Moments prior before Subaru left the tomb...

Hikaru and the others were waiting outside for Emilia and Subaru to come outside. But his along with everyone else's attention was now focused on the silver haired half elf walking out the tomb. Their relief was short lived when they noticed Subaru wasn't with her. Hikaru already sensing something was wrong, steadily placed his hand on his katana.

"E-Emilia...?"

Emilia didn't answer, which seemed to put the group on edge, especially Rem. When Emilia got closer to the group, Rem could smell it...she smelled the Witch's Miasma. This in turn caused some red flags to set off in Rem's head as she immediately assumed that something happened to Subaru. Without thinking Rem did the unthinkable, she charged at Emilia fully intent on killing her. Ram and Hikaru along with everyone else called after her, but their words fell on deaf ears as she didn't hear them.

"Witch!"

When Rem got close enough, 'Emilia' uttered one word...

"Give him."

Once those words left her mouth, shadows quickly shot out of her and charged right at Rem at intense speeds. Rem couldn't react in time as the shadows were getting closer and closer, until she felt something lift her up in the air a long with everyone else. Rem looked down and noticed she along with everyone else were floating on tornados made purely out of wind.

"W-What...?"

"Geez, are you an idiot or what?"

Rem turned around to see Hikaru floating in the air, giving her an annoyed look.

"You dumbass! Do you ever think before you act?! Geez you nearly died! How do you think Ram or Subaru would feel?! Did you ever think about that?!"

"...R-Rem is-"

"Don't apologize Rem, just don't do stupid things like that again. Otherwise, it'll get you killed."

Rem said nothing but nodded.

"What th' hell happened to th' Princess?!" Garfiel exclaimed as he glared daggers at the half elf.

"That isn't Emilia anymore...that's someone else entirely!"

And how right he was indeed, that wasn't Emilia, that was someone else. And Hikaru knew from the descriptions that Rem and Ram gave him, along with the many books he's read at the mansion, that this was none other than Satella, The Witch of Envy who destroyed half of the world 400 years ago. And Hikaru knew for a fact that she was NOT to be taken lightly, seeing how she destroyed half of the world.

Hikaru quickly turned to Ryuzu and exclaimed.

"Ryuzu! We're heading for the village alright?!"

"Yes, go ahead Young Takahashi."

Ram who was silent the whole time didn't say anything. She was still in a state of shock from the current turn of events. She was also surprised by Hikaru to say the least, this was no doubt wind magic. But it was completely different from how she's seen others use it, especially herself, she also knew that having an affinity for flying magic was rare and only a few people like Roswaal could do it, so the fact that she saw someone other than Roswaal fly with ease surprised her. Ram was about to ask until shadow like tendrils shot towards the group. Hikaru maneuvered the others and himself from the tendrils as he flew full blast towards the village.

"Give him. Give him. Give him. Give him. Give him. Give Him." The Witch exclaimed as she gave chase.

Hikaru was able to get him and the others to the village, though it took some difficulty dodging and moving the others out the way of the attacks. Once they got there, they already saw the villagers running away in fear as a large black mass moved across the village, scooping up people and absorbing them into it's body. It was crushing houses and smashing the very ground under it. Hikaru seeing that the safest option was to land the group safely far away from the shadows, landed on a very high building.

As soon as they landed, Ram immediately tried to go off and find Roswaal. Luckily, Hikaru stopped her before she could do anything stupid. Ram turned around, looking at Hikaru with nothing but annoyance and anger as she exclaimed. "Let go of me Hikaru! I'm no mood to be friendly right now!"

"Yeah? And where do you think you're going?"

"If Ram doesn't hurry Roswaal-sama will be-!"

"Ram, do you hear yourself? The shadows were already here, what if Roswaal was already swallowed?!"

"...!"

"Even if you did go back to his inn, it would be to late! You know I'm right don't you?"

Ram stayed silent, but was frustrated to no end, she knew he was right. Roswaal was already swallowed by the Satella's shadows, going there would just end up with her getting killed, realizing this made her feel like she has failed Roswaal and a failure of a maid for not saving her 'master' in time. She reluctantly agreed with Hikaru, as he went on to state his plan. He stated that Rem and Ram would protect the villagers while Garfiel, Ryuzu, and Otto helped them evacuate, the couldn't leave the Sanctuary because of the barrier, so they would have to find high ground. 

"B-But what about you Hikaru-san?" A shaking Otto asked.

"Simple, I'm going to fight Satella. Or try to at least."

Everyone just looked at Hikaru as if he's grown a second head.

"W-What...? Otto asked in disbelief to what he just heard. Did he really say what he thought he just heard?

"Huh? Th' hell do ya mean ya fight her? Ya don' stand a chance against her!"

