Lucien hunched his back and coughed, still determined to make a move.
Since Natsuki Subaru had not appeared this time, he would use killing instead.
He wanted to see whether Subaru would sacrifice himself to save these two sisters.
Although killing these people had no effect on the loop, consuming them would yield a large amount of life energy, strengthening Lucien's cells and powering him up further.
His current body could no longer be harmed by ordinary high temperatures.
If possible, Lucien did not want to kill innocent people, especially not the woman he had once loved deeply.
Every time he struck at them, it was like hitting her body, tearing at his heart; no pain in the world was greater than that.
If heaven would grant him one wish, he would wish for an ardent love affair with the woman he cherished, and then merge her into his body forever, never to be separated again.
But reality was cruel.
Both sides were closing in, and Lucien made his move decisively without hesitation.
Two black thorn-like blades shot fiercely toward Ram and Rem with a whistling sound.
The distance was too close and there was no warning, so the two girls could not react in time.
Instantly the sky seemed to dim, and the black thorns froze mere centimeters from Ram and Rem's hearts.
They could not move another inch.
Even Lucien's body froze.
It was as if time in the surroundings had been halted.
"It really was dangerous," Betty said as she descended through the frozen air, looking at Lucien, Ram, and Rem, all locked in place.
In the distance villagers talked and children played, but everything was frozen.
Only Betty could move normally in this suspended space.
At first she had not believed Subaru's words, but he had begged her relentlessly, so eventually she had reluctantly agreed.
Crack, crack.
The still air shattered like glass around Lucien, and the black thorns resumed their motion, plunging straight into Ram and Rem's bodies even though their forms remained frozen.
"This world is really dangerous," Betty murmured, her voice grave.
The black thorns began drawing life energy from Ram and Rem, and Lucien saw golden lightning enveloping Betty's body.
Her aura formed white flame all around her, resisting the strange power and quickly draining it.
"That power," Betty said, studying Lucien whose body radiated golden lightning and white flame that pulsed with immense energy.
Her small face showed a flicker of emotion.
Relying on sheer strength, her magic had been broken through.
Betty flicked her small hand, and one instant later Ram and Rem appeared beside her as though teleported.
Lucien narrowed his eyes and retracted the dark thorns, feeling troubled.
Was this a spatial transfer?
"Betty cannot tolerate your existence," she said, anger glimmering in her eyes.
Ram and Rem were gaunt as if turned to mummies, their life slipping away.
Betty raised her right hand and made a cutting motion through the air toward Lucien.
Powerful magic surged, and the atmosphere split with a thunderous roar, forming a rift that slashed down toward him.
Lucien vanished and reappeared ten meters away, where the ground had already cracked open into a bottomless chasm.
"Such speed even in a frozen world," Betty muttered, displeasure clear on her small face.
She raised her right hand again to attack.
Lucien flicked his right hand, and behind him a massive golden dragon nearly two hundred meters long, roaring with power, charged forward without restraint.
Pop…
The frozen world began to crack and collapse.
Lucien transformed into golden lightning and vanished into the sky.
Everything returned to normal, and the villagers resumed moving, unaware of what had happened, the only sign of conflict a vast bottomless chasm carved into the ground.
Betty's face was paler than before, clearly drained from confronting Lucien's overwhelming Great Might Heavenly Dragon.
"Rem, Ram!"
Natsuki Subaru ran over from a distance, panting, his face ashen as he looked at the skeletal forms of Rem and Ram.
"It's my fault," Betty said gravely, because she had not taken Subaru's warning seriously at first and had acted too late, allowing the attack to reach Ram and Rem.
As magic surged around them, Betty transported Subaru, Ram, and Rem back to Roswaal's Mansion.
"Ram, Rem?"
Emilia, wearing a silk dress and followed by Puck, rushed over at the commotion.
Seeing Ram and Rem's near lifeless bodies, panic filled her eyes.
"Their life force is completely gone," Roswaal said as he appeared nearby, taking in the scene instantly.
"What is happening?" Emilia asked, her eyes misty.
"Betty…"
Betty did not hide anything and began to explain the entire situation.
For a moment Roswaal, Emilia, and Puck all looked at Subaru, who stood still and numb.
"Subaru, what exactly is going on? How did you know Ram and Rem were in danger?" Emilia asked in a trembling voice.
Subaru met Emilia's gaze, his eyes lifeless moments before now growing firm.
"I will find the culprit and save Ram and Rem," he said, then burst out of the room and into the kitchen.
He grabbed a knife, his tear-filled eyes showing fear and steely determination.
He stabbed the blade into his throat and fell into a pool of his own blood, his breath slipping away.
At the same moment, in the tavern, Lucien opened his eyes and recognized the familiar ceiling.
Subaru had used Return by Death again.
Memories quickly pieced together in his mind.
Lucien leaned against the headboard, lit a cigar, and exhaled smoke as he reviewed the operation in his thoughts, especially the battle with Betty.
Although she had formidable magic, as long as he mobilized all of his aura he was able to resist even time-freezing abilities.
As long as his aura was strong enough, he could forcefully break through any power and neutralize it before it affected him.
This was equivalent to one force breaking all laws.
No matter how strange or bizarre an opponent's ability, Lucien only needed to concentrate all his strength and push forward.
That was good news.
During his two years in the world of Fate/stay night, Lucien had not just been relaxing in massage parlors or bars.
On the contrary, his training had been brutal and relentless.
Especially after gaining weight enhancement ability.
When he first began training, Lucien set the weighted enhancement to one ton, and he exploded on the spot, blood and tissue everywhere, requiring ten minutes to recover.
If it had been just an ordinary ton of weight, Lucien could lift it with one hand.
But that ton of enhancement acted on every cell, every bone, and every drop of blood.
In other words, every cell in his body endured one ton of gravity.
How could any person bear that?
Finally, Lucien started at fifty kilograms, and after a full two years he could initially withstand a one-ton enhancement.
Even now, every cell in his body was continually pressed by that weight, meaning every breath, every step, every movement was training.
Just now in the battle with Betty, he had not removed the one-ton enhancement.
For these two years, Lucien had never removed it, whether eating or sleeping, which meant he did not know how strong he might become once he finally took it off.