Whaaat, soo fast, just half a day and the next chapter?! I sacrificed my game time and studies for this, hope you enjoyed. I was just too excited, I had to write it in one go...
Chapter 10: Save yourself
"Witch genes are similar to a substitute for Divine Protections, I suppose. You can't have both at the same time"
"Does having witch genes like... make you connected to the witch?"
"Not when you're talking about 'The Witch', the witch genes corresponds to the witch that it originates from, I suppose, so if you can read Juice's gospel, you must have Sloth's witch gene"
"I see..."
Subaru and Beatrice were outside, having finished with dinner they went out to the gazebo to talk about witch genes and such. The sun was setting, the orange hue piercing through the tree leaves as they swayed in the wind.
"Though being compatible is very rare, Betty also thinks that your looping is caused by another witch gene, it could possibly be why you smell of the witch, I wonder..."
"Well, I guess I'm just lucky then, hehe... or is it unlucky... or special?"
"Did mother do something to you while you talked with her, I suppose?"
"Echidna...? Not that I... wait, she did give me some tea, her... uhm... body fluids..."
"Betty... would not like to know what that is, I suppose... but could be a reason why you have Sloth's genes, they take time to merge with the soul..."
.
They sat there, enjoying the evening breeze, although stayed alert, it seems that tonight might be safe as well. All they could hear was the chirping of insects from the forest, being fed up with the boredom, Subaru tried to start a conversation.
"Hey Beako, was your Gospel different from the Witch cultist's?"
"Yes, I suppose... unlike Juice's Gospel, Betty's Gospel was a more complete version, it was handed down to Betty by Mother, the Witch Cult's Gospel's creator is unknown to Betty but no doubt they use the same mechanic"
"And what might that mechanic be?"
"Betty's Gospel draws information from the 'Worlds Memories', I suppose, it was a book that records all past, present, and future events, and it was in Mother's possession, any mere human would be brain dead just by a glance at its pages due to the sheer amount of information it holds..."
"I see... hey Beako, how many people have Gospel's like yours?"
"Only two, that would be Betty and the first R-"
"..."
They could feel something, something was watching them, something was definitely near, he could feel Death looming around but where. They both stood up frantically looking around, the sun was almost about to set, if she was going to attack now would be the best time to do it.
"...!"
Suddenly, almost instinctively he grabbed Beatrice and jumped off the gazebo, falling down with a roll, the gazebo was torn down. "W-What?!"
From the rubble, two rather large hyena-like mabeast rose, their mouths drooling with saliva as they stared at their prey. 'This wasn't supposed to happen, only Elsa was supposed to attack' those thoughts, filled his mind, why are these things here, he has no idea.
"S-Subaru!"
"Got it!"
Beatrice's voice broke him from his trance, and he picked himself up and ran towards the mansion, the two mabeast howled terrifyingly and chased them. Beatrice raised her palm and took aim, "El-Mina!" she chanted, about thirty purple bolts were summoned and they shot out like bullets towards them, one was able to dodge most of them while the other got impaled almost everywhere.
They were nearing the mansion's porch but the other mabeast was still hot in their trail, with Subaru moving staggeringly, it was hard for Beatrice to aim properly and so kept on dodging. It was much faster than them and it would catch up in a matter of seconds, even if they got in, it could just crash through the wall and chase them further.
Seeing that it would be over soon enough he grabbed onto Beatrice tight, "Hang on Beako!" He turns around and makes an abrupt stop.
"SHAMAK!"
A black cloud surrounded and engulfed the mabeast causing it to lose its senses temporarily. He felt his gate being strained but he didn't really care.
"Beako, get us out of here!"
"Murak!"
Subaru kicked up and they both jumped onto the porch, he kicks open the window and jumps in, it was all dark except for the moonlight that shone through the windows.
"Beako how many people are in the mansion?"
"Five, including us, it seems everyone is present, no extra... unless..."
"GHH!"
"Otto, Ram! Frederica!"
He screamed their names as he ran through the corridors carrying Beatrice since she wasn't able to run as fast as he could. They could hear something below them, it was probably the mabeast smashing through the mansion.
"Subaru-sama!" A voice called out from the stairway, "Frederica!" The blonde haired maid came up the stairs and ran up to Subaru and Beatrice.
