AN: Got some help from some legendarily legendary legend dude called JDUBZ. He is a cool Beta Reader and really helped out. Thanks bro!

ARC Three: The Other Days

Chapter Twenty: Fear Toxin

"I...I didn't…"

"Subaru?"

Batman had been giving Subaru a concerned look, along with Rem who was trying to comprehend what had happened.

"Subaru-kun? What is the matter?"

"How do I…?

Subaru was trying his best to collect his thoughts. He had been killed alongside Rem in the previous loop. The entire village went insane at the arrival of the man known as "Scarecrow", and he was unable to stop him. If his past memories were correct, then he had now been sent back around the time before he and Rem left to purchase more snacks.

"...Twenty Minutes."

Return by Death had sent him back only twenty minutes prior to Scarecrow's attack on Dunharrow.

"But...Why?!"

He couldn't wrap his head around it. Why did it send him back only less than an hour prior to his own death? In the past, Return by Death had sent him hours to even days in advance, so why was it that this time gap was such a small one. Could he even prepare in twenty minutes? Where was Scarecrow at this point? Did he have the means to stop him and prevent more deaths?

What was it that Natsuki Subaru could do? A normal young man, with no strength of his own, going up against a super-villain?

"Subaru, snap out of it!"

Batman reached over and firmly grabbed his shoulder. The impact brought him back to his senses.

"Batman-san?"

"Tell us what's wrong."

Subaru quickly tried to form a plan in his head. He knew he couldn't outright lie to him, but he wasn't sure how he'd be able to tell him that a crazed psychopath with a hallucinogenic gas was going to attack twenty minutes from now. But he had an idea…

"It's just...on the way here, I could've sworn I saw something weird. It was a man."

"A man?"

"Yes...a man with an orange eye, a brown trench coat and a face that looked like a disgusting sack mask."

"...Subaru...Did he have a clawed hand?"

"...Yes."

Batman stared at Subaru with a look of utter disbelief in what he said, but he knew he wasn't lying. Batman clenched his fists as he rose from his seat.

"No...he followed me here?!"

Emilia also rose from her seat as she reached out to Batman.

"Batman-san?"

"...We need to move right now!"

Everyone became surprised at his loud declaration. Rem and Ram quickly moved closer to him as he began explaining things better.

"That man Subaru saw, is an old adversary of mine. He goes by the name Scarecrow."

"Scarecrow? Like those creepy mannequins that farmers use to chase away birds?"

"Yes. He's a very vile person and quite dangerous."

Rem slightly shook as she began understanding the severity of the situation.

"He's well versed in psychological torture and very dangerous, because that's how he fights."

"How he fights?"

"He's created a poisonous formula known as 'Fear Toxin', it's a dangerous hallucinogenic drug that makes you see your worst fears. It also slows brain movement and essentially makes you weaker."

"Unbelievable."

The group quickly realized that they were up against someone that was quite formidable and a clear threat to them.

But there was something Ram herself didn't comprehend.

"But if Barusu did see this Scarecrow earlier, the question still remains...What does he want?"

"Simple…"

Batman turned his shoulders, in order to better face his allies.

"He likes to see people experience sheer terror and watch them either fall into insanity or die while screaming. Scarecrow is enamored with the facial expressions of fear. It's his obsession."

"So why is he here?"

"The village."

The group gathered together as Subaru explained to them that he saw Scarecrow head to the other side of the town. It was then agreed that Scarecrow had to be stopped.

Batman, Rem and Subaru would head out to confront Scarecrow and minimize civilian casualties.

Roswaal, Emilia and Ram would try to convince as many citizens especially in the northern side to escape.

"Subaru, if things go wrong take Rem and head back to the others."

"I'm not gonna abandon you! We won't have to run away if we work together and kick this guys ass!"

"This isn't a game Subaru! Scarecrow will do everything in his ability to kill us! We have to take this seriously!"

