.

'W-What… was that?'

"Orion? Are you okay?" Reinhard said with concern.

"Y-Yeah, just give me a moment…" Orion choked out.

'That… stopped me just before I explained the future… is that some kind of restriction? Where I can't talk about the time loop to others?' he thought.

For some reason, he instinctively felt like his conjecture was correct, leaving him to grimace in frustration.

'So I can't tell Reinhard what happened… I guess I'll have to try to rush things with Felt, maybe bringing them into the city where we couldn't be so easily disposed of.'

"Ahem. Sorry about that," Orion said, standing up. "I'd love to join you as a guest, but unfortunately, I have something to do today. If… if you could come to the loot house in the slums at some point… that would be very helpful."

"The slums… I'll see what I can do," Reinhard nodded.

"Right, well… let's go, Subaru," Orion said, walking out of the alley.

"Uh… sure!" Subaru responded, taken aback at how close the two had gotten.

'Senpai did mention meeting a knight in his first loop. But to think they closed the distance so fast… Such is the power of nice guys!' Subaru thought as he walked up to Orion.

"Anyway, what was that, Senpai? I felt time stop for a moment and then you suddenly fell to your knees," Subaru asked.

"I don't really know, but I think that's the restriction, or rather, the penalty," Orion responded.

"'Penalty'? What for?" Subaru said.

"For talking about your power to others," Orion narrowed his eyes. "Anyway, I'll try to negotiate with Felt while you try to find Satella. If we go as fast as we can, we should be able to make it before that woman attacks and get everyone out of there, with your Satella that I have yet to meet getting her insignia back as well."

After thinking about it for a while, Orion realized that the insignia must not be a trivial piece of jewelry if someone was hired to steal it and kill anyone in the know. But still, no matter how valuable, Orion was going to prioritize everyone's lives first.

"Oh! Leave that to me! But speaking of… I'm pretty sure Satella is an alias," Subaru said. "And from how she reacted from the last loop, one she doesn't like hearing. Or anyone, really."

"So what, she called herself a curse in your first loop?" Orion asked, confused.

"Yeah… she's ditzy like that," Subaru said, scratching his cheek. "It's… kind of cute."

'This guy… I guess that's what I should expect from a guy who's died three times now. He's hopeless.'

"More like stupid… but I'll leave you to it," Orion said. "And make sure not to sound too suspicious when you find her. Just say you saw her get something stolen and know where Felt lives."

"You got it, Senpai!"

And with that, they went their separate ways.

—

Jogging down the street, which had changed from paved stone to coarse dirt as he approached the edge of the city, Orion kept his head on a swivel as he kept an eye open for the place that had been described to him.

"At least I'm making good time," he muttered to himself. "Especially if that guy was right and I can catch Felt before she heads to the loot house."

Having gotten some vague directions from a slum dweller, Orion had learned that Felt lived in a small shack a few streets over from the loot house.

'Though I expected Felt and Rom to be living together. They seemed close enough, especially when-'

"Oomph!" Orion exhaled, having bumped shoulders with a person who had walked out from a nearby house. "Sorry about that, I didn't see you… there…"

Orion's words slowed to a crawl as he realized who he had just run into.

"Oh dear! Are you alright?"

Looking at him with a gentle smile was a woman with a black cloak, pale skin, and wavy black hair. A very familiar appearance.

"Oh? You're afraid… Why are you so scared, young man?" she asked.

Orion swallowed his spit before eventually finding his voice, "Uhh, n-no reason. You just reminded me of someone, is all."

The woman narrowed her eyes as her smile grew, "Very good~ I can hardly smell it now."

Nodding her head, the woman began walking away. "While I am curious about who exactly I remind you of, I do have somewhere to be, so I'll have to be on my way."

Walking past, she stopped as she passed Orion's side, "Ah, but here's a piece of advice: while you suppress your fear quite well, your anger is quite evident."

And with that, the mysterious assassin walked away, leaving Orion to shiver slightly as unpleasant memories made their way into his mind. But aside from his trauma, there were more pressing matters.

'Shit! She's already here! How? Why?' Orion took a deep breath before shaking his head. 'Since it's come to this, I have to get Felt to agree with my deal right away. I'm sorry, my dear phone, but desperate times call for desperate measures.'

