3

Although I repeat, she couldn't really tell you all the details about it, her state of self-induced unconsciousness had become one with her during the infernal months that would follow, giving denial and assent to orders that she never noticed or became deeply aware of.

They could very well have been asking her approval to eradicate an orphanage or a hospital and she wouldn't have cared... because the little she had seen of color or love in the world died the day he fiancé took someone's life... saying that he did it on her behalf.

And that is why (after having collapsed the entire nation), and in the middle of the burning royal castle, stained by blood and burned by burning embers, that at the doors of the last "amorous" proposal of her ex-lover ...she finally decided to do something for herself:

Nothing.

For the first time she consciously decided to DO NOTHING about it.

She would not mediate with the people who had surely come to kill her former fiancé, nor would she shed tears over the massacre that had occurred at the expense of her supposed protection, much less answer the question of her former lover.

She was just tired of dealing with all of this.

And without saying a word she walked away from him, without a word of farewell, and without returning to see him again...

...and that's why she also wouldn't notice that after her tacit rejection, the body of her former lover fell face down on the floor... lifeless.

Finally her Authority was able to overcome the protection of her former true love, and he more than paid the consequences of her madness and obsession with her, leaving him with nothing.

It didn't take long after that for the final nail in her stormy life to fall into place, when a group of witch hunters (similar to the ones she had been chasing after her friend Minerva) found Carmilla...

Knowing what she was capable of doing (and with all the crimes now attributed to her after the death of her fiancé) they was decided to kill her on the spot in what would be the "old school" style for us, through a bonfire would burn for their supposed sins.

She didn't bother to resist, and was even glad to see people around her act with something other than maniacal adoration (even if it was hostility and repudiation of her very existence).

And it was in that way that Carmilla continued the passage from this life to the next like the rest of her friends... judged and later murdered by the world...

...for things she didn't really control, and giving her attention and adoration that she never sought to have in the first place...

*OOOOO*

Now, about Subaru Natsuki...

Right off the bat... she didn't know what to think about the boy when Echidna's Tome of Wisdom showed him appearing (by the grace of Satella/Envy) in the present time.

Although his character was "outlandish" at best, she could easily see the facade that the teenager maintained towards others: someone trustworthy and unbeatable who could be a pillar of support for anyone who met him...

...only to simultaneously see how the weight and guilt of the expectations of those same people did not allow him to live in peace or genuine joy for his actions, having created a fictitious image of himself that he had to constantly maintain (only in his mind) so as not to be left alone. 

She could understand it because she had done exactly the same thing 400 years ago: pretending to be a different person for each person who approached her just to try to fill her empty and lonely life.

There were parts of her trip that she didn't like because of the similarity to her old life: his public and embarrassing presentation at the castle of the Lugunican kingdom, that behind-the-scenes argument, and how the half-elf girl and him they fought.

They were so similar in events to what she had gone through with her fiancé that she even came to see Subaru in the same way as "him":

"Like someone who would take and burn the world just for the acceptance of one person."

However (and after the speech of his maid friend) he began to improve, realizing that he had made mistakes, the way he tried to make him understand things was very vulgar and unorthodox, (even in his very limited condition to be able to explain to her) being then that he decided to simply help her without waiting for constant confirmation from her to move forward, (contrary to the behavior of Carmilla's former lover) so that he would remain waiting for a response, regardless of the time and without forcing her.

It could be in those moments that like Echidna, Daphne and Minerva, Carmilla for her part also began to take a genuine interest in the boy, (beyond the... resemblance... he had with one of her old friends in life) and she began to voluntarily see how he continued his journey (and how similar he was in certain ways to all of them and to herself).

And then... all the events of Sanctuary and the mansion happened...

Even relying on the glimpse of the future that was Echidna's Tome of Wisdom, they never believed that a person could suffer everything that the boy had had to endure, in silence, and forcing himself to smile so as not to worry them.

She had done it in the past too... but in her position so sheltered from her she never had to even face the idea of dying... dying horribly... and above all: DIE MANY TIMES.

