Everyone stood there, looking at the mysterious individual as he just appeared out of nowhere and seemingly saved them. Everyone was on guard as they didn't know what this individuals objective was until he turned around and started walking towards them. Everyone there were on guard until he spoke.

"Is everyone alright?"

"Y-yes but who are you?"

"Well judging by the fact that you all think I'm an enemy...especially that blue haired lady. I'll tell you guys. My name is Hikaru, Hikaru Takahashi. I have no ill intentions towards anyone of you here."

Everyone seemed to calm down after Hikaru's introduction but they were still on edge. Hikaru noticed he still had his katana unsheathed so he put it away hoping that would get rid of the misunderstanding. With Puck confirming that he had no bad intentions, it seemed to put everyone at ease as Emilia and Rem walked towards him and thanked him for healing and saving Subaru at the last moment. 

"Thank you Hikaru.''

"Eh? Oh no no it's ok. There's no need to thank me."

"Yes, Rem deeply apologizes for doubting you Hikaru-kun."

"Nah it's okay seriously, it's only natural to be suspicious of someone you don't know. And besides I can tell you really care about him." 

Emilia and Rem weren't having it and offered to let Hikaru stay at the mansion as a reward for helping them out at the last moment before anything could happen to Subaru. Hikaru wanted to decline but seeing that he had no place to go he accepted their offer. After that the Emilia camp officially got a new member.

Moments after the battle against Sloth, Subaru woke up in a green field as he noticed Emilia looking down at him.

"Subaru, you're awake? Thank goodness. I'm so glad."

"I'm lying down, and Emilia-tan is kneeling. And considering our distance and the heavenly sensation under my head..."

"You don't have to go through that silly checklist. Your head's on my lap. It isn't uncomfortable now is it?" 

"I know of no finer, more divine pillow. Um...Can I ask how things turned out..."

"Honestly...I'm the one who wants to ask what's going on."

"Is everyone okay? I haven't really gotten a chance to thank everyone."

"Yeah, everyone is fine. If anything you were the most injured out of all us." 

"I see. And how long have I been out? I have to know."

"About an hour or two."

"Then, everyone's together now?"

"Julius as well. I was really surprised. I never expected to see you two together. Let alone fight together."

"It was for reasons bluer than the mountains, and taller than the seas, Emilia-tan. I finally made it back."

"Back then, you asked me why...Why I saved you. Why I try so hard at everything...you asked me why."

"And you said it was because I saved you...But I haven't done anything like that. I've never done anything like that. I've never been able to. You're the one who's always saving me. I never could do anything for you. And yet, you got yourself hurt, and said it was for my sake..."

"No something had gotten to me back- I was only thinking about myself. I said it was all for you when I was really just drunk on the idea that I was doing it for you. I had it deep in my head that everything that I did was for you and you alone."

Subaru shook his head as he continued talking.

"Everything you said back then was true every word of it. I was wrong. But...There's one thing I wasn't wrong about. I want to save you. I want to help you. I honestly mean that. It's no lie."

"Yeah. I know. Why do you always save me?"

"Because I love you. I want to be your strength." 

Once Emilia heard this she couldn't help but cry.

"I'm a half-elf..."

"I know that."

"I'm a silver-haired half-elf, and many people hate me because of I look like the Witch. They despise me...They absolutely detest me!" 

"I saw. I know. Those guys are all blind."

"I don't have much experience with people, so I don't have friends. I'm naïve and lack common sense in a lot of ways, and I say strange things sometimes. And the reason I want to be the kingdom's ruler is really, really selfish." 

"No matter what anyone else says about you, no matter what you think of yourself, I love you. I really love you! Like crazy! I want to be with you all the time. If you name ten things you hate about yourself, I'll list two thousand things I love about you. That's the kind of special treatment I want to give to you."

Subaru this as he sat up and faced Emilia.

"That's the first time I've received special treatment that made me happy...Why two thousand?"