Subaru straightened himself out and pulled out several throwing stars from his pocket.

"I am. And we will win, you can count on that!"

"Tread lightly."

"Okay."

Rem motioned to them as she pulled out her Morningstar, the three of them marching forward as the others began working on the evacuations.

Rem had been hopping around the rooftops, looking for anything suspicious. Batman was also using the rooftops searching for his nemesis. Subaru was on the ground as he also was searching, but also trying his best to warn people about the impending danger.

Then he saw it.

"Oh no!"

Several canisters rolled on the ground as they released Fear Toxin all over the general area. Subaru covered his mouth with his sleeve as he backed away. Batman glided over the sky as he saw the situation unfold. He threw several Batarangs into the area as he saw something leap out from the gas cloud.

"Ohhhhhh….so you did follow me to this new world. How exciting!"

Scarecrow glared up at Batman as he pulled out a handgun from his holster and fired it in his general direction. Batman fired his grappling hook in another direction and zipped past the bullets. Rem leaped into the air and aimed her Morningstar at him. He quickly jumped into a window of the nearest house and escaped impact from Rem's weapon. Subaru rushed over to the house and kicked down the door.

"You should knock first boy."

Scarecrow charged at Subaru, he jumped back and tossed several throwing stars. Two of them impaled themselves in his shoulder.

"Hahhhhhh…"

Scarecrow spun his body as he roundhouse kicked Subaru away back into the streets. Scarecrow laughed maniacally at the sight before him.

"HUHUHUHUHAHAHA! What's this Batman?! You got a new Robin?"

He then quickly pulled out his handgun and aimed it at Subaru.

"After what happened to the last ones? You can be quite careless."

As he fired, Subaru was suddenly wrapped in a chain and lifted into the air. Rem had saved him and was now carrying him in the air. They landed on an adjacent rooftop that Batman had been standing on. Batman tossed several explosive Batarangs towards the house in an attempt to drive him out.

Explosions rang out as the house imploded by the shockwaves of the Batarangs. After several seconds, Scarecrow still hadn't emerged. Just then, from the other side of the now destroyed house, Scarecrow turned the corner and emptied his entire magazine at them. The three moved out of the way as they tried to separate and corner him. This plan failed as Scarecrow pulled something out of his pocket.

A grenade filled with Fear Toxin. He lopped it at Subaru. Subaru tried to smack it away. But it still exploded.

"Subaru-kun!"

"Subaru!"

Subaru began to panic as he realized he had inhaled some of the gas. He coughed and coughed, trying his best to get it out of his lungs as fast as possible. But soon, he realized that his vision was getting blurry and everything had an orange hue to it.

"Crap, this is bad! It's in my system!"

Batman jumped down to try and get Subaru away from there, but he noticed in time that Scarecrow had appeared behind him. Batman blocked a blow from a farmer's scythe he had with him. Batman also noticed that Scarecrow had his mouth closed shut.

"Ptui!"

"Gah!"

Scarecrow spit out a large amount of Fear Toxin at his face so quickly, that he had no time to block. Batman now realized he was now infected as well.

Batman tried his best to kick away Scarecrow away, but he quickly spun away while unleashing a barrage of slashes with his scythe. Rem launched her Morningstar to the ground to separate the two, she noticed too late that Subaru had collapsed on the ground.

"AGHHHHHH!"

Subaru backed away from Batman as he screamed. In his vision, Batman had become a literal hybrid between a Wolgarm and Human. Subaru tossed several throwing stars at him, Batman quickly dodged them and scrunched his face in fear.

Subaru's screams slowly morphed from agonizing yelps...into laughter.

"AGHHHHHH-HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

His face turned white, his hair green and a hideous grin stretched across his face. His mouth ripped open as blood gushed forward.

Rem tried to jump down and save them but Scarecrow had tossed several canisters into the air and fired his gun at them. They broke apart, splashing Fear Toxin all over the blue haired girl.