Regardless of the horror, (and the recurring nightmares she may have had several nights of seeing him being devoured by the Great Rabbit) the situation did not improve.

The fact of being killed easily by the mansion's murderer, the tiger boy, or Echidna's disciple was an understatement, since the most painful thing for her was seeing how he fell apart more and more with guilt for the situation that (although for it was evident) he could not solve it even with all his intelligence and intention put into it.

And beyond how painful it was to see him like that... in the end...

What would be the point of telling Suabru that he obviously couldn't solve things, regardless of what he tried to do?

That would only enlarge (even more) the enormous worthlessness complex he already had, (and make him feel even more guilty about his flawed past) being trapped in a cycle of failure and self-loathing that he seemed to have no way out of, and that she he decided not to intervene just to avoid doing something that would bring more harm than good to the situation at hand.

That was... until he voluntarily came to the tomb for her second trial...

It is not a surprising fact how little Echidna is tactless up to this point, even more so when her objective was to show the boy the possibility that he had not really solved anything regarding his problems, not helping his diminished self-esteem at all (and even mental health).

She and Minerva desperately tried to convince Echidna to stop the test when they saw how the boy's mind was on the verge of definitive collapse due to the guilt that began to hit him with all its intensity (along with the self-hatred that he had already had ingrained for years).

Minerva screamed hysterically! She demanding Echidna stop this with such magnitude of power in her voice that even the "walls" of the Castle of Dreams began to destabilize, product of the angry din from the blonde witch.

The furious outburst of her friend scared Carmilla, because she had never seen her fellow prisoner so angry as at this moment.

But it was in vain, the inconceivable presents continued to be projected one after another in Subaru's head, under the expressionless gaze of his "judge."

Until everything was silent... both in the room since the three saw the situation develop and in the boy's mind.

The image of him (fallen on the floor) was rather depressing, and you didn't need to read his thoughts to know that his guilt and remorse were suffocating him at a frankly unhealthy level.

It was at that moment that Echidna (having analyzed the situation) with an expressionless look returned to see them both and began to speak to them.

Even for them, seeing the expressionless face of the Witch of Greed was uncomfortable to see, it was always the precedent that some strange idea was passing through her focus of thought.

Once again they got their point right, (but not in the way they thought) because when she spoke to them again, none of them expected the words that would come out of her friend's mouth next...

"I will give you a couple of minutes for one of you two to try to console him or make him regain some lucidity in his mind, otherwise I will not be able to give a verdict on this trial in the state he is currently in..."

Despite their initial surprise, neither wanted to emphasize the fact that with Emilia and Garfiel she had no consideration in their respective judgments (and knowing Echidna's complex personality, both (Minerva and Carmilla) would not squander the opportunity to help any of those involved).

The problem here would be knowing which of the two was best suited for this job, (it's not like they had much time to argue) the "a few minutes" part was so vague by Echidna's standards that she could change her mind, without them having the opportunity to reply.

Evidently Minerva's more volatile and extroverted personality made her want to sign up to go to work as the main applicant, even Carmilla was willing to let her go without objection (although something inside her seemed to be... dissatisfied... with her internal response).

However, Echidna once again regained her attention by applauding in a single dry clap, having seen how things would develop... and not seeming very pleased.

- "As much as it pains me to stop you Minerva... I personally consider that Carmilla is in a better position to be able to help him..." - and in response to the blonde's obvious attempt to protest, Echidna added - "in the state in which that he finds your -rough care- could do him more harm than good in the process..."

The expression "more harm than good" resonated in her mind, leaving Minerva paralyzed...

It was evident to her that after learning all the details about her former authority Minerva's character had changed drastically, even stopping her verbal tirade to think better...

Carmilla (for her part) also did not know how she could interact with him and how to help him (which was the main objective in her request), at least with Minerva they had met briefly when Subaru asked to talk to Daphne about The Great Rabbit... but It would be the first time I would interact with her directly...

Her doubts gradually began to condense, clouding her mind:

What if he said something she shouldn't?

What if she hurt him or made him feel worse with her words?

Would he also be affected by the remnant of her former authority?

