Since much of this arc unfolds while Tanaka is absent, I'll outline the key events and contextual changes.
Tanaka remains imprisoned for most of Arc 5, only breaking free after the main conflicts reach their climax and the others have already been defeated. Because of that, this summary will help establish the timeline and transitions leading into the next arcs.
This will also be the final time I write a summary in this format. From Arc 6 onward, I'll return to full narrative chapters. The length of the chapters are as follows:
Arc 6: ~20 chapters
Arc 7: ~30 chapters
Arc 8: ~25 chapters
Arc 9: ~15 chapters
Arc 10: ~20 chapters
Arc 11: ~20 chapters
Arc 12: ~30 chapters
Arc 13: (split 5 + 5 + 2 chapters)
These are estimates, of course. Arc 3 ended up being longer than expected, even after I trimmed a few scenes, so it's safe to assume the total count will exceed 170 chapters.
Both Arc 4 and Arc 5 serve as transitional arcs—shorter by design, meant to bridge the aftermath of the previous conflicts and lay the groundwork for Tanaka's next challenge. Even so, Arc 5 still contains about three more chapters, including this one.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First part:
Anastasia summons all the other candidates, one reason was the same as the anime, to negotiate for mana stones to awaken Puck.
She also mentioned how the Pizza business has found more success than she even anticipated. And knowing the alliance between the Emilia camp and Crusch camp, she also stated that her camp is also striving to rescue Tanaka and they would like to share any information that would help in doing so. As he is her business partner.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the ongoing battle against the Witch Cult, Rem and Beatrice face off against Gluttony (Rui Arneb)—with Lye Batenkaitos already dead, having been killed by Tanaka earlier.
During the confrontation, Gluttony remarks on Tanaka's peculiarity: a mere human, yet possessing a soul of immense density and overwhelming memories, so vast that when Lye attempted to devour him, he was instead consumed from within.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
During their desperate clash with Greed, Regulus spoke with his usual mockery, his voice echoing through the wreckage like a sneer carved into the air.
"Ah, that guy?" He smirked, brushing invisible dust from his immaculate white cuffs. "He completely lost it. Do you know how many times he tried to kill himself? It's truly laughable."
"Shut up!" Emilia's voice trembled with anger, eyes wide with disbelief. "Tanaka would never do something like that—especially not because of the likes of you!"
Regulus chuckled lightly, the sound hollow and cruel. "But it's the truth. Don't worry, though—I kept him alive for about a year. Ah, I remember now… I think he wishes for death more than anything else these days."
Subaru gritted his teeth. "You bastard! What did you do to him?!"
"Do I have a grudge against him?" Regulus tilted his head, feigning innocence. "Not at all. I even tried to grant him death a few times. I didn't do anything—just kept him breathing. Oh, but I did hand him over to that wretched woman."
Subaru's eyes widened. "Wretched… woman? Don't tell me—"
He grinned. "Yes. Lust. She came and took him a few days ago. And by now?" He shrugged with theatrical flair. "Who knows what's left of him? You've met her—you can take a guess."
*********************************************************************************************************
Elsewhere—
Several streaks of blue light cut through the darkened sky, their glow reflecting off the surface of a grotesque, swollen red mass suspended in midair. The mass pulsed weakly—faint, rhythmic thuds echoing from within, like a distant heartbeat.
The spirits surrounding it began to hum, releasing threads of mana that seeped into the fleshy cocoon. For a moment, the pulsing grew stronger—then faltered. The spirits hesitated, their glow flickering uncertainly before they quietly drifted away, as though unnerved by what they'd sensed.
Silence returned. Then—a faint twitch from within.
___
____
_____
At first, the pain was beyond comprehension—a storm of agony that tore through every nerve. He couldn't even scream; the air itself was crushed out of his lungs. His consciousness wavered, teetering on the edge of blackness.
But he was never allowed to fall.
No matter how much he begged for it—no matter how deeply he wished for oblivion—the pain kept dragging him back, over and over again. Hours passed. Then days. The torment didn't relent. It only changed form.
When the pain finally subsided, it wasn't relief that followed—it was suffocation.
His body convulsed. He couldn't breathe. Every desperate gasp clawed against something thick and heavy pressing against his mouth, his chest, his limbs. It was like being buried alive inside molten flesh.
He was trapped. Curled in on himself, every inch of his body pressed by a pulsing, wet confinement. There was no room to move, no air to draw in, no light to see. Only the suffocating warmth and the crushing weight of the thing that held him.
Fuck.
That was the only thought that surfaced through the haze of agony.
Dammit.
He kept struggling—thrashing weakly, writhing against the impossible pressure. He didn't even know why anymore. Instinct, maybe. Or the faint, stubborn spark of someone who still refused to die.
Time lost all meaning. Hours, days—it could have been weeks.
Then, a flicker of movement. His finger twitched.
It wasn't much—but it was something. The jelly-like substance surrounding him shifted slightly, loosening, just enough for him to feel it give way.
He pushed again. Harder. Again. Again.
Tiny movements grew larger. Soon, he could move his wrist. Then his arm. Then his entire body. Every motion sent waves of nausea and pain, but he didn't stop.
And finally—something gave.
The world around him split open with a wet, tearing sound. He fell forward into a pool of viscous, blood-red liquid. The smell hit him instantly—rancid, metallic, nauseating. It clung to his skin, thick and oily.
His vision was a blur of red and black. His ears rang—
BZZZZZZZT.
A piercing, unnatural buzzing filled the air the moment he broke free. The sound was sharp enough to feel like needles stabbing into his skull. He tried to cover his ears, but his arms wouldn't obey.
His body… it didn't feel like his own.
Each breath burned. His skin stung as if covered in acid. His muscles screamed.
But through it all, one instinct drowned out every thought, every sensation, every shred of reason—
He had to get out.
Out of this room.
Out of this place.
Away from that buzzing that clawed at the edge of his mind, driving him insane.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Notes: This is something I thought was interesting and I wanted to mention it a while ago.
It's about exceptions in the Re zero world:
Reinhard: Reinhard's gate is defective as it is unable to release the mana inside of his body back out into the atmosphere, it doesn't cause any harm to his body as he uses all of his mana to boost his physical abilities.
Beatrice and Puck: Unlike most spirits, They cannot absorb mana from the atmosphere. Instead, Puck obtains his mana from living creatures. They are also artificial spirits, making them have a terrible mana consumption rate.
Tanaka: Tanaka's case is truly singular. His gate is flawless, perfectly intact in every structural sense—yet his Od, the vital organ-like core responsible for circulating life energy, is absent within his gate system.This renders him incapable of drawing mana from the atmosphere by himself. He can only survive by having spirits absorb and channel mana into him. In every known record, he is the only being capable of living without an Od.
Additionally, Tanaka's mana regulation is catastrophically poor. His spells consistently overcharge and misfire—not from lack of control, but because his visualization precision and mana purity are far beyond normal human limits. Each spell he casts is magnitudes stronger than intended, often at the cost of his stamina
Anastasia Hoshin: According to the artificial spirit Eridna, Anastasia's gate is unable to absorb mana from the atmosphere properly, causing her to be chronically mana deficient. Her affinity is Yang, and her deficiency is mentioned to be hereditary.
Natsuki Subaru: After overusing his gate during repeated deaths and resurrections, Subaru's mana pathways became permanently damaged. He lost the ability to cast or expel mana entirely.Ordinarily, such a condition would result in severe mana poisoning and death, but Subaru's contract with Beatrice circumvents that outcome—her control over his internal mana flow keeps him alive.