"AGH!"

"Everyone needs to stop this resistance and just be good little test subjects."

Scarecrow then turned around as he looked over the side of the town, which now was engulfed in Fear Toxin. Screams and crying could be heard, shattering windows and finally a massive fire broke out. Several people were running out of a building while on fire, their charred bodies running through the smoke. Subaru saw one running towards him and panicked. Their awful screams of pain and terror reverberated in his head. He tossed a throwing star at them, hitting in directly in the face. They fell over and as they were granted a merciful death.

Subaru tried to get up and run for it.

Scarecrow almost teleported behind him and stabbed him with his syringe fingers, injecting him with more Fear Toxin.

Batman and Rem were busy dealing with civilians who were attacking them, Rem did her best not to kill any of them, but simply knock them out. Batman used a judo throw on a larger citizen and forced him onto the ground. He punched him twice in the face, as blood and teeth flew out of his mouth. Batman tossed two Batarangs at an approaching civilian, who had a rather large shovel aimed at him. The Batarangs did their job and knocked him out.

Batman looked over and saw Scarecrow towering over the twitching Subaru.

"Subaru!"

Scarecrow dropped his scythe and retrieved his handgun. Aiming downwards at Subaru's head.

"Now be a good boy and die for me."

He readied the trigger.

"Scream a bit though…!"

Scarecrow then noticed several objects flying towards him and quickly dodged them in the nick of time. He did several flips in the air before he landed. He looked over to see that the objects were shards of ice.

"FULA!"

Suddenly a large slicing gust of wind charged towards him, he barely moved his body out of the way as it sliced through a wall that he was leaning on.

"What?!"

But a large wound opened across his chest and his vest fell off of him.

He leered over at where the shot came from and furrowed his eyes at the ones responsible.

Emilia, Puck, Ram and Roswaal had arrived.

Scarecrow made a face indicative of annoyance towards the arriving party. But he slowly began to smile.

"Yes. It is quite desirable to have so many people willing to put their lives on the line for my work! I couldn't be more ecstatic!"

Scarecrow waved his arms around in a wild spinning manner, twisting his flexible body in an almost happy manner. But he stopped and stared back at them with a vicious expression.

"But if you're going to be using magic...then maybe I should get my hands dirty as well."

"What?!"

Scarecrow raised his right index finger to the sky. At the tip of of his syringe nail, a small black orb of light fluttered around it. The sight of which made Scarecrow smile with anticipation.

They could only watch in shock at what was happening.

"I-it can't be…"

"Oh but it is Batman…!"

Ram tensed up as she glared at him.

"This man...is a spirit user?!"

"Why didn't you tell us he used spirit magic?!"

"He never did in the past. He must've learned in the month since we got here!"

"By the color of it's light...it has to be Yin magic!"

"Things just went from bad to terrible in just a few seconds!"

Scarecrow slowly marched towards them while his spirit hovered around him.

"Did you think I'd waste this whole month in stagnation while in this new world?! I am an adaptable individual and one who will go on and strive to be ahead of all of you! ESPECIALLY YOU BATMAN!"

He charged forward, retrieving his scythe from the ground as he howled insanely.

Subaru shook his head, now free from the hallucinations. He reached for a throwing star, trying to toss it. Everyone followed suit, aiming their own attacks-

"SHAMAK!"

A massive black cloud of smoke engulfed them. Everything went dark as everyone tried to grasp at what happened. Roswaal smirked at what he considered a foolish attempt to escape.

"Fula!"

He swiped away at the air, as the wind itself blew away the smoke.

"How trivial. Suuuuuch a morose way of-!"

"-Yesssss."

Ram turned to her side, seeing Scarecrow staring right at her. Only a few inches away from her face.

Scarecrow attempted to slice open her throat with the scythe, only for Ram to dodge and fire a blast of wind magic. She missed as he jumped to the ground on all fours. He smiled as he stood back up and used his fingers to open his chest wound further.