There were too many doubts that went through her head in such a short time, and none of them gave her the assurance that she could go out and reassure him, without doing something wrong in the process.

Apparently Echidna could also see through her nervous and upset expression about all the doubts that were making her complex, and only then did the characteristic sardonic smile appear again on the white-haired witch's face... 

Having devised a plan that might work (or not) depending on what she was willing to do for the boy, she approached Carmilla, wrapped her arms around her, and spoke softly into her ear. ... 

- ~...Why don't you try using the -Faceless Bride- on him and you imitate his blue-haired maid friend?... Apparently she was the only one he was really willing to open up and trust... "even more" than his stupid half-elf lover...so if you do it...it might work~...

...

...

The servant friend: Rem-rin...

Even with Daphne's old authority weighing on her mind she was able to reconstruct all the manipulated events in her head and see them both, as it was evident that they now both care about each other (like the speech she gave him that helped him him to improve, and not give up).

Her unconditional support during the battle against the White Whale was another obvious example of him and her liking each other on a genuine and natural level, (so much so that she sometimes personally questioned whether the love he felt for the half-elf girl was equal) so it was really devastating to Carmilla's own feelings to see how she fell in battle before the current bearers of Gluttony, at the same time that her presence and existence in the world disappeared as if she had never been there in the first place, everything ending finally seeing him prostrate in the bed in which she would rest eternally, sobbing inconsolably, and drowning in his self-imposed guilt...

The love present in the situation was legitimate... and that was why even in her insecurities and fears Carmilla was willing to help him, but... using the form of one of the people he cared... couldn't it be counterproductive...?

Echidna (who at this point seemed that instead of giving consistent solutions she was rather directing everything to where she wanted to take the situation) widened her smile again, probably waiting for the pink-haired witch to have that mental doubt. 

- "...I already told you that only with the maid was he able to reach his best peak of introspection about himself... you simply have to remember all the moments that we previously saw about both of them, and later you will recreate them in yourself using your authority. .."

- "...he is so dazed and desperate for peace that he won't even notice... you just have to get in.. and make him happy a while..."

At this point the pressure of the situation, Minerva's blockmind, and Echidna's insistence had not helped her resolve any of her doubts... and yet she could not deny that (as very rarely) her former authority could be genuinely useful in that situation, even if it was cruel that she presented herself as a person who in reality was still in the same unconscious form, the strong and strange desire to help him gave her the boost she needed to overcome her doubts, even if it was short and concise. 

-"It would be crueler to let him fail his trial and return him to the outside like that..."-she thought. 

And consciously employing the remnant of her ancient authority in her lifetime, she crossed the threshold of the "door" and...

*XXXXX*

- Oh I see! So you decided to take that option... Subaru Natsuki...*

... But why...? 

-... Baru...?

...How did it all end up this way...? 

-...YOU ARE A COMPLETE STUPID...!

...Was she really such a useless person when it wasn't someone else who thought of all her actions for her...?

-...You have to respect her decision, Nerva...!

...Would i t have been better if she didn't talk to him...?

-... Emotionally I have to take the boy's side... *hah*...

...Or...was it better to just let Echidna form her contract with him...?

-...Why do you want to save them among all of them...don't you also want to be...?...

...Was it because she got carried away...?

-...AHHHHHHH!...

...She really wasn't doing it for him..?

-...ECHIDNA...!...

...if not... by herself...?

-...What good will it do to simply return him with the situation he faces...?

...she was thinking about "consciously" having those feelings... just for herself...?

-...what needs to be done then...?!

...had she really returned to feeling those same feelings that she thought had died four centuries ago...? ...

-...If you don't trust me to take care of him independently...-

...But if that was really the case...and she could really feel that feelings again in her heart...

-...You can always leave the supervision of him in the hands of someone else~ ...-

...What could she do to make them feel the same way again...? But above all...

-...You do not agree...?

...What would she be willing to do for him...so that she could have those feelings...with him...?

-...with me...Carmilla-chan?...

She didn't know (she didn't know many things really)...but...

... looking up she could see how the witches had their eyes fixed on her ... and for the first time in her entire long life, she did not feel the need to lower her gaze ... nor seclude yourself in her coat and her scarf...

