Crossover anime, starting with Hachiman Hikigaya replacing Subaru Natsuki!

Anastasia gently clasped her hands together in front of her chest, a sly smile playing on her lips. "Although I'm trying my best to avoid thinking about the world I spent with you, it's still so vivid in my memory, as if it's constantly telling you how much I love you."

"How could I possibly be angry with a prime minister like this? I'm just..."

"But I'm so incredibly happy~"

"You... robber... you weren't like this at all before!"

"Punches and kicks, but nothing could stop him from taking a step. Betty's eyes were wide open, and she trembled as she placed her hand on the man's shoulder, ready to suck the last bit of mana from him if she wanted to."

"Then he will die."

"Using this method to force someone...it's too cunning, really too cunning...Betty, Betty will definitely...Will Betty regret it? Will Betty feel remorse? Will Betty—"

"Can't do anything!"

Hachiman Hikigaya pushed open the door, took a deep breath, and said, "Lift your head and look closely at this new world, Beatrice!"

"Snap!"

The door was pushed open, and Hachiman Hikigaya did not stop. He sprinted forward, ran across the corridor, leaped up, jumped out of the window, and soared through the air to the height of a four-story building.

"——"

"Lift your head and look carefully."

"The biting wind whipped against my cheeks, my skirt swayed, the moon was full in the sky, and there were many monster corpses on the ground, their heads severed by a single sword strike. Garfield roared and punched the head of the Bowel Hunter to pieces. Otto and Frederica, who had won the victory, were panting heavily."

"Is this... happiness?"

"To have the leisure to observe these things is already a blessing, Beatrice."

Hachiman Hikigaya lowered his head and said softly, "The feeling of leaving the Forbidden Library, the feeling of no longer carrying that tattered book, the feeling of giving up what you've held onto for four hundred years—it must be wonderful, Beatrice!"

"Really..."

"What an idiot, that man."

"He didn't lie. He understood everything about Betty, everything about her—Betty's thoughts, her loneliness, her feelings, her pleas, he understood everything about her, including her guilt, her guilt for breaking her promise to her mother. That kind of guilt, even if Betty broke the promise and found happiness, she would still be troubled by this thorn."

"But because Betty was forced to give up, it didn't matter. So she had someone to blame, so she could say to herself, 'I did nothing wrong, I don't feel guilty, I'm not afraid, I haven't let my mother down.'"

"What an idiot, that man."

""--Fool.""

A dazzling purple light shot into the sky. "Jumping out of the mansion? You want to die that badly? Idiot, idiot, idiot! -- If you die, having abandoned your mother, abandoned four hundred years, abandoned 'that person,' how will Betty ever find happiness... Idiot, you're the biggest idiot, Hachiman!"

"Because I know you won't let me die, Beatrice... We haven't reached the end of happiness yet, and neither I nor you should die, so—"

"Let's go, Beatrice, to the Sanctuary, to deal with that bastard who's standing in our way of happiness, the smart, cute, strong, and wonderful Beatrice!!"

"Idiot, you're such an idiot, the biggest idiot ever. Idiot, idiot... Waaah..."

On the rooftop of the mansion, Betty was already sobbing uncontrollably, her intermittent words trembling with complex and indescribable thoughts, her eyes blurred with tears.

"The fool who didn't hold a grudge against Betty for not helping her... the fool who showed his smile to others... the fool who suffered alone... the fool who was so badly injured but still worried about Emilia instead of asking Betty to heal him first... the fool who saved Betty..."

"The idiot who wants to bring Betty happiness, really... a big idiot, Hachiman, Hachiman, waaaaah, Betty is the biggest idiot ever, she should have, she should have..."

He knelt on the rooftop, crying and laughing intermittently.

A relieved smile curved Roswaal's lips as he looked at Betty, now freed from her shackles, and let out a long breath.

"...Meeting this idiot is the greatest happiness I could ever have... Thank you, Hachiman-kun. You probably don't even want my thanks, but thank you so much, Hachiman Hikigaya."

Roswaal didn't know how many people Hachiman Hikigaya saved in this future broadcast, but he at least knew that...

