A giant pillar of prismatic violet light crashed down from the heavens and scattered all of the miasma I had been wrestling with. Bright, magical light burst out from the impact zone, blinding my draconic eyes and forcing me to close my eyes against the onslaught. When the light finally fell away, I opened my eyes to see Beako and Rem standing together, hand in hand, before me.

“You two are so cute together!” I shouted from my heart, the earth itself rumbling from the volume of my voice.

“Not that it doesn’t make me happy, but pay attention, I suppose!” Beako looked straight at me with a mild frown, letting go of Rem’s hand.

Then, Beako lifted off from the ground, her dress ripping as she hovered through the air to land on my head. Her legs folded underneath her, Beako’s knees and calves pushing into my head for grip, with both of her palms resting down on me for balance.

At her contact, something within me immediately clicked, our magics swirling and shifting into one another. “Hm! You’ll know better than to separate from Betty next time, in fact!” Beako shouted above me.

I laughed slightly as I walked over to Rem, using my body to shelter her underneath me. The miasma was already forming back together for another strike.

“Beako, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Obviously, I suppose.”

“Then,”

Together, we called upon our magic, throwing everything we had out into the world.

“BMT!” We shouted, pouring our hearts into our newly developed spell— our souls connected.

The world around us took on a gray hue, all of the color around us draining from our combined effort. All sources of mana vanished from around us, the full force of pure reality weighing down on us. The lack of magic itched at my scales, and I could feel the world itself pressing down on me as if to say that I did not belong. Above me, Beako also strained against the feeling, tiny wisps of energy leaking off from her purely magic-made body.

“We can’t hold this for long, I suppose!” Beako shouted unnecessarily into my ear-holes. “And it’s not working!” She cried out.

Indeed, the miasma moved sluggishly but did not vanish as I’d hoped it might. “It’s her witch’s authority!” I called out. “She isn’t just using pure magic!”

Then, before either of my girls could try to worry over or talk me out of it, I moved my head down and bit hard into my scaled left arm.

“W-w-what are you doing, I suppose?!” Beatrice shouted above me.

“Subaru-kun!” Rem shrieked from below me.

I ignored both of their protests, “Beako! Use my blood! Don’t just call upon your Yin magic, reach for the void!”

I could feel Beako’s tiny body trembling above me, but due to anger or worry, I couldn’t see. “Fine then, I suppose. If Subaru is willing to go to this length for it, I won’t contest you, I suppose!” Beatrice’s resolve hardened, and great rivers of blood poured out from the punctures in my arm.

The blood flowed high into the air, forming into a ball, and then Beako stopped pulling more blood out. I could already feel Rem running over to my injured arm, trying unsuccessfully to cast healing magic.

“This much will be enough, in fact!” Beako shouted triumphantly, “Now, Subaru! Again!”

The blood shimmered in the air, a purple sheen to the otherwise red substance. The void within it called out to me. More than that, the source of tiny, wonderful magic on my head called out to me, something connecting our very souls.

“B-M-T!” We shouted together again, the blood snapping out of existence with a crack of displaced air.

A shockwave crashed through me, forcing me to dig my claws into the ground for support— the trees around us bending down and snapping like twigs in a wave. Beako’s fingers dug into my scales, and Rem hugged onto my giant arm for dear life. I closed my eyes against the force of the wind.

And then, it was over. Mana returned to the world in force— vibrancy and life suddenly filling me in a way I hadn’t realized I’d missed. Atop my crown, Beatrice let out a relieved breath.

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“It’s over, I suppose.”

Around us, not a hint of the miasma remained.

“Subaru!” Rem snapped underneath me, causing me to angle my neck and head down to look at her with one eye. She slapped me on the arm, surprisingly, with enough force to sting. “Don’t injure yourself like that!”

“Scolded by my Rem! And she didn’t even call me Subaru-kun!” I flinched in feigned agony.

Then, Rem wrapped her entire body around my leg in an embrace. “I’m just glad Subaru-kun is alright.”

“I’ll try not to worry you in the future.”

“Hm! None of this would have happened if Subaru had stayed with Betty, in fact!”

“I get it, don’t go running off from my favorite girls. You two have drilled that into my brain.”

“Wawawa... Your girl?” Beako mumbled atop my head.

“Yes, Rem is Subaru’s.” Rem easily agreed, in stark contrast to Beako’s flustered self.

“Subaru-kun?”

“Yes, Rem-rin?”

“Can you turn back into yourself now?”

“Ah, yeah. My bad.”

In a flash, I transformed back into a human, all thoughts of biting and mounting Rem disappearing at the same time. Well, the mounting part remained, but the biting part diminished. Probably.

The suddenness of the transformation caused Beako to suddenly start falling out of the sky with a shriek, but I easily caught her in my arms a moment later.