"Whats-"
"Mabeasts are attacking, not what I was expecting, where's Otto and Ram?" Subaru frantically explained the situation.
"Well, Ram was somewhere near the west wings farthest lavatory but I'm not sure where Otto-sama is...""
Damn... I hope their-"
.
*Boom!*
.
"Khaa!"
A wall burst open and Otto flew out of it, slamming his back on the wall.
"Otto!"
"Ugh..."
The three rush over to him, Subaru grabbed a hold on to him while Beatrice applied healing magic, the blast originated from an adjacent room, it was filled with dust and broken furniture but from it appeared...
"..."
"Elsa..."
"Kuhuhu... we meet again..."
Seeing her made his blood boil in rage, if she's here then, "No... What the hell did you do to Ram!"
"Hmm... The pink haired one... ahh, she was very quick and was able to find me in an instant but I was able to silence her, she was a satisfactory dance partner... but she wasn't in the list sadly..."
" . !"
"El-Shamak!"
Beatrice chanted and smoke exploded in front of them covering the width of the hallway, the black smoke was unlike Subaru's own, just by looking at it you could tell that it was more powerful than Subaru's Shamak. If his Shamak was made of stone than this one would be of iron.
Subaru dragged Otto out while Beatrice grabbed Frederica's hand. They staggered away from the spell. Frederica had pulled out some claw things on her hands, 'Were those weapons or did she just grow tiger paws?' Subaru thought.
Otto recovered rather quickly and was now running, they wear all filled with fear but Subaru was just straight out furious, Beatrice only felt five people's presence and there are currently five people here, including Elsa, which could only mean she had gotten Ram already, although she already made that clear.
Subaru turned back and pointed his palm towards the black cloud, "MINYA!" A single purple bolt formed in front of his palm and shot out, it wasn't refined like the one he made during the battle with Betelgeuse, it was more of a spiky rock than a bolt.
"Subaru, no!" Beatrice shouted. "Wha-!"
Suddenly, he felt a surge of pain through his body, he was forcing his gate too much and it's at the brink of collapsing, he felt his legs almost go numb, he staggered in his steps and was about to fall forward, he was caught by Otto and Frederica.
Nevertheless, he cast his first Minya spell on his own. It shot from his hand and straight for the spot Elsa was in but from the smoke a kukri knife was sent hurdling through the smoke and deflected the 'bolt', rendering his attempt futile.
"Natsuki-san?!"
"Subaru-sama?!"
"Gah... straining my gate too much, starting to take it's toll on my body... bad idea..."
"You idiot, just use Betty as your gate, I suppose! I can't lose you yet!"
Beatrice tried her best to help his gate stabilize but they were running out of time. Another kukri knife came flying towards them, Frederica acted, she jumped and deflected it.
She stood there to guard the three, "Otto-sama, Beatrice-sama, please take Subaru-sama and le-"
"Like hell, I'd let you stay and fight alone!" Subaru mustered up all his willpower to get up on his feet, "Beako... we still have Gate crossing right?"
"Yes, Betty can still..."
"Beako?"
"T-The Forbidden archive... is connected to an open door..."
"Oh, that would be my mistake, sorry... Ahh, I really should close the door when I leave a room... I do apologize for being rude, kuhuhu..." her apology didn't sound the slightest bit sincere, she was the only who can joke at a time like this.
"But how did you enter, you aren't allowed to enter without Betty's permission..."
"Your magic operates by connecting that library to any closed door within this mansion... so if I were to leave each door open..."
"The chances of finding the correct door are increased... Gah... It's four on one, chances are pretty good... let's just take her on, there's still a mabeast running around anyway"
"By the looks of it, it seems only two are actually worth fighting, don't you think?"
"You best not underestimate me too much, gut hunter, a merchant must always be prepared in case of bandits so I'm pretty well with combat," Otto said as he put up a defensive stance.
"Heh... I'll fight till I die, you can bet on that!" Subaru grabbed onto Beatrice's hand, it glowed and in front of him a purple, verticle streak of light formed, it glowed dimly at first but soon was as bright as a lamp, the light started to materialize into something else, it became solid, it continued until the light was gone.
The object fell down onto Subaru's arm, it was an amethyst blade, curved, one-sided blade, a katana to be precise. Everyone, including Elsa, was staring at it in awestruck.