The wound opened more and sprayed blood all over Ram's face. Blinded, she tried her best to slice him away with the wind but she missed and nearly hit Emilia. Luckily, she was pushed out of the way by Subaru.

"Ahh! You bastard!"

Ram spun her body around and kicked him in his sides, sending him flying through a nearby door. Rem took advantage of the situation by swinging her Morningstar at the house, destroying it completely.

Batman turned to Ram and ran towards her.

"Ram! Get that blood off! It's infected with Fear Toxin!"

Ram stumbled around as the toxin began affecting her. Unbeknownst to everyone but Batman, Scarecrow constantly injected himself with new batches of Fear Toxin, in a bid to make himself immune to it. But it gave him the side effects of his oranges eye, nerve damage and of course terrible skin conditions. It also made his blood toxic, now that it was filled with his homemade poison.

Ram struggled to keep her mind in check. But she felt slower than usual, her vision had an orange hue to it.

"Ram?"

Ram heard Roswaal's voice, but it sounded muffled. When she turned to look at him...she saw his face was melting away. Revealing flesh, bones and his eye dangling from it's socket.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Ram was now screaming uncontrollably as she fired random wind attacks in all directions.

Batman tried to stop her but was unable to get close.

"Ram stop!"

"Nee-sama please!"

No one was able to get through to her and things got worse when Puck let out a shout.

"Here he comes!"

Scarecrow now sprinting out of the rubble while his Yin spirit flew next to him.

Rem grabbed Subaru to try and get away. Batman reached for his Freeze Gun, while Roswaal and Puck readied their attacks.

"EL SHAMAK!"

A dark wave engulfed them, Subaru felt a sensation of free falling. As if he wasn't even part of the world any longer. Then like a mirror shattering, the illusion broke away.

"Oh shit."

Only to reveal a cloud of Fear Toxin heading straight towards him.

Rem and Batman jumped over the cloud and to a taller building, trying to find the others. They saw Ram stumble through the gas cloud, shaking uncontrollably.

"Nee-sama!"

Just then, Scarecrow charged at Ram and pierced her from behind with his syringe claws, lifting her small frame from the ground, before tossing her into a nearby wall. After she hit the ground, her body contorted and she shook violently. The whites of her eyes showed.

"NEE-SAMA! WHAT'S HAPPENED TO HER?!"

"She's overdosed on Fear Toxin! She's having a seizure!"

Batman used his grappling hook to swing over and pick up Ram. He gave her to Rem and told her to stay put and take care of her sister.

"But Batman-san-!"

"Please stay with her! I'm getting Emilia and the others so please...take care of Ram."

"..."

Batman glided away as Rem hold her sister close, holding back the tears.

Subaru tried to regain his bearings as he attempted to find the others. His vision was erratic and he was sweating profusely. But then he thought of something…

"I could try. Please let this work!"

He took a deep breath and let out a yell.

"I can Return by D-!"

The orange hued world disappeared from sight and two ink black hands emerged and grasped his heart. He let out a grunt as he gripped his chest.

When he came back to his senses, he realized that the shock of his heart being crushed healed him from the Fear Toxin.

"I-I'm back!"

Subaru grabbed his throwing stars and ran around the gas as he did his best to find his friends. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Scarecrow rushing towards a nearby house. He began to give chase.

The fire continued to spread, bodies littered the streets and smoke enveloped the sky. Even if half of the town was saved the other half was enveloped in chaos.

In the end, the plan to save Dunharrow, was unsuccessful.

Scarecrow made it inside the house, his hideout, and began prepping some canisters of gas to be used. Subaru, giving chase, rushed forward and tossed four throwing stars at him. They hit his back, impaling themselves as he hardly flinched.

"That's quite annoying!"

He quickly spun around and tossed his scythe. It nicked the side of Subaru's face, and left a deep cut on his right cheek. Subaru ran around as Scarecrow pulled out his handgun.