“Hm!” She barely had time to pout before a dainty snowflake fell right on her nose, causing Beako to adorably scrunch her face from the cold.

I looked up at the sky, only just now noticing the storm clouds overhead. In the opposite direction, behind us, a massive roar shook through the treetops.

“Garfiel is still fighting Elsa?” I asked aloud.

“That vampire will not be defeated so easily, I suppose.”

“Rem—” I began, but she immediately cut me off. She tackled into me with a tight squeeze, squishing Beako in between us, much to her protests, and nearly throwing us all to the ground.

“No! You aren’t sending Rem away again!”

“Okay, okay! Got it.” I laughed under my breath. “You know, he probably wouldn’t want us to come swooping in to handle things for him, either. We’ll just have to trust that he’ll win. Besides, if that snowstorm is what I think it is, we need to protect the village.”

“Betty can confirm Subaru’s fears, I suppose. The mana in the village will certainly be enough to attract one of the great three mabeasts.”

“Oh, goodie. Alrighty then, everyone! Bundle together!” I wrapped my arms around both girls, pulling them in tightly.

“Beako?”

“No need to ask me, I suppose.”

And then we were flying through the sky, a streak of violet magic surrounding us and trailing behind like a comet.

“I see the source of the mana, I suppose!” Beako called out, her form blurring at the edges as we were wrapped in her magic— almost ethereal in this comet-like flight spell.

“Land us!”

“Okay!”

The next moment, the three of us were all standing outside the entrance to the ruin inlaid into a cliff wall.

“Nee-sama...” Rem spoke softly.

“Ram’s in there?” I asked.

Rem nodded her head and hmed in confirmation.

“Let’s go.”

“No need!” A feminine voice echoed from the entrance. A moment later, Ram’s pink head appeared from the darkness. Her face was puffy, and tears streaked down her cheeks. But, she was standing and walking— all under her own strength.

Rem ran forward to embrace her sister, the two of them colliding with a woomf.

“Nothing of importance is in there. More importantly, Barusu: Emilia and the villagers are in danger,” Ram explained, her head over Rem’s shoulder.

“The source of the blizzard?” I asked.

“Destroyed,” Ram said simply.

I nodded my head. “Alright, everyone aboard the Beako train!”

“Betty’s Subaru is talking nonsense again, I suppose.”

I patted her head, ruffling her hair. “I’ll explain what a train is to you later; don’t worry.”

Beako smiled with joy before catching herself and fake-complaining about the headpats.

Once Rem and Ram were holding onto Beako and me, Beako launched us through the air again. Ram quickly found the villagers and Emilia with her clairvoyance.

We landed in front of the trial chamber with a streak of violet light. By now, the sun had long set, our magical landing drawing everyone’s attention— except for Emilia, who even now was focused on protecting the villagers behind her back.

A horde of horned rabbits stood outside the trial chamber, wave after wave, attempting to make their way into the trial chamber and the juicy meat inside.

“You’ve worked hard, haven’t you, Emilia?” I said from behind her back. “If the villagers are in the trial chamber, then you must have finished the trials, huh?” I shook my head ruefully; I had never truly expected Emilia to overcome the trials on the first attempt. Honestly, I was shocked but also glad.

The moment Emilia heard my voice, she sagged in relief, nearly collapsing where she stood. I rushed forward, catching her before she hit the ground. “Oops!” I said as I delicately held her to me.

“Minya!” I heard Beako already casting magic, but I trusted her to protect us for a few moments.

“Subaru?” Emilia’s lips were purple, the tips of her hair frozen together. Her legs had ice crawling up them, and her finger felt ice cold as she reached up to touch my cheek.

“Yes, it’s Subaru. I’ll take it from here.”

“Mhm,” Emilia agreed, a big smile stretching across her lips despite how exhausted she must be. “You came to save me again.” Her teeth chattered, and her body shivered in my arms. “I knew you would. I was waiting.” Something glinted in her eyes, but I had trouble making out what it was exactly.

Ram walked up beside me and gently took Emilia from my arms. “I’ll take care of Emilia-sama. I leave the Insatiable Hare to you and Beatrice.” A portal appeared beside Ram before she jumped through with Emilia in her arms.

Beako walked up to stand next to me, her tiny hand reaching up to grasp mine. Rem followed close behind, standing just behind me and to the left.

“So, Beako, can we beat this bad Holy Grail reference?”

“Betty has no idea what a ‘holy grail’ is, I suppose. And, I’ve almost used all of the magic I had stored up for over 400 years. In addition, I have an inexperienced contractor with a pitiful gate, a horde of people to protect, and I’m up against one of the three famous great mabeasts.” Beako grinned. “Those conditions will be a good handicap, in fact.”