"Because a hundredfold wouldn't be enough to express how I feel about you." 

"I'm happy...I'm so happy...I never imagined I'd see the day that someone told me they loved me. What should I do? You've told me so many of your feelings, but I don't know what to do..."

"You don't have to stress over it. I'm not demanding an answer right away. As far as I'm concerned, it's written in stone that you'll give me an answer. And it'll be a positive one, at that."

"Is it really all right? For me...For someone like me to give be given such happiness all the time? To be so overjoyed... I actually feel like it's indulgent."

"Sure it is. Go on and be indulgent. You can never have too much happiness. If you have so much that it overflows, you can always share it. You can take your time, Emilia. You can take your time, Emilia. You can take your time and slowly fall in love with me. As I was by your side, I'll do my best to make you fall head over heels for me."

Emilia was full on crying tears of joy and happiness at Subaru's confession. She truly was happy.

"Thank you Subaru...Thanks for saving me."

Emilia replied with a bright smile, making him stunned for a moment as he smiled back as the two hugged each other as the sun was shining right behind them. 

After Subaru and Emilia's heartfelt moment Subaru went to go see the person that saved him when he went unconscious.

"Ok I think Emilia said his name was Hikaru."

Subaru saw a boy around his age with a black jacket and black scarf just like Emilia described and walked up to him and greeted him.

"Yo. You must be Hikaru right?"

"Yep. And you must be Subaru correct?"

"Yeah, I came to say thank you for saving me at the last moment. If you hadn't shown up who knows what would've happened."

When Subaru looked at his belt, he noticed a book. A quite colorful one at the least. It took Subaru to realize what that book was.

"Hey is that...a Grimoire?"

Hikaru widened his eyes in shock as he looked at Subaru. He couldn't believe his ears, someone else that he didn't know in this world knew about grimoires.

"Y-yes it is. Your the only person other than me that knows about Grimoires in this world! Though where is your Grimoire? I don't see it."

"Oh about that..."

Subaru explained to Hikaru about how he got his Grimoire and how it became a part of him getting rid of his magic and making him magicless. And how it no longer made him human and turned him into a Devil permanently.

"I see so the Grimoire is permanently apart of you now. So now your a Devil that has no magic but instead Anti Magic!"

"Yeah that's pretty much it."

"I see, than I won't have to hide anything from you. Since you and I are the only ones with Grimoires."

"Huh?"

"You see I rarely use my Grimoire because I have every spell memorized. I'll only use my Grimoire when I need to get serious in fights."

"I see, then what kind of magic do you use?"

"My magic is Elemental Magic that consists of Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, and lots more. I'd tell you more but I kinda don't think that's safe right now."

"Elemental Magic? That's pretty overpowered."

"But your Anti Magic is overpowered too Subaru. In other words you are magic's natural enemy all mana in your presence is meaningless, once you learn how to fully master it than you will truly be the strongest. That's my overall goal."

"Hikaru, if it's ok with you. Will you help me control my Anti Magic and also with my swords too?"

"I don't see why not. I'll be glad to help you, and besides I can see that Rem and Emilia are really important to you right?''

Subaru blushed intensely but regained his composure with a determined look.

"Yeah, they are both really important to me along with everyone else here, you included. So will you help me get stronger?"

Hikaru couldn't help but smile at Subaru's determination, it reminded him of a few people back in his world.

"Of course. I can tell how much this means to you so I'll help you.

"Thank you."

After that everyone went into the carriage and was on their way back to the capital to reunite with Crusch and her army. Rem and Emilia were in the carriage sitting on both sides while Subaru was in the middle with Petra sitting on his lap. While Rem was happily hugging Subaru's arm. Petra suddenly turned around and hugged him.

"Aren't you um...a bit close, Petra?"

"Well she had you all to herself earlier. It wasn't fair! You don't mind, right?"

"Um...It's nit like that, Petra-chan. Subaru and I were just... Right! We had important things to talk about!"

