Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-

Subaru lashes out at Satella, blaming her gift for his suffering and insisting that his life is worthless compared with the people he must save. When he attempts suicide, Minerva heals him and the other witches force him to confront the grief shown in the second trial. Satella asks him to include himself among those he intends to rescue and tells him to kill her someday. Subaru leaves the tea party without Echidna’s contract but with his fear of death restored. Patrasche and Otto comfort him after he wakes. Subaru then confronts Roswaal and confirms their mutual secrets. Roswaal admits hiring Elsa and arranging the snow to corner Subaru between the mansion and Sanctuary. His goal is to make Subaru abandon everyone except Emilia, creating a person as single-minded as Roswaal is toward Echidna. Subaru rejects the comparison but initially has no answer to the impossible timetable. Otto finds him spiraling and punches him for withholding the truth. He demands that Subaru stop deciding alone what his friends can bear. Subaru finally faces the crisis as part of a team rather than as a disposable time traveler.

Otto listens to Subaru’s explanation of the mansion attack, the Great Rabbit, Emilia’s trials, and Roswaal’s manipulation, then helps him design a plan. Subaru confronts Roswaal with a wager: if he saves both the Sanctuary and mansion in the current loop, Roswaal must surrender his Tome and abandon its instructions; if Subaru fails, he will follow Roswaal’s path. Subaru next learns that Emilia’s contract with Puck suppresses her childhood memories. Puck appears briefly, breaks the contract so those memories can return, and disappears despite Emilia’s pleas. Grieving and terrified of the trial, Emilia runs away. Subaru searches with the villagers while Garfiel senses that Otto is moving pieces behind the scenes. Subaru finds Emilia hiding in the graveyard and refuses to comfort her with empty perfection. He insists they must speak honestly, even if she becomes angry. Meanwhile, Otto confronts Garfiel to delay him and protect the plan. The straight bet changes the conflict from repeated experimentation into a single committed attempt. Subaru no longer intends to sacrifice unlimited lives or obey a witch’s knowledge; he is staking everything on imperfect allies acting beyond Roswaal’s predictions.

Otto leads Garfiel through the forest, using his Divine Protection of Soul of Language to coordinate animals and trigger traps. During the chase, his childhood is revealed: hearing every creature’s voice overwhelmed him, isolated him from his family, and eventually forced him to leave home. Merchant life brought failures, but also led him to Subaru and a friendship he chose to defend at mortal risk. Garfiel eventually catches him, only for Ram to join the delaying battle. In the graveyard, Emilia expects Subaru to condemn her for fleeing. Instead he acknowledges that she can be stubborn, frightened, selfish, and difficult, while insisting his love includes those flaws rather than an imagined saintly version of her. Emilia doubts him because his earlier promises and secrecy have repeatedly hurt her. Subaru answers with an earnest argument, admits his contradictions, and kisses her. The kiss does not solve her trauma, but gives her a reason to believe that she can fail without being abandoned. When they leave the tomb, Garfiel waits after defeating Otto and Ram. Their breakthrough leads directly into the next obstacle: persuading a guardian whose fear of abandonment keeps the Sanctuary imprisoned.

Subaru identifies the fear beneath Garfiel’s violence. Garfiel believes his mother abandoned him and Frederica to seek happiness outside the Sanctuary, then died in a landslide. That memory made the barrier feel like protection rather than imprisonment. Their confrontation becomes physical, with Garfiel transforming and overwhelming Subaru. Otto, Ram, Patrasche, and even an unexpected use of Invisible Providence create openings, allowing Subaru to defeat him without killing him. Ram then pushes Garfiel to face the trial he has avoided. Inside, he learns that his mother left not to escape her children but to find their fathers and reunite the family. Although her fate remains painful, Garfiel can finally accept that he was loved. He joins Subaru’s plan and reconciles with Frederica’s choices. Emilia, strengthened by Subaru’s faith and Puck’s sacrifice, prepares to challenge her own past again. Subaru promises that once the crisis ends they will have a proper date, offering a future beyond survival. Entering the graveyard, Emilia meets Echidna with new confidence. Echidna greets her contemptuously as the Witch’s Daughter, but Emilia refuses to be intimidated, beginning a trial in which recovered memories rather than borrowed reassurance must support her.