There was no time for Orion to wait for Subaru to exchange his flip phone for the insignia with Satella- or rather, the mysterious unnamed lady. They had to do this now and get out of the slums before the attacker decided to make her move.

'I just hope Felt doesn't get too greedy.'

While Orion didn't care about the insignia, exchanging for it early was likely the only way to convince Felt and Rom to leave and not meet their 'client'.

With a new goal in mind, Orion started jogging once again, just in time to spot a familiar blonde-haired girl making her way toward a dilapidated shack with a pep in her step.

"I don't know what happened with that lady, but I'm lucky she suddenly stopped following me. Now I just need to get to Old Man Rom's place and then! Hehehe~" Felt laughed to herself with a giddy smile. "I'm rich, baby! Goodbye, slums!"

'Well, at least she's energetic,' Orion thought, looking at the girl with a smile. 'And most importantly… she's alive.'

"Hey! You're Felt, right?" Orion called out to her.

"Eh!?" Felt turned her head as Orion noticed how her cheeks were slightly reddened.

'Is she embarrassed about shouting to herself? How cute.'

"W-Who are you? How do you know my name? And what's with those weird clothes!?" she asked, her hand reaching for the knife at her side.

"Is that really important?" Orion shrugged. "You have an insignia, right? One you just stole?"

She narrowed her eyes, "Yeah… what's it to you?"

"Well… I wanna buy it."

Felt's hand moved away from her knife, "Why didn't you just say so? Ah, but I was asked to nab this, you know? So I'll have to have you beat out their offer."

She then rubbed her hands together with a giddy smile, "And if you got a good enough deal, I can even overcharge you or the buyer! Yahoo!"

'Fuck… why can't you just take my deal, Felt!' Orion groaned. 'Getting a little more money isn't worth anything if you're dead!'

"T-That's quite greedy, you know? Why don't you just take my deal if I beat out the original offer?" Orion asked.

"Hah? A girl like me has got to be greedy if I want to survive, much less reach my goal," she huffed. "It's either that or selling my body, and I plan on being a pure maiden for as long as I want!"

"Sell your body?" Orion grimaced. "You may be cute, but who would want a kid to do that?"

"I'm not a kid! I'm fifteen!" Felt huffed, marching up to Orion to poke his chest.

"Fifteen?" Orion was surprised. "Well, that's still a kid to me."

"Grr! Shut up!" Felt pounded his chest before turning and crossing her arms. "So? What's your offer?"

Orion let out a heavy sigh before pulling out his phone, "This is a one-of-a-kind metia, one that is worth no less than thirty holy coins."

'If Subaru's shitty flip phone can net him at least twenty, then mine better get thirty.'

"Bullshit," Felt said, though Orion could see how her eyes lit up at his words.

"What'd you say?" Orion was a bit ticked off at Felt being so cheeky. It reminded him of his little sister.

And just like his little sister, cheeky girls needed to be punished. So, Orion reached out with his balled fist before planting it on her head and digging in. 

The ever-so-hated noogie.

"Ah! Stop! What the hell do you think you're doing!?" she complained, flailing her arms in a desperate attempt to stop the assault.

"Punishing you!" Orion said, stopping the aforementioned punishment. "And no, it is not 'bullshit', this metia can do many things. First!"

He then took a picture of the growling girl before turning to show her the result, making her expression of annoyance instantly change into one of interest.

"Is that me?" she asked.

"Yep. This thing can instantly create an image of whatever is in front of it! But that's not all, it can also take a video! A collection of images at once!"

Orion then took a short video of the girl as she looked at him before once again showing her.

"Whoa! That's awesome!" she said, her eyes shining. "I can definitely get a lot of money for this!"

Orion pumped his fist. 'Yes! I got her!'

"So how about it? This awesome device for that insignia you got!" Orion said.

"Nope! First, I have to make sure that thing is actually worth that much from Old Man Rom. And even then, I still have the original client, so I have to see if they'll beat your offer!"

'Dammit!'

"B-But this insignia is pretty important you know?" Orion switched his approach from the carrot of coin to the stick of fear. "I don't know exactly why, but to pay ten holy coins, this is serious business!"