Though Petra wasn't buying it as she told Emilia and Rem that she wasn't going to lose. Rem took it as a challenge as her grip tightened around Subaru's arm. Meanwhile Hikaru couldn't suppress his chuckles as he looked at Subaru's situation. 

"E-Emilia-tan, Rem-san... she's only a kid. You just have to smile and laugh it off you know."

"No way! Even if she is a child, I can't take such a lackadaisical attitude."

"Lackadaisical? Who says that in this day in age?"

"You're teasing me again!"

"I'm not a kid!"

"Subaru-kun."

All three girls were full on pouting at Subaru as he failed to deescalate the situation. Meanwhile Hikaru was full on laughing at Subaru's situation. After that the rest of the ride was normal as always with Subaru and Hikaru talking about training regimens while Rem and Petra were fighting over Subaru's attention. When they got to Crusch's mansion the sight was just horrendous as they could see dead soldiers and injured soldiers. But what caught there attention was a loud cry coming from Felix crying over Crusch's unconscious body. 

"How awful..."

"J-Just what the hell happened here...?"

"It seems they were attacked on the way here..."

"But who would do something so awful...?"

Subaru, Hikaru, Rem, and Emilia could only stare horrified at the sight before them. Right when things were going well, it all went crumbling down back to square one.

Later a meeting was held to figure out what to do next. In attendance to Crusch, Wilhelm, Felix, Hikaru, Subaru, Rem, and Emilia. The meeting continued as Felix intended to end the alliance between the two groups, only for Hikaru to point something out.

"Look, I know I have no right to say any of this but It's to late for that now."

"Huh?"

"From what I heard from Subaru and Rem, the Witch's Cult are a bunch of bad people. And since they already know Ms. Crusch was part of it, severing ties with Emilia over here won't change anything. They'd most likely attack at the moment of weakness."  

"But-!"

"-It's better to have us with you to fight them? Or would you rather face them alone? Either way, you'll end up going against them regardless of what you choose."

The meeting ended with two decisions made:

1.) The alliance between the Emilia and Crusch camps would not continue until all participants were available to decide.

2.) Crusch's memory wipe would remain a secret between everyone present.

It was now the next morning and the preparations were made to head back to the Roswaal Mansion. Hikaru entered the carriage and began cleaning his katana while for, Subaru, Rem, and Emilia to finish talking with Crusch and Felix.

Once they were both done saying there farewells they both entered the carriage and left while the Crusch camp waved them off. About 2 hours later Subaru, Hikaru, Rem, and Emilia made it back to the mansion. When they opened the door they saw a blonde haired made with sharp teeth as she smiled at them. Subaru couldn't help but comment on this.

"Those teeth look scary!"

Rem and Emilia grabbed Subaru by the ears as he yelled in pain.  

"Owowowowowowowowowowwww! I'm sorry okay!? I'M SORRY!"

Subaru was forgiven, but not before they all saw the blonde maid laugh cheerily at the scene in front of her. With everyone settled inside Subaru went over to Hikaru to speak with him.  

"So Otto right? You ready for whatever comes next?"

"Ah, Hikaru-san. Well, I'm not sure what's going on, but it appears that I have to travel with you three to another location to see Margrave Mathers."

"You really want to see him don't you?"

"Yes, it was part of the deal me and Natsuki-san had for my help...other than buying my oil supply."

"Crafty."

Hikaru smirked at Otto which made the young merchant feel bashful. Meanwhile Subaru went to go check on a certain drill loli, as he randomly opened one of the doors and found Beatrice sitting on her usual stool.

"Hey Beako! Long time no see!"

"Oh it's you, now I know why the mansion seemed so noisy."

As Subaru walked in and closed the door behind him he noticed Beatrice was scrutinizing him. 

"What?"

"That would be Betty's question, what happened to you?"

"...Lets just say a lot of stuff happened and leave it at that.

"Would it have anything to do with your physical appearance, I suppose?" 