"H-How... that's an advanced refinery spell, and even without chanting, I suppose... Subaru, when did..."
"Well... I read it from a book at the capital, Puck told me that magic was basically visualizing so I thought of a sword and I guess this happened...?"
He shrugged it off and pointed the sword towards Elsa, it was wasn't heavy for a sword, but it wasn't too light. Subaru and Beatrice's entwined hands still had a faint glow, it seems like the very presence of the blade drained mana so he only had a limited amount of time.
"Fufufu... this will be exciting, now show me, Feller of the Hakugei, show me a great dance!"
"Heh, you're in for quite a surprise...".
"Okay now stay put here, Gilly, don't move no matter what, the mission would be a failure if they can escape" A voice, sweet and innocent, the giant Chimera mabeast, with a head of a lion, body of a goat, the tail of a snake, sat there and nodded diligently at it.
"Good, I'm going to bring Wagpig for a walk, that Onii-san really stinks so try and control yourself alright?"
The voice came from above, there was a girl, on top of something... rather large, it nearly fit the whole hallway.
"Right, let's do this!"
*Clang* *Clash*
Subaru charged head first, putting what he learned from Wilhelm during his stay at the capital into use, he swung his blade lightly, being careful not to give his enemy an opening. She dodged the strikes effortlessly by just taking a few steps back.
Frederica came up and slashed at Elsa, managing to scratch her cheek ever so slightly, Elsa went further back and swung her kukri knife at her, she blocked it with her knifes but she received a kick in exchange, it pushed her back until she was just beside Subaru.
Otto had a sack of magic gems, they were explosive so using one would no doubt hurt the others as well so he had to wait for the right moment.
"El-Minya"
Beatrice summoned more Minya bolts and shot it towards her, she dodged them swiftly and landed gracefully, "You need to fix your aim, little one..."
"Think again, I suppose..."
The bolts that had passed her burst, several shards traveling straight towards her, it filled the entire hallway so dodging was most definitely impossible. The shards tore through the air and pierced through her, but...
"My, what a cunning move..."
She stood up, clearly unharmed, it seemed as if nothing had ever happened, Beatrice and Frederica looked at her shocked, Elsa grinned at them.
"Dang it... forgot about that magic nullifying cloak..."
"Too bad you haven't told the girl earlier..."
She took off her feathered cloak and threw it to the side, she swung her kukri blades around her arms and threw them towards them, Beatrice put up a barrier, the knife flew at a terrifying speed but it slowed down when it broke the barrier, Subaru took his sword and deflected the knife.
She reached for her outfit and pulled out two more. If this keeps up, they either die or she wastes all her weapons, who knows how many she has hidden it that black outfit.
"Beako, now would be a good time to go like... super loli mode or something, please tell me you can do that..."
"Stop calling me a loli, I suppose!"
She released Subaru's hand, the sword in his hand disappeared and Beatrice's arms were spread, "Let me show you what real darkness is..." She got ready, a strong surge of mana can be sensed emanating from her small figure, whatever this next spell is, it's going to be pretty strong.
"Ul-Shamak!"
Another blast of smoke filled the hallway, Shamak cancels out the senses but your still able to sense direction, El-Shamak takes that sense of direction away, but Ul-Shamak is a whole other level.
.
Was I standing...
Was I sitting...
Was I Breathing...
Where am I...
Am I a human...
Who am I...
Was I Alive...
Was I Dead...
.
That's the questions that surfaced his mind, his sensory system was going crazy, they felt nothing, all he could see or feel was darkness, all he could think of was darkness, he couldn't do anything else but question reality at the moment.
'Wake up... I suppose'
Hearing that voice, he got up, it was still dark, he was still in the hallway, Frederica, Otto and Beatrice were still with him, he was gone for just a second, yet it felt like several minutes, that was the power of shadow magic.
"E-Elsa?"
"Betty is done with her, I suppose"
She points over to the wall, two large spikes protruding from the ground had pierced through her body, hitting her heart and most of her stomach region, she was most definitely dead, it was impossible for anyone to survive that.
"Right... let's go before that mabeast finds us... Arghh! What am I going to tell Rem..."