"Yeah, so?" Felt shrugged. "It's not my problem."

"But something so important… and with how shady your client must be… are you sure they would want to be tied to this? What's to say they don't cut off any loose ends?" Orion said.

"Ah, that?" Felt once again shrugged. "Maybe, but that's why I'm exchanging it at Old Man Rom's place. If they try anything, he'll deal with it!"

'Why!!!' Orion screamed inwardly. 'Then… I guess I'll have to try to convince Rom that this is all no good.'

"Haa… alright, Little Sis, let's go to the loot house," Orion yielded.

"'Little Sis'?" Felt questioned.

"Yeah, it's…" Orion trailed off, remembering how Felt called him her 'Bro' and 'Big Bro' before he was easily cut up by the attacker, and how she herself had followed his fate.

"...It's what I'm calling you, and that's that," Orion nodded to himself.

"So stubborn!" Felt whined. "Fine! I don't even care! Follow me if you wanna get the deal done!"

'Well… I hope I can appeal to Rom, then. He didn't feel as hasty as Felt,' Orion thought to himself.

As they both began walking toward the loot house, Orion decided to try and get to know the little thief a bit better, if only to use the information to convince her to take his deal and leave.

"So… you mentioned wanting to reach a 'goal'... What was that about?" Orion asked.

"Eh? My goal?" she returned, her hands crossed behind her neck as she walked. "It's to get out of this shit hole, obviously!"

She then turned her head to eye a dilapidated shack, where a middle-aged man was resting on the windowsill, eyes glazed over.

"I'm not like them," she spat. "I'll never be satisfied by living my life like this, like those losers. Never! So once I get enough money… I'm leaving this place!"

Orion nodded his head, "I see… but is that all?"

Felt glared at him, "Whaddya mean by that?"

"Well, you want to get out of the slums. I get that. But what next?" Orion asked. "I mean, you've got some skills. You're fast, crafty, and cute, so you have a lot of options, but do you have a dream?"

Hearing this, Felt stopped walking as she looked down with a dazed expression.

'So she doesn't, huh?' Orion thought to himself. 'Honestly, if she tried talking with the right people, she could've left this place already, but it seems she doesn't have any idea of what to do with her life past leaving the slums.'

Orion's lip curled up in a smirk as he saw her pondering expression. 'Well, I guess better late than never.'

"Don't worry too much about it," Orion said, reaching out to pat the smaller girl on her head. "You're, what, fifteen? You have a lot of time to figure it out."

Felt, looked up at Orion and met his deep brown eyes before suddenly looking downward in embarrassment. "Q-Quit that! It's annoying!"

Orion, at this, felt his smirk grow wider. "...Nah."

"Grr! You-!"

Felt attempted to bite him, but found herself stopped as Orion gripped her head tighter.

"Just! Let! Me! Bite! You!" she said, trying to pull the older boy's hand off her head.

"Now why would I do that?" Orion said before suddenly laughing.

'Now,' he thought seriously, his laughter dying down. 'Now I just need to get her to safety. For that future that she's trying so hard for.'

His heart set ablaze with determination, Orion let go of Felt's head before turning to walk toward the loot house once again.

—

"So this little thing can do all that?" Rom said, amazed.

"Yep," Orion nodded proudly. "Pretty amazing, right?"

"Amazing doesn't even cover it… for something like this… taking it to a noble or wealthy merchant… you could make no less than 50 holy coins," Rom said.

'Oh… shit, that's quite a bit,' Orion thought.

"Huh…? Ha… Hahaha!" Felt laughed, smacking Orion on his back. "That's even better than what you said, Big Bro! Were you trying to be humble? What an idiot you are!"

Feeling his eye twitch, Orion took a deep breath to calm down.

"Right… so it's worth quite a bit," he said. "So? What do you think about what I said before?"

"Ah, ya mean taking the deal and runnin'?" Rom said. "Well… I bet Felt's client is shady, but we're all shady here, kid."

"But-!"

Orion was cut off by the sound of knocking on the door, causing him to freeze.

"Ah! Is that the client? I'll go get them," Felt said.