...but she was determined to find out...for him...for his friends...and for herself...

...lowering her scarf and leaving it at the level it really should be...she took a breath...

After all... she was never a divine maiden or anything... she was a witch... the Witch of Lust... right?...

... and she asked...

...What if she started to once and for all live up to her name and job for a change? Maybe...she could do evil things by herself if she wanted to...

-..."C...Couldn't we...help him with s-something?"

She didn't know if what she was about to do would be the right thing...

Probably not.

But they all started smiling after her answer...

If it was really something bad, they wouldn't have to smile, right?

They all wanted to be happy...

She wanted to be happy.

She just hoped that the dying boy had enough room in her heart to accommodate (and love) them all...

....

Of course he could.

He was Subaru Natsuki after all...

If anyone could love someone who was treated like a witch... or a plague to the world...

It would be precisely him.

(7)

- Interesting, certainly interesting…

From her position (methodically chosen) a woman with beautiful, abundant white hair and deep black eyes dedicates herself to contemplating (in detail) how ideas flowed so naturally in her domains, and in the minds of her friends... and from the half-elf bitch obviously...

-One she felt the guilt of her idiocy, and the other the drowning of her disgusting jealousy...

-Another could feel the anger of helplessness, of not knowing how she could help...

-One having shaken the foundations of her mentality and her pride, rooted so deeply in the span of four long centuries...

-The gluttony suffocated in her unwanted lack of appetite...

-The sloth is overwhelmed... in her unexpected sensation of wanting to practice her unexpected diligence... 

And the most interesting thing, by far:

- The authentic "Magnus Revelare" of Carmilla... finally revealing to the world the hitherto unknown "truths" about the Sin of Lust...

If she had known that her results would be so satisfying and fascinating to her, Echidna: Witch of Greed... would have stopped using her wisdom tome a long time ago.

And in her infinite desires to have all the knowledge in the world for herself, she had so blatantly forgotten that this sensation of pleasure and joy, so similar to that provided by the sin of her pink-haired friend, was increasing its attractive sweetness with the passage of time, and what made them so exotic and attractive to her in her day.

They were all replaced by the sad tedium of interesting knowledge that she could exist and "enjoy" seeing happen, (but which she could not feel the true delight of attaining) having previously scrutinized it in her book.

*OOOOO*

In the words of Subaru's world, she always watched "spoilers" of her world's history, (which even if it were your first time witnessing the event, you would undoubtedly be unable to replicate the same feeling of pleasure and enjoyment that you would have had if you had not known) which made her a person with a clear problem of lack of concentration.

And that was the true (and clear) reason why she decided to give her future and her heart to the black-haired boy...

Even despite Subaru's shortcomings and lack of virtues, (so inconsequential for someone like her) what truly made those new and delicious feelings pulse in her was seeing how the boy was someone who was superfluous, and DIDN'T FIT into the paradigms so established by the world.

Whether it be the strong and capable hero (to the purposeless useless one), he would oscillate between both sides depending on the situation without problems.

His inability, (whether conscious or unconscious), to belong to things and standards she knew, and to display a personality and ways of acting so fresh and unexpected to boring human nature.

It was something that made her mind and heart go crazy... delighting in her own greed.

And that was also the reason why her knight friend from the other world and Reid's descendant were unable to satisfy her in the same way (or in any way really).

The first was the clear example of the useless and carefree man that she had already seen so much, that even despite having received an ability almost as wonderful as "The Return by Death" decided to let the adversities of the world consume him, and only employ pathetically the wasted potential of it to protect himself and the Vollachiana of unpleasant character.

In short: Alibaba, alderban (or whatever the one-armed guy with the helmet is called) was boooring to her...

And in the case of Reid's great-grandson... at least she had to be a little modest and thank Od Laguna that the boy did not inherit the pervert behavior from his great-grandfather or from his father (who was a cheap-carbon copy Reid).