It was knocked out of his hand by a Batarang. Batman leapt through the window and kicked him into a wall. Scarecrow quickly got up and took a kung fu fighting stance as he smiled at Batman.

Just then, something crashed through the wall behind him, sending him flying into the table he was working on. Batman and Subaru froze, as they saw that his left arm was on the ground, detached from the rest of his body.

From the hole, emerged Rem.

"Rem! I thought I told you to wait for us!"

"...dead…"

"Huh?"

"Nee-sama is dead."

Batman looked at her with a look of disbelief. He shook his head over and over again. He looked at her and saw that she had tears falling from her eyes. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. Hard enough that his gums began to bleed.

Subaru fell to his knees and tried his best to hold back his tears as he whimpered slowly.

Rem turned her attention back to Scarecrow. Raising her palm towards him with a blank expression.

"Huma."

Two ice spears shot out and stabbed him in his abdomen.

"Ugh. This is quite troublesome. But sadly, I have no fear of death and I can no longer feel pain. So you won't see me beg for mercy…"

"For the deaths you have caused today. For the pain you inflicted on these kind people, Emilia-sama, Roswaal-sama, Subaru-kun and Batman-san….and…"

She gripped her chain tightly as she roared with her horn shining brightly.

"FOR THE DEATH OF MY BELOVED SISTER! I WILL TEAR YOU APART SCARECROW! NO ONE WILL FIND A SINGLE PIECE OF YOU LEFT!"

Scarecrow smiled at this…

"I have a better idea."

He reached over with his clawed right hand and pulled out a large sack.

"How about ...Plan B? Hmmmmm?"

He opened it and revealed it contained a large amount of red stones.

"Those are-!"

"DIE AND FALL INTO DESPAIR! SHOW ME THE FACES OF FEAR AS YOU REACH THE END OF YOU LIVES!"

The red stones began to glow, smoke rose from the sack.

Batman jumped back.

Rem reached over for Subaru.

Subaru fell backwards.

Scarecrow laughed like a madman.

Emilia was leaning on a wall crying with her hands clutching her head, with Puck trying to soothe her troubled mind.

Roswaal was emotionless, leaning on a wall while apologizing to his teacher.

Ram was in an eternal sleep…

"I'll see you all in hell…"

The stones erupted, shining a blinding light. Rem used water magic to create an ice shield...it did not hold. Shattering away, she held onto Subaru tightly.

"Subaru-kun!"

"Rem!"

They evaporated away, leaving not a single trace.

Batman flew away from the shockwave landed hard in the Diamond Lake, losing consciousness. He would awake a little later, letting the tide take him away...he didn't care where.

"I'm sorry...everyone."

Roswaal cradled Ram's body as they both evaporated away.

Puck put up a powerful ice shield and saved Emilia. While Puck had kept Emilia alive with the shield, the trauma she had suffered that day had destroyed her. Emilia became a shell of her former self, and was haunted by the memories of her friends dying for the rest of her days.

Dunharrow, the town of the Diamond Lake. Was wiped off the map.

"Subaru-kun?"

Subaru opened his eyes to a familiar sight, the radiant blue haired oni.

"Rem?"

"Yes, this is Subaru-kun's Rem...are you alright?"

Subaru was unable to speak, his throat felt clogged and he began to tremble.

"Hey Subaru...you okay?"

"Barusu. Have you gone and soiled yourself or something?"

Subaru looked around and saw his friends staring at him.

The imposing Batman, the haughty Ram, the fanatical Rem, the beautiful Emilia, the adorable Puck and the eccentric Roswaal. All go them had their eyes glued on Subaru.

"Ah...ha...hahaha."

Subaru started to laugh. But he was also clearly crying.

The second loop was finished. Scarecrow was still there, lurking in the shadows, prepared to destroy everything Subaru held dear.