Orion quickly pulled out his short sword, keeping an eye on the door to save Felt if it came to that.

Seemingly understanding the young man's seriousness, Rom reached for his club below the bar as well.

'Well,' Orion thought. 'If it comes to a confrontation, I'll just fight her off until we all get away... if that's even possible. As for the insignia… Well, Felt mentioned that she was overcharging, so if Subaru cares so much about this mystery girl, he can just give her his phone instead.'

Swallowing down his nervousness, Orion waited with bated breath as Felt approached the door, and as soon as she opened it…

"Guess who it is! Woah! You good there, Senpai?"

Releasing a massive breath of relief, Orion put his hands on his knees as he glared at Subaru. 

"You scared the shit out of me, dude."

"Ah, well… sorry?" Subaru said, not very apologetically.

Before he could retort, Orion noticed that Subaru didn't come here alone. Standing in front of the open door was a beautiful girl with long silver hair, shining amethyst eyes, and a pair of ears that seemed a little too pointed to be those of a human.

'Right. Subaru did mention she was a… half-elf, was it? To think such a fantasy concept translated perfectly here…' Orion thought. 'But yeah. I can definitely see how Subaru was charmed so easily.'

What surprised him, though, was how the half-elf pouted at him with a stern expression before she stuck out her finger.

"Hey! Swearing is bad, you know!"

"Uhh… yeah, I guess so," Orion responded, a little shocked.

"Good! Subaru told me about you, and that you're a good boy, so try not to do that again, okay?" the girl nodded proudly to herself.

'...What?'

Here was Subaru's 'dream girl', the thing that got both of them into this looping mess, and she had just scolded him for saying 'shit'.

"And you!" the girl said, looking at Felt. "You stole my insignia! Return it immediately, and I won't hurt you!"

"Tsk!" Felt clicked her tongue. "So damn persistent! Just give it up already!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that," the silver-haired girl said. "Now, return my insignia!"

She then extended her hand as six large crystals of ice formed in front of her.

'Magic!' Orion thought with wide, shining eyes. 'Reinhard told me about how some people could use magic, but it really is cool!'

"If she was an ordinary magic user, I wouldn't mind fighting her, but I don't think fighting a spirit artist is worth it," Rom said to Felt.

'Wait, so is that not magic?' Orion was confused.

"But aside from that," Rom continued. "Girl… you're an elf, ain't ya?"

The girl in question looked down in sadness before answering, "Not exactly… I'm a half-elf."

"And a beautiful one at that!" Subaru added.

"Subaru! I'm being serious here!" the girl said with a slight blush.

"But it's true, Emilia!" Subaru said happily.

'So her name's Emilia… I'm guessing that isn't a fake name this time,' Orion thought.

"W-Wait," Felt muttered, backing away in fear. "A half-elf… with silver hair…"

"It's an accidental resemblance!" Emilia said, waving her hand. "Honestly it's quite troublesome-"

While Orion was confused as to what this 'accidental resemblance' was, and why Felt seemed so scared, he had been distracted as he caught the sight of a black figure dart into the building, heading right for-

"Get down!"

Shouting, Orion shot forth, raising his stolen blade to stop the knife of the mysterious attacker from slicing through the silver-haired girl.

"Oh? It's you again," she smiled. "And to block my strike… you've impressed me, boy, but I have a job to do, so if you'd excuse me."

She then twirled on her feet, kicking Orion hard into the wall.

'Shit,' he thought. 'Reinhard did say my boxing training left me open to kicks.'

Forcing himself to his knees, he watched as Emilia leaped back before unleashing the six crystals she had formed, forcing the mysterious attacker to the opposite side of the room.

And then, out of nowhere, a small gray cat made an appearance.

"That was a close one! Thank you, unknown meat shield! You saved us!"

A… talking, gray cat.

"Now you, girl, tried to harm my beloved Lia. I will be sure to make you regret that."

A… floating, talking gray cat. Which had appeared out of thin air and, judging by the array of ice crystals forming around it, also knew magic.

'What the fuck is going on,' Orion thought, stunned.

"A spirit… I've never fought a spirit before," the attacker said, getting to her feet. "I wonder how it will feel to slice your guts~"

"Ha, in your dreams," the cat spirit continued to form crystals before looking down at the attacker with a glare. "My name's Puck. Remember that before you die."