"It's just as I said, I'm going to by time while you guys help any remaining villagers. Don't worry, I have some very powerful techniques in store.' Hikaru unsheathed his katana and filled it with flame magic instead of his wind magic.

Seeing this made their eyes widen in surprise. It was rare to have more then one element, unless you were talented or simply loved by the world and blessed with a really good gate like Roswaal. 

"And besides, you're important to me Ram. Someone close to my heart at least, so of course I'm going to do everything I can to protect you along with everyone else." Hikaru stated as he walked up to her and started petting her head smiling.

Ram's cheeks gave a red hue as she looked back at him. She was utterly surprised to say the least.

It was something Roswaal never said to her.

Before she could say anything, Hikaru flew off towards the incoming Witch of Envy. Everyone went to their respective task but Ram stayed and watched Hikaru fly off while pressing her hands on her chest.

"W-What is this...? I love Roswaal-sama, I'll do anything for him! So why am I feeling like this?"

Ram looked down and gritted her teeth as she lowered her eyes.

"I mustn't betray Roswaal-sama...I mustn't..."

She gripped her chest harder as she turned around, pushed those thoughts aside and left with Rem to do their task. Her last thought was wishing for Hikaru's safety.

...

"Flame Magic: Combo Eruption!"

Hikaru spread his arms wide as he created a series of fireballs, and threw them towards Satella. Satella launched her tendrills as to counter the spell. The spell exploded on impact, causing a huge dust cloud. When the dust cleared, Satella had no injuries as she sent a tendril at Hikaru, knocking him towards a tree.

"Damn! She's on a completely different level!"

"Hikaru, if you don't take this more seriously you'll end up dead!"

"Yeah, I know! I know!"

https://youtu.be/f9DmYeRGOkY

Hikaru lifted his katana in the air as flames started to surround it, until it was completely covered in flames. Back in the village, Rem and Ram could feel the magic power in the air, as they looked at Hikaru's direction. 

"This is a lot of condensed mana! Is this Hikaru's?!" Ram thought as she watched the fight. As much as she hated to admit, this mana could be compared to Roswaal's mana capacity, hell even greater at that.

Rem looked on in awe. The mana was so much not even Roswaal could compare to this amount, it wasn't just her that was watching though, it was all the remaining villagers as well as Ryuzu, Otto, and Garfiel. They watched on as the young mage faced down the Witch of Envy. Garfiel was actually frustrated with himself though, seeing Hikaru fight off Satella seemingly on equal grounds just reminded him how far behind he was. He was the Shield of the Sanctuary damn it! And he couldn't even protect the people that were swallowed by the shadows, his fist shook in anger as he thought angrily.

"Damn it...DAMN IT!"

Back with Hikaru and Satella...

Hikaru looked at Satella with the widest smirk he's ever had. He was feeling a rush of excitement, even if this was the Witch of Envy, he had to admit that she was extremely powerful. This was by far one of the best battles he's ever had. 

"This is one of my most powerful flame based spells, this was inspired by the captain of my magic knights squad after the fight with Vetto. I'm actually enjoying the thrill of a good fight! And because of that...I'll push through my limits! Right here right now!"

"Flame Creation Magic: Solar Katana!"

"Give him. Give him. Give him. Give him. Give Him. Give Him. GIVE HIM!" Satella screamed as she sent more tendrils at him. Hikaru charged forward, fully intent on ending this all with one strike. He jumped over one tendril and maneuvered to the right in mid air, he bounced off a tree and charged as another tendril was sent his way. Hikaru dodged it as he landed on it and began running on the tendril. Satella sent more towards him at the same time as he countered with his own slashes, destroying the tendrils. Once he was close enough he jumped off the tendril to close the distance between them. Satella formed two tendrils into giant hands and sent them towards Hikaru, this however didn't work on him as he slashed the hands, completely obliterating him. Any tendrils that were near him completely dissipated, the light from his 'Solar Katana' was able to protect him from the tendrils that were charging at him. Satella decided to use her tendrills to shield herself from the attack as Hikaru thrusted his blade toward her.

"Solar Thrust!" Hikaru exclaimed as his katana made contact with her shadows. The two elements clashed as Satella's shadow's were slowly being cracked.

"HUAGHHHHHHHH!" Hikaru screamed as an explosion occured, blowing him away due to the  the force from the explosion. 

A huge dust cloud could be seen from the village as they watched.

"I-Is it over...?" A villager asked.

"M-Maybe...?" Another villager replied

"Did he do it? Did Hikaru really do it?" Thought Ram. 