What her book of universal knowledge could say was interesting at first: Reinhard was the most powerful descendant of Astrea born to date, (a part of her would always wonder who would win a confrontation between Reid or him, but that was another story) and it was precisely because of the enormous potential that the red-haired boy emitted that Echidna's disappointment was even greater than that of the helmeted knight, because thanks to multiple situations in which he never really had anything to do with (thanks to Pandora for that) the boy was treated cruelly by both his spiteful grandfather and his alcoholic father, as they took advantage of the silver-haired witch's machinations against him to have someone to blame.

They also shamelessly blamed him for the comatose state of his unfortunate mother (Why? Ask them, not even Echidna knew the origin of this gratuitous reproach). 

For them the scenario was "obvious": the little bastard was directly responsible for the simultaneous misfortunes that befell his family, while for her it was simply annoying to think about how simple the reasoning of the leaders of House Astrea was, so blatantly blaming all those things on an infant of no more than 10 years old.

("Mature people" they say to themselves, ha!|).

It was also upsetting to her to see how easy it was for Pandora to get rid of potential enemies by ruining the lives of "key characters" in one way or another.

Starting with the "altered birth" of the maiden twins to prevent the return in conditions of the "Oni God", and then having the most powerful man in the world be reduced to a broken boy lacking self-esteem and self-confidence...

She could imagine the twisted expression on Reid's face at the thought of the red-haired boy actually being his offspring (and what he had been reduced to in general).

It was simply disappointing for her to see someone with so many possibilities and possible futures to live by his abilities, being bossed around and carried around like a beaten and convalescing puppy, but unable to leave the side of his abusers.

In both cases, even if they were two totally different people, the result was the same for her: so much potential and power wasted, and she found that very boring~.

But Subaru Natsuki... Uff~...

For many people, the way the Witch of Greed acts and thinks (if it were known) would give her many titles and honorifics, and none of them would be honorary, ironically... 

Crazy

...

Perverted

...

Sick sociopath

...

And above all...

...

...

...

A greedy bitch...

- Is that what one should feel in a situation like this?... Is this deep and intoxicating feeling what a damsel can feel when she is so deeply in love?

And how could she not be so enraptured by this novel and so unknown feeling, that in all the insipid centuries of her life she had not been able to enjoy or experience in the slightest of examples of it, not even the slightest even?

The meaning and being coming from her from the origin of her and living from her could never be understandable to any person or being that will surround her, it was a feeling of constant emptiness...

*XXXXX*

Something always bothered her: how the "Factors" so erroneously associated with the stupid and immature half-elf woman, (who in her miserable existence could do more than ruin the lives and existence of everyone around her with her stupid and repulsive idiocy) seemed to make it possible to excuse Satella for all the mistakes she made, and she would always get the attention, the affection... and basically everything.

Echidna could create, direct or even IMPROVE these forces of creation (and the antithesis of Od Laguna) but of course, the "tender and sweet bitchy-elf" could go and carry those unstable and dangerous powers as if it were nothing, bringing ruin and death to those who defended her so much or treated her as someone so loved... even though she did not deserve it.

Her family..

Her friends...

Echidna herself...when she ever had the repulsive opportunity to call her "sister"...

...

And also...

…Her beloved Master... Flugel…

Unconsciously... the weight of that name so important to the world (and which the world itself was so blatantly determined to eliminate from existence as if HE had never been here) caused Echidna's usual face of sardonic indifference to become temporarily in an inverted grimace, (not at all happy) oscillating between constant anger... and frustration... weighing on her heart.

How a simple name could bring her so much happiness, warmth, love, and above all... satisfaction to her insatiable greed...

...at the same time as also being a cause of disappointment... and fury... inside the heart of the white-haired woman?

For Echidna, a woman and a witch who boasted that she knew everything about the world, (or the world of 400 years ago) to have such a personal and apparently superficial and easy to answer question about herself... and that "simple question" had been haunting her like a cursed, suffocating specter since long before she died... and not knowing how to answer her own question was frustrating... and made her feel... stupid.

Feelings that seemed to be attached to each other... whether she was thinking about the stupid half-elf bitch... or her beloved master...