With a barrage of ice striking where the attacker just had been, Orion was both amazed by the spectacle of power and relieved at the fact that with this, the attacker should be done for.

"D-Did they get her?" Rom said, looking at the chunk of ice with surprise.

"Don't say that! You just raised a flag, stupid old man!" Subaru complained.

As if on cue, the large ice crystal shattered into bits, revealing an uninjured attacker, though she had now lost her coat.

"One should always be prepared," she said, twirling her blade in her hand. "Ah, but I should introduce myself in kind, no? I am Elsa Granhiert, the one that shall have your beautiful bowels!"

She then shot forth, restarting the battle between the now-named Elsa, Emilia, and Puck.

'I…' Orion thought, watching the scene with wide eyes. 'I can't even find a moment to intervene!'

Orion continued to watch as the battle seemingly reached a crescendo, with Puck catching Elsa with a block of ice as Emilia fired a stream of crystallized ice, nearly catching the assassin.

The keyword being nearly.

"Ah~ I could have died there. Such a dangerous pair, you two are."

Ignoring her words, Emilia looked down on her shoulder, where the cat spirit sat, "Puck, can you continue?"

"Sorry," Puck yawned. "I'm really sleepy. It seems that I underestimated her. Call me with your od if need be."

The cat spirit then… disappeared.

'Shit! That isn't good at all! Why'd it leave?' Orion screamed in his mind.

"Don't worry, Puck. I can handle it from here," Emilia said, turning to face Elsa with a glare.

'Can she?' Orion thought to himself before he remembered Subaru's story from his first loop, where both he and 'Satella' were killed. 'She… can't. At least not alone.' 

Orion watched as Elsa carved a shoe out of the ice that had attached itself to her foot before rushing forth to attack Emilia.

'Shit! I have to do something!'

Mustering all his strength, Orion watched as Elsa slashed at the shield Emilia had created before stepping forward, shooting his blade out in a stab at the assassin's side.

'Twist your body when going for a thrust, Orion. Clench your core as you shift your weight, ensuring that at the point of contact, you are at your strongest and, most importantly, at your most balanced.'

The words of a red-haired knight from a failed loop, ones said right before he was unceremoniously deflected with ease, echoed through Orion's head.

Following the memory's instruction, Orion twisted his hip, thrusting his short sword forth as he felt the familiar heat of what he could now guess was 'mana' flow down his arm, the wind whistling as he completed his movement.

Her eyes widened, and Elsa quickly brought her knife up to defend, leaving her open to an attack from Emilia. One that nearly embedded itself into her side.

"Tsk. I guess you've finally revealed yourself once more, boy," Elsa leaped back and licked her lips with a wide grin. "Good. All the better for me when I see the life drain from your eyes~!"

"Quit yer yappin', woman!" Rom shouted, swinging his club down toward Elsa's head.

Unfortunately, this attack was quite easy to read, leading to Elsa deftly dodging backward, but that was never the point of the strike.

"Consider this payback," Orion growled, whipping his short sword toward the woman's torso, leaving a small cut as she dodged once again.

'A glancing blow. Shit.'

Watching Elsa dodge another barrage of Emilia's magic, Orion bit his lip in frustration.

'Like this, something is going to give. She's… stronger than us, and it's only a matter of time before someone gets hurt, or worse…'

Orion then cast his gaze toward where Felt and Subaru were kneeling, watching the fight in front of them with wide eyes.

"Subaru!" Orion called out, causing the younger boy to meet his eyes. 

Without even conversing, Subaru knew what Orion wanted.

"Felt… you gotta run," he said to the girl.

"What? I'm not doing that!" she shouted. "Rather than run, I'd rather join the fight!"

As Felt reached down to her dagger, Subaru grabbed her side before unceremoniously tossing her across the room. "Sorry, I'm not asking!"

"Whaa!"

Rolling across the room, Felt found her footing just beside Orion.

"That fucking guy! Who does he think he is?" she growled as she once again reached for her dagger, only to be stopped by Orion grabbing her arm.