Everyone was relieved, Satella was finally defeated or so they thought. As soon as they calmed down, they saw Hikaru get sent flying into one of the nearby houses as shadows began charging at them. The villagers got caught in the shadows as well as Ryuzu and Otto. The only ones that made it out in time was Ram, Rem, Garfiel, and a very weakened Hikaru. 

"Hikaru!"

"Hikaru-kun!"

Both Oni maids rushed towards Hikaru with Ram piggybacking him due to all the mana he's used in fighting Satella. Garfiel walked up to him furiously glaring at him as he exclaimed. "Wh' th' hell happened to buying time huh?!"

"I did buy time...what did you expect Garfiel?"

"Huh...?"

"That lady over there is none other than Satella herself, the very being that destroyed half of the world. Do you really think she would be beaten that easily...?"

"...!"

Hearing that made Garfiel shut up, since he couldn't deny the facts. But he along with Rem and Ram were still shocked at the fact that Hikaru not only survived but also fought the Witch, nearly on equal grounds. Their conversation was cut short when a shadow tendril shot towards the group. They quickly jumped off the building and moved to a new one as Satella chased them repeating "Give him." over and over again. They jumped from building to building until Satella caused the ground to tremble with her shadows, causing the group to lose their footing and fall to the ground. The first person Satella had her sights on was the blue haired Oni as she remembered how much pain she inflicted on Subaru in one of his past loops as well as being the first one to say "I love you." to him. This in turn caused Satella to feel more envious as well as anger towards the blue maid as she towered over her.

"You harmed him. Harmed him. Harmed him. Harmed him. Harmed him. Harmed him. Harmed him. YOU HARMED HIM!"

"W-What...?"

Rem could only stutter and shake in fear as Satella swallowed her with her shadows leaving nothing else behind. For Ram, it was as if time stopped for her. She just witnessed her sister get swallowed by The Witch of Envy no less. Without thinking she sent wind blades at the Witch.

"El Fula! El Fula! Die! Die! You damn Witch die!" Ram exclaimed as each wind blade she sent had nearly to no affect. Ram was next on Satella's hit list as she remembered a loop where she chased Subaru towards a cliff where he ended up killing himself in order to save Rem. Her tendrils shot towards both her and Hikaru as they couldn't react in time.

"W-What do I do now?! C'mon think!"  

Hikaru's thoughts were cut short as he felt himself get launched by some sort of wind blast. When he looked at Ram, he saw something that made his eyes widen in shock and disbelief. Ram was giving him the most beautiful smile she's ever given him with tears in her eyes. That was the last thing he saw as he and Garfiel were sent flying with Hikaru screaming her name.

...

...

...

Back to the present with Subaru after he left the tomb...

Satella was hugging Subaru as he froze in place from fear, he couldn't move.

"Quit screwin' around!"

He heard Garfiel scream from above and felt himself get freed from the Witch's grasp as Subaru crashed into a wall and layed there. Garfiel grabbed Subaru as he jumped from tree top to tree top with Satella shooting her tendrils at them. Garfiel landed to a nearby house where Hikaru was currently resting due to his exhaustion.

"H-Hikaru...?"

"H-Hey Subaru..."

" What the hell happened to you?"

"Well...long story short I ended up fighting Satella and sorta lost."

"Y-YOU WHAT?!"

"Did he really fight Satella...?"

Subaru would ask him about that later but for now they had better problems to worry about. 

Subaru looked at Garfiel stating he wasn't expecting him of all people to save him with Garfiel replying that it was more important to find a way to stop Satella from rampaging.

"What the hell...Why now of all times? Why are you here, Witch of Envy?!"

"Think... Think, Think, Think! I have to do something... I have to beat her somehow..." Subaru thought to himself.

"The bitch isn't tryin' to follow us? What? She gonna leave the barrier?"

At those words both Subaru and Hikaru opened their eyes wide as they remembered the residents of the mansion.

"No way...You're kidding..." Hikaru stated in disbelief.

"The mansion... The mansion! That Witch is heading for Roswaal's mansion!"

"The hell'd you say?!"

"If that's the case, then we better hurry and stop her." Hikaru said as he slowly started to stand up. "I think I regained at least some of my strength." He thought.

"I won't...I won't let you get away with anything else! Subaru exclaimed. 

Subaru turned to Hikaru, as he nodded already knowing what to do. Hikaru used his wind magic to make Subaru and Garfiel float while they flew towards the woods. once they landed they made a full sprint towards the barrier while Satella chased them.

"We're goin' to the mansion?!"

"Hikaru and I know what's going to happen, and we have to stop it! Not to mention, she's drawn to me, which means-"

"If you say we gotta use you as bait, I'm gonna bite off one of your fingers! The old hag and Ram and Rem and everyone else already got swallowed up! I'd be a disgrace if I let it get to you, too!"