Not even in her own head could the damned foolish woman let her "be with him alone", even with only the vague memory of the only man who made him feel something more in her heart than her greedy factor corrupting her, day after day ...

*XXXXX*

A quick look at the terrain alerted her simultaneously to several equally interesting things: Minerva's inconsolable and miserable crying echoing in the air, and that at the same time none of her companions seemed willing to console her was a rather important contrast, considering that the only thing they had had in their 4 centuries of confinement was... well: themselves.

That just showed how affected everyone generally was with the unfortunate black-haired boy's situation; some like Sekhmet or Carmilla even looked back at her, as if waiting for her to do something to fix the mess that... the Whore... had once again created...

All because, oh surprise! She didn't think that the boy she had been stalking so morbidly since her first day in this world would panic upon meeting her, after she forced him to keep quiet about her power and her pain. .

It's not like Satella has invaded the world and absorbed/killed everyone in the Sanctuary because of one of her tantrums, and (to top it all off) she will ignore all of the boy's speech of despair, throwing his repulsive love in his face over and over again...

And now they all came so eagerly to her to save the miserable little witch from her own incompetence and idiocy...

In response, she simply returned one of her classic clenched-toothed smiles, it was practically as if she was finding the whole situation entertaining only because of her repulsive mania for knowing about everything that could happen, or at least that's what they all thought when they looked at her with that gesture, since almost all of them shied away from his sight, (visibly uncomfortable) and once again immersed themselves in the depths of their own thoughts and guilt, which they saw about them, and reflected on the boy.

The reality was that if anyone had paid more attention to the image of the greedy witch they would have been able to notice how her disturbing smile was faintly accompanied by the constant grinding of her own teeth, so firm on her "flesh" that if they had been in The real world would possibly have caused her own gums to bleed profusely from the pressure she was putting on.

And the explanatory result of this unusual sensation of burning anger in her being was due to a single reason, and which none of them thought to remember when they dared to return to look at her...

Four centuries...

Four fucking centuries passed... 

...and they were still waiting for SHE to continue solving the stupid half-elf woman's problems, like she ALWAYS had to do... while she was happily laying down next... to him...

*XXXXX*

With their intense gazes out of sight Echidna finally dropped her mocking expression, (although her teeth remained just as tight) the rage of seeing how the damned prostitute continued to ruin her master's life (even in a "totally different" life) had fact that not even the superimposed superficiality of her authority could keep her equanimous in the situation (almost nothing in fact). 

She had to muster all the calm she could... it was necessary after all, it alone kept her frozen in the same position ever since Subaru employed his "emergency escape maneuver" to flee from all of them...

The increasingly closer and tortuous impulse to pounce on the half-demon, and cleanly break her despicable and smooth neck with her own pale hands, even if she died did not matter, because the mere idea of returning a little of the ancestral pain that Satella coming taunting her beloved master would have been enough for her.

But deep down she knew that even if she achieved her goal it would only satisfy a passing sensation of tranquility, before he stood between them...always ready to defend her, solely and exclusively her...

Even though THEY were the first family he had when (just as lost and confused) he came into this world for the first time so long ago.

*XXXXX*

Watching again: Minerva continued sobbing on the floor but her rhythm became profuse and decadent, as a proverb said: "No matter how much one cries, one will never have enough sorrow to fill a sea with one's tears" (although in the case of her blonde friend managed to create a small pond).

Tranquility... tranquility... remember Echdina... Flug Nii-san said that in situations like this we should breathe...

...

...

Again her Master haunted her thoughts...

How was it possible that he was so cruel to her?

He never gave her a single chance to prove her worth against the bitch, and yet he was also unable to put her mind to rest even after several years that she stopped seeing him, before she even would die...

...

...

Was it because of that feeling that she guided him in "that way" after hiring her?

That even knowing what he wanted to protect from her and take care, she ignored him, taking control of her contract decided to make his "Ideal Future" miserable?

She knew it after all... she knew that... "everything" ...is repeated itself incessantly...