"He's right, Felt. You have to run and get help," Orion said evenly, keeping his eyes on the fight in case Elsa decided to change her focus.

"What!? Not you too! Let me go!" Felt struggled to remove herself from his grip.

"You're the fastest one here, right? Use that to your advantage and get out of here," Orion stated calmly.

Felt grit her teeth, "That doesn't matter! I'm not some coward who's gonna-"

"You wanna get out of the slums, right!?" Orion shouted, turning his attention fully towards her. "Then swallow that pride and survive! So-"

Orion then grabbed the wide-eyed Felt by the scruff of her neck, picking her up like a cat before tossing her towards the open door.

"-Get running!"

"I'm not some damn throwing knife!" Felt complained as she sailed through the air.

But, to Orion's relief, his words seemed to have gotten through to her as the wind began to twist around the girl as she ran.

"Good girl," he whispered under his breath with a smile.

Leaping away from Rom and Emilia, Elsa sprinted toward the entryway, "You think I'll let her go?"

Orion, expecting such a move, found himself between the two with his blade held out defensively. 

"You don't have a choice."

Exchanging blows, Orion kept up with Elsa's strikes, using his albeit limited sparring experience with Reinhard to its fullest before her onslaught was stopped by Emilia's intervention, a cool spear of ice impacting where Elsa had been a moment before as she jumped back.

"Heh," Orion smirked. "You let her get away."

For the first time, Elsa's confident facade cracked, her relaxed grin twitching in annoyance. "I'll admit, I am a little bit angry. It seems I'll have to take you seriously."

As she finished her words, the air around Elsa changed, causing goosebumps to spread across Orion's skin as he froze from fear.

With Elsa shooting forth once again, Orion was barely able to raise his sword in time to block the attack, but just before their blades made contact, Elsa suddenly dropped to the ground.

"Your legs are open."

Orion felt a searing pain rippled across his thigh, causing him to drop to the ground, where he was then kicked against the wall.

Not stopping her movement, Elsa then sprinted across the room, keeping her body close to the ground as she effortlessly dodged Rom's strike, using the opening to leap toward Emilia.

"That won't work," the half-elf said, creating a shield of ice. "You've hurt a benefactor of mine. I won't let this continue any longer."

As the shield warded away Elsa's blade, Emilia was left unguarded as she was unaware that the attacker did not only have one blade.

Luckily, someone else was aware.

"Not today, Black Widow!" Subaru said, blocking Elsa's killing blow with a stool. "Hehe, I'm pretty cool, aren't I? Oomph!"

Subaru was then kicked away, his body crashing into the bar as Elsa turned towards Orion once again with a glare. "You're all making this quite difficult for me."

Orion felt a chill go up his spine as she darted towards him and hastily raised his blade to defend. But, with a swift strike, Orion watched his short sword shatter into a rain of metal as Elsa twisted her body, ready to deliver the finishing blow.

Time seemed to slow down as Orion watched the blade inch closer and closer to his neck.

He could see Rom glaring at the woman as he held his wrist.

'I guess he got cut as Elsa passed by. Sneaky bitch,' Orion thought.

He then looked over to Emilia, who was watching him with wide, worried eyes. Extending her hand in an attempt to stop what was about to unfold before her eyes.

'It's too late, but it's nice to see that you care. Subaru did say you had a bleeding heart.'

And lastly, Orion looked to Subaru, who was shakily getting back to his feet after receiving a blow.

'Subaru… I hope that you survive this time. You've got quite the ability, and I bet Emilia will put in a good word for you if Reinhard gets here. Enjoy your time here, but… I think it's the end for me.'

Orion was a little sad about that, as well as a bit unnerved by the fact he was more sad than fearful.

'I guess after dying once, the fear lessens a bit. Who knew?'

Just as the blade was about to contact his neck, a figure blurred in the edge of his vision as Elsa was suddenly kicked away.

"It looks like I made it just in time," a familiar voice spoke calmly. "Orion, my friend, it seems that you have a gift for finding trouble."

Letting out a giant breath of relief, Orion looked at the blue eyes that were shining down at him.

"That sounds more like a curse than a gift," he said. "But boy, am I glad to see you… Reinhard."

The knight in question smiled. "As am I. You can leave everything to me."