Emilia’s first trial reconstructs her childhood in Elior Forest. Raised by her aunt Fortuna, she was kept in a sealed “Princess Room” and told little about her parents or the danger surrounding the settlement. Curious lesser spirits help her sneak out, and she observes Fortuna meeting the gentle Petelgeuse, then known as Geuse, who brings supplies with moderate Witch Cult followers. Their affection for each other and Emilia is obvious, though both avoid explaining the mysterious seal hidden in the forest. Young Emilia repeatedly escapes confinement, befriends the spirits, and discovers the enormous black door for herself. Fortuna learns that Emilia can use spiritual arts, while Geuse accidentally reveals that her parents are dead. Fortuna promises to tell her the truth when she is older and reassures her that she remains deeply loved. The warm memories contrast sharply with Emilia’s later isolation and fear. The peace ends when Regulus Corneas, Sin Archbishop of Greed, enters the forest and confronts Fortuna and Geuse. Current Emilia watches beside Echidna, unable to interfere, as the recovered past approaches the catastrophe that froze her people and erased her memories.

Outside the graveyard, Ryuzu Shima explains that she once entered the trial and inherited fragments of the original Ryuzu Meyer’s memories. Those memories show a young Beatrice, Roswaal, Echidna, and Ryuzu living together before the Sanctuary existed. Within Emilia’s trial, Regulus attacks while Pandora, the Witch of Vanity, calmly searches for the seal and its key. Geuse orders Fortuna to escape with Emilia, then opens a forbidden box and absorbs the Sloth Witch Factor. The power tears at his sanity, but grants the Unseen Hands needed to challenge Regulus. Pandora recognizes his sacrifice by naming him the Archbishop of Sloth. Fortuna entrusts Emilia to Archi and returns to support Geuse. During their escape, the Black Serpent’s poison infects Archi; he sends Emilia onward alone before succumbing. Emilia disobeys and heads back toward the seal, believing she may save everyone. Regulus appears to destroy Pandora, yet she reappears unharmed and removes him from the conflict with a few words. The episode connects multiple tragedies across centuries: Beatrice’s loneliness, Roswaal’s obsession, Geuse’s transformation, and Emilia’s sealed memories all originate around Echidna’s experiments and Pandora’s invasion.

Pandora meets young Emilia at the seal and reveals that the girl herself possesses the key. She promises to spare the forest if Emilia opens the door, but Emilia refuses because she promised Fortuna never to do so. Fortuna arrives and battles Pandora while comforting her daughter. Geuse joins the fight, already destabilized by the Sloth Witch Factor. Pandora manipulates his perception, causing him to strike Fortuna with an Unseen Hand. As Fortuna dies, she apologizes to Emilia’s father and reassures Emilia of her love. Geuse collapses into madness after realizing he killed the woman he cherished, while Pandora praises the act as proof of love. Emilia’s grief unleashes overwhelming ice magic. She repeatedly attacks Pandora and freezes the forest, its inhabitants, and eventually herself, but cannot permanently harm the witch. Pandora erases Emilia’s memory of her and departs with the broken Geuse. In the present, Emilia accepts responsibility without accepting Pandora’s judgment. She resolves to free the people she froze and passes the first trial. After waking, she mourns Fortuna openly. Subaru then confronts Roswaal, arguing that Otto’s unpredictable involvement has already invalidated the Tome’s supposedly perfect future and demanding that Roswaal surrender the wager.

The origins of the Sanctuary unfold four centuries earlier. Echidna saves a young Roswaal during a dangerous magical episode and becomes his teacher, inspiring a devotion that grows into obsession. Roswaal, Beatrice, and Ryuzu Meyer form a small household around her research. Their ordinary happiness ends when Hector, called the Devil of Melancholy, arrives. With the barrier incomplete, Echidna and Roswaal cannot protect everyone. Ryuzu volunteers to become its core, repaying Echidna for giving her a home even though the process will take her life. Beatrice escorts her to the crystal and realizes too late that their farewell is permanent. Echidna and Roswaal fight Hector while the barrier activates, leaving Roswaal physically and psychologically scarred. In the present, Subaru cites this history and Otto’s intervention as evidence that Roswaal’s prophecy can be changed. Roswaal still refuses to cancel Elsa’s attack, insisting that people cannot escape their essential nature and accusing Subaru of imposing ideals on Emilia just as he does on Echidna. Subaru rejects the equivalence. Emilia completes her trial and meets Ram outside, while the conflict divides into coordinated fronts: liberating the Sanctuary, stopping the mansion attack, and breaking Roswaal’s attachment to the Tome.