Both I and Beatrice have been completely saved.

""--Fool.""

"A dazzling purple light flashed as it soared into the sky, accompanied by touching, relieved, and joyful voices."

"I want Betty to be happy, I want to be responsible for Betty, I absolutely won't allow you to die on your own, I'll spend the rest of my life with Betty... I love you, I love you, I love you, Betty is such a fool, Hachiman!"

280. Rely on me as you please, Emilia.

"Jiafei..."

Frederica murmured softly, already imagining how smug her brother must be when he saw him twist Elsa's head off.

However, his younger brother had been suppressing his feelings for so many years, and now that he was finally free, it wasn't a bad thing for him to feel proud occasionally.

"It's all thanks to Lord Hachiman," Frederica exclaimed, sincerely respecting the world's greatest knight who had led her younger brother out of the Sanctuary.

Just as she expected, at this very moment in the Sanctuary, Jiafeier was standing with his hands on his hips, grinning excitedly, "A mere gut hunter dares to provoke the general and his princess, hmph... With me here, the general has nothing to fear and can thrive like a fish in water!"

The first battle of the Sanctuary Shield was a truly resounding victory. Having lived up to the expectations and trust placed in him, Garfield was finally able to hold his head high.

"I wonder if Ram will change his feelings for me a little when he sees my heroic figure. Anyway, even if I can't compare to an admiral, I'm at least better than Roswaal, right?"

"It's dead! It's dead again! -- Mimi wants it, Mimi wants it!"

Inside the Hexin Merchant Guild, Mimi bounced around, tugging at Anastasia's clothes and pointing at Garfield, who had grinned as he killed Elsa. "Mimi wants him! I've got my eye on him! Mimi's already smitten with him!"

Although the imprisoned prime minister was a bit clumsy, although he was covered in blood and dirt, and although he already had a love interest in Ram, ...

"Mimi is totally obsessed with Jiafei!"

Anastasia immediately nodded, made a pinky promise with her, and said very seriously, "Okay, I support you! I'm chasing the Prime Minister, and Mimi is chasing Jiafei. One big and one small is just right. Go for it, Mimi!"

"Oh! Miss is the best! Sister Anna is the best! Mimi is going to pursue Jiafei!"

Mimi raised her hands and cheered with joy.

"You succeeded, Mr. Hachiman." Among the group of merchants, Alto breathed a sigh of relief and smiled broadly.

At the Karlsten mansion, Crusch murmured, "With Beatrice, the great elf, and Garfiel as our allies, Lord Hachiman will finally have more troops to rely on. He can finally have an easier time, right?"

At the same time, it was quite different from other places filled with joy.

In the lonely Tower of the Sages, Sharla gazed up in a daze, watching Beatrice being persuaded, watching Beatrice step out of four hundred years of shackles, watching Beatrice stride toward happiness.

One drop after another, tears filled with envy, loneliness, and anticipation arrived as expected.

The master was wrong.

He wasn't the only one in the world who could understand Beatrice's four hundred years of loneliness.

Xia Wula choked back silent sobs, "She is too, she is too, they are all... So, I am too... Right? They will definitely come to find me, they will definitely come to save me, they will definitely let Xia Wula see you, Master..."

"In parallel with the development of the mansion, in the Sanctuary, Emilia, who had someone to rely on, faced the past, blessed the present, and reaped the future. When she ignored Echidna's difficulties and completed the three trials, the Sanctuary was already a frozen wasteland."

"That was Roswaal's long-planned weather magic, which had been activated and could not be stopped even by Puck and Ram working together. But in this battle, Ram accomplished another goal: she successfully snatched Roswaal's Book of Wisdom and threw it into the raging fire."

"After that, Parker exhausted his mana and fell into a deep sleep."

"After confessing her feelings, Ram did not sit idly by and endure Lord Roswaal's wrath after burning the Book of Wisdom. Although she would have liked to, the thought of Hachiman Hikigaya's threat forced her to do everything in her power to dodge the attacks imbued with Lord Roswaal's anger."

"Even so, she was still seriously injured and on the verge of collapse due to her lack of strength."