*XXXXX*

Before finally chasing him down for good, she wanted to explore the juicy and alluring possibility in her tome about the possibility of the foolish half-elf's efforts to ruin him would finally drive him to desperately ask for her help, (just as she proposed now) but seeing how >her multiversal counterpart< of herself in the third test: "A doom that was foretold as Imminent" blocked the Castle of Dreams, to not let Minerva bring the others.

She saw him (finally) rigorously following the instructions of her Tome of Wisdom, she was able to know the future that her heart most desired, (above the well-being of the world itself) that she and her idolized master were one... with the same goal...

…..

…..

….

..

…And she didn't like it... at all...

Even if the "future version of her" saw herself pleased by the outcome of her actions, it only took hearing a single sentence from herself to violently close her Tome of Knowledge... and throw it away from her.

They were nothing more than a few words, but what he heard was something so strange to her, something that he believed he would never have thought to hear from her own lips, (almost as if it were a dream) and yet she could see him: 

Broken...and lacking the spark that won her heart... while in the stillness of her castle she let the wind carry her words away...and something else with his departure...

Why does my great love for you... have to disappear... perish in this way...?

Even if it was not evident to her and her infinite knowledge, to "her": "the girl genuinely in love" could know why it was that the great love that she maintained as the only constant in her life in this world full of variables began to fade... and it was the same reason why Roswall could never become anything more than a beloved student, and Hector nothing more than an old (and deranged) distant friend to her….

He lost the sparkle in his eyes.. 

He lost his silly but adorable moves and phrases... 

And the most serious thing of all...

He lost his "essence"... The same essence that was once also part of that which characterized her beloved master...

And in the joy of having him all to herself, her feelings were dangerously mixed with her resentment towards the platinum-haired half-elf bitch (and her low-cheap imitation) so much so that she used him, manipulated his fragile mental state, making him believe that everything he did was necessary for his "perfect and happy ending"...

What necessary things she made him do! Of course!

The impostor brat with her mind totally lost and broken (and just as disgusting as the imitation of her with obsession with him)...

Her blue-haired servant friend was still comatose... she seemed like the other Echidna didn't really care about finding a way to wake her up (she believed even seemed to the other herself of her enjoy it the situation...)

The god made man, the very incarnation of the Sword God, totally demoralized and lifeless, puppet of her own dead hands through Subaru, always afraid that no one else would want his help... of being left behind...

The pink maid treated him with the utmost respect, (while under her breath she wanted nothing more than to hang him) although frankly she couldn't empathize with her too much, she must have known from the beginning that a man who had been taking the place and life of his own offspring for more than 10 generations to fulfill a selfish objective was not going to change his way of being and behavior no matter how many feelings she put at his disposal, in any case if anyone was willing to take her frustration and anger towards life it was always him , and she was happy to know how to scorn Subaru (even if she herself knew deep down that he was never the direct culprit of all that)... 

A spiteful demihuman child who hated him... her unhappy and broken "daughter" who also hated him...

Only two people seemed to frolic happily in that wasteland of misery: her student who was pursuing an impossible ideal to achieve, together with the voluptuous woman from the Northern provinces (but she simply clung to Subaru for the promise of protecting her and her "younger sister" of the person called "Mother", so for a change it was just a relationship of convenience, there wasn't much more to say).

It was evident (to anyone) that the words "perfect ending" and the image that her book presented were just as coherent as trying to put out a fire by casting Goa spells on it... except for him, who followed her religiously... .waiting for the completion of a contract that was rigged from the start for her spiteful enjoyment.

...for not having chosen her... and for having left her alone with the rest when "the stupid girl" left them... 

But she couldn't waste time anymore on the future that she herself had prevented from happening, nor on the past that generated so much affection (and so much pain) in her at the same time, because neither of them anymore existed.

Now she only had two future destinies left to aim for: one of them in which she let only Minerva and Carmilla intervene and return him to reality, facing and defeated Roswall, and subsequently became the knight of the half-elf brat. 

(A future that clearly left her completely out of the possibility of reuniting with him... and taken again because of a half-elf witch...) 

And... there was also the other option: a new and unknown story (even for her)...

In her many attempts to discover a world where they could finally be together (even if it meant having to put up with the hateful brat, or the bitch Envy), her Tome of Wisdom yielded the only result of path of action that she took...