"...Yeah."

"May Betty take a look?"

"Sure."

Beatrice closed the book and set it on her small table, walking over to take a closer look at Subaru and inspect him, she looked him over up and down grabbing and inspecting his tail. She then summoned a bright pink light to glow around her hand as she seemed to scan him. Beatrice opened her eyes wide and looked at Subaru.

"No-No mana at all, I suppose!? You don't have a single bit of magic in you, in fact! Let alone a gate, I suppose!" 

"Nope not at all. Here, I know you have questions so let me just do this."

Subaru summoned his Anti Magic Energy and coated it around his hand and showed it to Beatrice.

"Touch it."

When she did, she was even more surprised it was wiping out her mana.

"T-This isn't mana, I suppose! Yet it's negating all the mana in the air like it's nothing, in fact!"

"Betty must know what this is and how you got it, I suppose!"

"Well for starters, this is called Anti Magic. I also got chosen by a Grimoire"

"A-Anti Magic...? Grimoire....?"

"Yeah, make sure you keep this in mind that Anti Magic isn't magic, it's far from it in fact. It's a unique energy that negates all forms of magic, such as curses and such. In other words all magic in my presence is meaningless. And only someone without magic can use it." 

"As for Grimoire's, their like gates but it's a book that allows their users to cast specific spells that are far in advance of their own natural magic capabilities. It is one of the primary sources of power for other mages. Usually they would have a 3 leaf clover insignia on it but the rarest one of all is the four leaf clover."

"Outrageous, you mean to tell Betty that this supposed book just appeared out of nowhere!?"

"Exactly." 

"I see...and how many leaves does yours have, I suppose?"

"5."

"...!"

Subaru took of his glove on his right hand to reveal the 5 leaf clover insignia on his right hand. Beatrice thought he was lying about all this until he showed her the 5 leaf clover symbol on his hand.

"Usually when a grimoire chooses it's owner it will levitate besides you or in front of you, but in my case it's different. The 5 leaf clover grimoire chose me all right but it went inside me, permanently becoming a part of me and getting rid of my magic.

"What do you mean, I suppose?"

"I mean I don't have any magic in me Beako.

"I-Impossible, I suppose! That shouldn't be possible!" 

"If you still don't believe me, even after seeing the 5 leaf clover symbol on my hand. Then you can check my mindscape." 

Beatrice complied as she placed her hands on Subaru's head and closed her eyes. And just like he said, Beatrice saw the 5 leaf clover Grimoire right there along with a black humanoid figure looking down at her. Making her feel nothing but fear as she quickly left, as soon as she left his mindscape she knew he wasn't lying. As she came too, she backed up a few feet, shock completely filling her as she could only stare.

"Y-Your not lying, I suppose..."

"No. I'm not."

When Beatrice looked at his shadow, what she saw shook her to her very core. It resembled a Devil's shadow, looking down at her. As soon as it came it was gone. Beatrice regained her composure as they talked some more. Subaru asked Beatrice how well she knew how Roswaal was thinking and she told him about the Sanctuary. When Subaru asked why she was giving him answer's all of sudden she blasted him out saying that she's not some tool for his inconvenience. 

As soon as Subaru was gone she ran up to the door and touched the door knob.

"I wonder if he would be...they?"

The next morning, everyone outside were preparing to depart, Frederica and Petra met them outside. Subaru twirled Petra around and complimented her on her cute maid outfit. Petra slightly blushed and seemed to headbutt Subaru in his gut. Subaru smiled down at Petra who smiled back and handed him a white handkerchief, which Subaru accepted graciously.  

Frederica handed Subaru a blue pyroxene necklace foe Emilia in order for her to enter the Sanctuary, lest they became trapped in the Lost Woods.  

"Good luck to you all, and may you be safe in your travels."

After their farewells, they both got in the carriage as Rem, Otto, Emilia, Hikaru, and Subaru were on their way to the Sanctuary. As new horrors and problems will arise.