"Heavy with grief, sorrow, and bewilderment... Looking around, Roswaal, without the Book of Wisdom, was suddenly at a loss. Having lost his four-hundred-year-old creed, he didn't know how to go on living."

"That sense of bewilderment intensified upon seeing Ram on the verge of death. He embraced Ram, continuously channeling his magic into her. Only then did he realize that he was definitely not the kind of heartless person, not someone who would abandon everything except his teacher, and that his teacher wasn't the only one who loved him."

To this, Roswaal on the roof of the mansion only had two words: Heh.

"They realized their mistake so late; they had already made a huge mistake."

He looked at his future self, bewildered and pathetic, and shook his head without any emotion. "Ram's love for me was predicated on Rem being attacked by Gluttony... The real enlightenment is mine, you future fool. It's not Ram, it's Hachiman Hikigaya. Only he is the true sun!"

Ram probably wishes he were dead right now, even though the future scene is quite touching.

"Humph…"

On the main road, Ram hugged Rem tightly and snorted coldly.

She truly dislikes Roswaal now, and absolutely never will. Roswaal should be thankful; at least he knows how to repent and change. In comparison, Echidna, that disgusting source of all evil, is far more hateful than him.

Compared to Echidna, the other bastards don't seem so hateful anymore.

"Many rabbits, a multitude of rabbits everywhere."

"Possessing powerful combat abilities capable of altering terrain, Lugnica's strongest mage, Roswaal, could certainly have taken down all the Dora in one fell swoop if he were at his peak. However, he currently has little mana left to maintain Ram's healing, and he is already despondent, numb, and thinking that it would be better to end it all."

"That numbness was awakened by Emilia's arrival. All the rabbits were attracted to her, and the Ryuzu clone took the opportunity to grab Roswaal and Ram, ensuring their safety."

"Mom...Jules...Archie...Parker...and then—"

"My knight, my reliance, my Hachiman."

"I need to rely on him, so I must live well; I need to rely on him, so I must smile; I need to rely on him, so I must become strong; I need to rely on him, so I must protect everyone; I need to rely on him, so I must do everything in my power."

"As long as I don't give up, as long as I remain myself, as long as I do my best."

"In the very end, it will definitely happen..."

"Right... my hero!"

"A faint whisper drifted in the wind, panting as it created a large number of ice spikes to block the many rabbits. Emilia looked up at the sky and caught a glimpse of a shimmering purple light."

"Your trust puts a lot of pressure on me, Emilia... But yes, your hero will come to your rescue in times like these."

Holding Beatrice's little hand, taking a step forward, and protecting Emilia behind him, Hachiman Hikigaya stood tall and proud with confidence.

"Rely on me, rely on Hachiman Hikigaya, Emilia!"

281. Roswaal must die

"Okay, okay, I knew the Prime Minister could be so cool, and really cool at that—but why not to me? At the very least, he could be a scoundrel to me. This is so frustrating."

Anastasia, who had previously made a pinky promise with Mimi and was full of ambition, was now sighing and looking aggrieved. She wanted to look away but couldn't bear to, and was so envious that she was heartbroken.

On the main street of the royal capital, Emilia's eyes sparkled with emotion, lightheaded and filled with joy, imprinting the most handsome side of her knight in her gaze.

"On the way to the Sanctuary, Hachiman Hikigaya explained the characteristics of the opponent to Beatrice and finally came to the conclusion that they should use the superior Yin magic of the Veil to pack up and isolate all the rabbits and send them to another dimension."

"You're really amazing, Beatrice."

"It's nothing... umm... Betty doesn't want to be a bastard who gets happiness for herself but doesn't give happiness to her contractor. Even if she doesn't know how now, Betty will learn. Should I say it's a blessing? Luckily, it's an enemy that Betty can handle... umm!"

"Although it was a dangerous moment of fierce fighting against the rabbits, Hachiman Hikigaya thought of some other unrelated ideas."

"In terms of strength, Wilhelm, Julius, and Garfield are all formidable, but if they were to face Dora, their fate would likely be no better than that of an ordinary person. Strength in this world cannot be simply evaluated by high or low stats; compatibility plays a significant role."