With great attention and precision and as everything was now...

But...if there really was a world where the two could coexist like she always dreamed of...why was she so insufferably anxious for it to happen next?

...

The answer was simple.

...

Shortly after she received the information on how to get out of this seemingly hopeless situation, something never seen before happened...

The Tome of Universal Wisdom... the source of absolute knowledge about the present, past and future of this world and many others, that same book of absolute power...

It went completely blank...

A mutual union... Of equals... exercised between the ancestral witches of the Deadly Sin... and the Candidate for "Modern Sage"...

An idea... a mere assumption... A Proposal... so unknowable and overwhelming that not even the object that was created specifically to foresee even the most bizarre and risky moves of Roswaal Matters and Subaru Natsuki... It was not even able to understand the magnitude of the repercussions in the future world when the last word was said by them... And by Him...

*XXXXX*

-Is there anything you don't know, Mother?

Beatrice's sweet, ancient voice resonated in her mind... one of her many tea gatherings...

- Fufu...~ My dear Betty... one never stops learning something about the world and everything that surrounds us... that is the beauty of knowledge, the feeling that it seems as if new things are never finished being discovered...

Minerva was finally able to get up... her fury was so fiery and colossal that (if she had been able to) she would have burned everything she came near...

- Do you think... that we can always know what could happen, Mother...?

Sekhmet seemed to be genuinely terrified of the image that her formerly devastated friend was projecting, she looked back from her to Echidna... waiting for some answer of what to do, but she ignored her completely...

- As tedious and boring as it may sound, there is not much chance that something that my Tome has not foreseen will happen, my girl... Unless of course "someone" wants to manage his own life above Od Laguna himself... just like that, maybe... 

Daphne frantically licked the corner of her lips, abundant saliva coming out of her mouth... she was anxious, frantic, hungry...

-And...if -That Person-...really appears... 

The beautiful crimson color in Typhon's eyes returned.... her lost and disconsolate expression changed firmly to one of determination, while she rubbed the boy's hair vigorously...

-What will you do then, mother...?

Carmilla began to approach her... slowly and imperceptibly, almost as if she hoped not to be seen by her gaze...

She gently put down the cup and cookies she was holding in her hands... And smiled a smile that only she and her "daughter" could have identified as a genuine expression...

And the half-elf whore was still just as broken and useless... as usual...

- When that day comes... my little girl...

Everyone's gaze now rested on her... on the rest of her... on the boy... expectant, desperate, angry...

- and "That Person" really becomes present... 

Even despite being visually mowed down by all her friends, the smile that formed on her face was so big that it would easily compete with the Cheshire Cat... a mere reflection of the joy that overwhelmed her, being that although she did not want to do rather than jumping euphorically on the spot, she had to stay calm... just a little longer...

-...you might have to get even prettier to welcome your new dad!~ 

- Mo..Mother!

- Fufufu...~

Something that for the little girl with curls was a source of embarrassment and an adorable pout... it was nothing more than the declaration between the lines of her own convictions...

And there was only one person who met the humble standards of a damsel trapped by her love...

Now everything was finally done.

All she had to do was trust her friends and her former love.

Even if she couldn't know what awaited them all when they left the protection of her Dream Fortress... everyone's determination was already on the table... and she would gladly direct the staging of this performance.

She wouldn't be left dressing saints in Ryuzu Meyers' stolen body...

…Nor would she be directly responsible for the "death" of her own love, both real and spiritual…

No... In the end even if she had to twist her arms with the others to be with him... she would accept it..

The insufferable smile of the white-haired woman was the last straw in an already overflowing glass for a blonde woman with a ponytail...

...after all...

-ECHIDNA!

…This world did not award her the title of Echidna: "Witch of Greed" since her birth for nothing…

She loved her friends... 

She loved her daughter...

She loved her deranged apprentice...

Maybe even... (and very quietly)... she loved the platinum whore a little...

...

And of course...

...

She unconditionally loved her great Master... and her only love...

"Subaru "Flugel" Natsuki"