With Roswaal refusing to surrender, Subaru, Otto, and Garfiel race toward the mansion. Garfiel reveals that because only one of his parents was demi-human, he can cross the Sanctuary barrier and finally reunite with Frederica. At the graveyard, Ram asks Emilia to save Roswaal from the obsession that has ruled him for centuries. Roswaal tries to undermine Emilia by claiming Subaru only loves an idealized version of her, but she answers that Subaru knows her faults and chooses her anyway. She enters the second trial with renewed confidence. Ram confronts Roswaal beside Ryuzu’s crystal instead of waiting as ordered. Roswaal admits he stored mana to create snow and attract the Great Rabbit. Expecting revenge for his role in destroying Ram’s oni village, he is startled when Ram says she loves him and wants to free him from Echidna’s delusion. Puck joins her, using the remaining power from his broken contract. At the mansion, Elsa begins her assault on Frederica and Petra. Garfiel arrives in armor, reunites briefly with his sister, and takes over the fight against Elsa. Subaru secures Petra and heads for Beatrice, while every ally performs a role Roswaal’s Tome failed to predict.

Garfiel battles Elsa while Subaru enters the forbidden library and asks Beatrice to abandon Echidna’s command. Beatrice believes the blank Tome and her foretold death are the only purposes left to her. When she asks whether Subaru is “that person,” he refuses to offer a comforting lie, but is expelled before explaining what he can offer instead. Subaru reunites with Otto, Petra, Frederica, and the unconscious Rem. Meili blocks their escape with mabeasts, forcing Frederica to remain behind while the others use a hidden passage. A Guiltylowe corners them, turning the mansion evacuation into another running battle. In the Sanctuary, Emilia undergoes the second trial and sees an impossible present where Fortuna, Geuse, Archi, and the frozen villagers live peacefully. She enjoys a picnic and encourages Fortuna and Geuse to confess their feelings, but understands that accepting this happiness would mean denying reality. When Archi’s form becomes Echidna, Emilia thanks her for the vision and chooses the painful real world. Echidna tearfully says she hates her. Emilia passes, emerges to the support of villagers and demi-humans, and immediately enters the third trial to face possible disasters of the future.

The Guiltylowe battle sets Roswaal’s mansion ablaze. Otto and Petra flee while Subaru searches again for Beatrice. Emilia’s third trial presents fragmented voices and images from potential futures, offering no simple enemy to defeat. Minerva appears in Echidna’s place, avoids revealing her face, and hints that she knew Emilia’s mother. Emilia promises that someday all the witches, including Echidna, will share a peaceful tea party. After waking, she enters Echidna’s opened grave and disables the spell sustaining the Sanctuary barrier. Outside, a blizzard signals Roswaal’s final trap. At the mansion, Garfiel learns Elsa is a vampire-like being whose regeneration can be exhausted. Elsa describes a childhood in which cutting open a person was the first warmth she felt. Their brutal duel ends after Frederica escapes with Meili: Garfiel and Elsa bite each other before he crushes her beneath a massive mabeast corpse. In the Sanctuary, Ram and Puck fight Roswaal. Ram admits her love and steals his Tome, throwing it into the fire. Roswaal, enraged and terrified of a future without prophecy, blasts her directly, while the snow continues summoning the Great Rabbit.

Snow covers the Sanctuary as Puck leaves Roswaal and the unconscious Ram to protect the villagers. Emilia discovers an enormous ice shelter preserving them from the storm and follows Puck’s remaining guidance. Ryuzu Shima merges with the original Ryuzu Meyer, allowing the barrier system to end, while Emilia and the clones move Roswaal and Ram to safety. The Great Rabbit arrives, and Emilia remains behind to hold it off. In the burning mansion, Beatrice reflects on four centuries of waiting and the impossible promise that “that person” would choose her. Subaru keeps finding the library as doors collapse. He refuses to claim destiny or eternal life; instead, he asks Beatrice to choose him because he wants her beside him and will fill her future with new reasons to live. Beatrice rejects him once more when he will not say the lie she expects, but Subaru reaches the final possible door and offers his hand again. She finally chooses her own desire over Echidna’s command. A column of light carries Subaru and Beatrice from the collapsing mansion to the Sanctuary, where they appear beside Emilia. Their new partnership now faces the Great Rabbit as its first battle.