They stopped running as Subaru looked at him in shock.

"The shadow...swallowed up all of them?"

"...Yeah. The whole ground was engulfed by the shadow before I even realized it. If Ram hadn't sent me and Hikaru flying with her wind, it would've gotten us too."

"So Ram and Ryuzu-san were just...?"

Subaru looked towards Hikaru, only to see a very angry look on his face while he gripped his fist tightly. All confirming what was said just now all to be true.

"Otto..."

"Emilia and Rem, too...?"

Their lack of answer was all it took for Subaru to find the answer to his question as he exclaimed. "Damn it! Why now of all times?!"

Subaru's rant was cut short as he and Hikaru quickly turned around to see a very small army of Lewes Meyers.

"The hell...?"

"What kind of joke is this?"

"I was hopin' you wouldn't have to see this."

Subaru turned towards Garfiel, noticing a blue gemstone in his hand.

"Are those clones of Ryuzu-san?"

"Don't worry about them. They ain't her. They're empty on the inside."

"So they were producing clones...and using them like this...? That's just wrong!"

"I completely agree Hikaru, I completely agree..."

"What do you plan to do with them Garfiel...?" Asked Hikaru, slightly disturbed that they would using clones like this. They might be clones, but their still living beings after all.

"What do you think? We're gonna bust through with sheer numbers and crush it!"

Satella along with her shadows appeared before the trio.

"I love you."

"There you are!" Garfiel exclaimed as he transformed into a tiger and charged at her.

"Garfiel, no!"

"Wait!"

Satella used her tendrils to restrain his movement. At Garfiels command, the Ryuzu clones charged forward, self destructing in hopes to defeating her. But it was all meaningless as she handled them with ease. The only person that she's had trouble with was Hikaru, but even he knew that wasn't her full power, he was exhausted after the fight but he wasn't going all out. He only used his Flame based spells to fight. While Satella just used her tendrils, so if she was able to restrain Garfiel and effortlessly take out the Ryuzu clones, then that would make Hikaru the only one she's had trouble with...even though they weren't even going all out.

Once Garfiel was freed from his restraints, he charged at her again. Only for her to send one of her tendrils at him as it stabbed him and stuck out of different places all over his body and blew him to bits.

"...!"

Subaru and Hikaru could only stare in horror, Satella was able to kill a fully transformed Garfiel with ease. He was child's play to her.

"I love you."

"Shut up..."

"I love you. I love you. I love you."

"Shut up!"

" I love you. I love you. I love you. Subaru-kun."

"Don't you dare call me that!"

Hikaru opened his eyes wide when he started to put the pieces together.

"Hey Kaida..."

"Hm?"

"When Satella kept saying 'Give him." She was referring to Subaru wasn't she?"

"Yeah."

"And when she saw Rem, she got pissed off and swallowed Rem for something she did to Subaru...but what did she do to Subaru, that'd make her this mad?" 

"It must be due to his time loop ability. There must've been a timeline where Rem had harmed him. Probably more then once. I highly doubt it seeing how much she loves him, but there is still a possibilty."

"I see..."

Subaru looked at the Witch as he yelled at her, telling her to never call him that.

"Cut the crap! The first real "I love you" I was given was so powerful, it made me think a loser like me could actually become a hero! The number one and number two places in my heart are already taken! There's no room for you!"

Satella kept repeating "I love you." over and over again as Subaru continued. The final nail in the coffin was when Subaru stated he'd have an easier time loving Echidna or any of the other Witches. This in turn caused Satella to be furious and swallowed the both of them. Subaru and Hikaru were now inside Satella's shadow as Subaru was wide awake and Hikaru was out cold.

"Love me. Love me. Love me. Love me."

It felt like an endless black void, sucking him deeper and deeper into a deep never ending hole of nothingness. Subaru knew this wasn't death, the shadow was surrounding them, engulfing them. Subaru saw Petra's handkerchief as he remembered the payment he gave to Echidna.

"Did Echidna...know this was going to happen?"

Hell she probably did, she was probably watching the whole thing from her tea table.

Petra's handkerchief transformed into some kind of blade. He grabbed it and stabbed himself feeling his life slip away bit by bit. He used the remaining bit of his strength to pull the cloak off Satella's face only to see a possessed Emilia with jet black eyes and tears rolling down her cheeks as she stared down at Subaru. Subaru used his bloodied hand to wipe her tears away as he said...

"I...swear...I'm going to...save you."

Everything went black for him as he his life in that loop ended.

Hikaru woke back up with everyone, including Ram....

Without realizing it, tears were leaking out of his eyes. He quickly wiped them away before anyone noticed. As his fist tightened.

"We time looped again! Damn it! "

The next loop started with a list of seemingly never ending problems.