He clutches his head as they ran past the corner. He was already considering retrying this loop, Ram was too much of a loss, but even so, he had to save everyone before he actually did the looping bit, leaving while everything's still all dark and hopeless would be a cowardly thing to do.
They were about to turn a corner before, "AKHH!" A knife was impaled on Otto's shoulder, he slumped down and groaned in pain.
"Ot-"
Before Subaru could come and pick him up, Frederica had grabbed him and jumped sideways into a corner, narrowly dodging another knife. "That was... rather close... if you had burnt me, maybe I might have been done for... but I'm still here, so let's dance some more"
Elsa, appeared from the corner and walked over to Otto, the others just stared at her in disbelief, how was she still alive, that was impossible to survive.
"You... Vampire..." Frederica murmured silently.
She walked up to Otto and placed the sole of her foot on the knife, "It was fine knowing, though I never had a very liking to merchant bowels..."
"Hk-"
"Otto!"
She started applying force onto the knife, it slowly started to sink into his flesh, any sudden movements and his arm would be snapped right off.
"N-Natsuki-san..."
"a..." Hearing the weak and dying voice of his 'friend' and seeing him in that situation all he could do was stare fearfully.
"RUN!"
"What?!"
"DONA!"
The ground under the sack he just dropped sprouted up and slammed to the ceiling, all the magic gems inside exploded out, making the ceiling and everything it's holding collapse.
"OTTO!"
Frederica grabbed the two and dashed back, narrowly missing a chunk of falling debris, Subaru was left in utter shock and fear, he couldn't think anymore.
"Subaru-sama! Subaru-sama!"
"Subaru! Now's not the time to space out, I suppose!"
"I... I'm sorry..." His mind had broken down, he couldn't think anymore, all he did was run, run and run, he definitely will retry this, and next time, he'll find the correct ending, no matter what it takes.
.
They made a run for it, they decided to go for the escape route in Roswaal's office, they went up the stairs and on to the left wing, they met small mabeast on the way which was dealt with quickly by Beatrice and Frederica, Subaru on the other hand, couldn't think straight, they were just about at Roswaal's office but...
"Grrr"
In front of the office door was another mabeast, a large one actually, about a head taller than Frederica, it blocked the whole passageway, Subaru fell back as the other two looked at in terror.
Frederica and Subaru were focusing on the beast but Beatrice was looking at something else, an open door, surprisingly there was light emanating from it, then she realized.
"The Archive door..."
Frederica and Subaru took notice of it as well, if there was any chance of them surviving then closing that door would be it.
"Subaru-sama... GET AWAY!"
Suddenly, Frederica dashed forward, Subaru was too slow to grab her, she kept on going towards the beast, it growled quietly, it started stepping forward slowly, it seems he was belittling the maid.
Frederica made a leap forward and aimed her claws down on it, a foolish act this would be, the beast just opened its jaws wide but...
It was just a feint, she swung her foot and slammed it into the beast's face, it hurled towards the wall and quarter of its body crashed through it. Frederica proceeded down the hallway to reach the door but...
*Crash*
The beast recovered quickly and used the tip of its tail to slash at Frederica, it hit her right shoulder down to her left waist, effectively ripping her back, she screamed from the pain, and fell forwards, just about reaching the door, she tried to drag herself over the door to enter the room and close it.
"KHA!"
The tail stabbed at her foot and locked her in place, she could barely reach the door, it didn't seem like the beast was going to do anything so she slowly closed the door, the pain was too much, the blood was spilling from her back.
"Get..."
The beast stomped its foot ontop her head, squishing the skull as if it was nothing. Subaru just felt fear, terror, guilt, fear, sadness, remorse, all those negative emotions, but now gate crossing should be possible so there should still be a chance...
"S-Su..."
"B..."
They were stuck in position, they could do nothing else, they had already seen two people die in front of their eyes and they couldn't do anything about it. The beast saw that his prey was frozen in fear, it took advantage and approached them.
Beatrice reacted first and put up a barrier, Subaru couldn't do much so he just took Beatrice in his arms and put his back towards the beast, it crashed through the barrier, sending Subaru pummeling towards the wall.
"Su...baru..."
He was terribly injured but he forced himself up, Beatrice was relatively fine though, he couldn't bear the pain of hearing that ear-shattering scream again, the one from the last loop where they were assassinated. He started running, most of the doors were opened so they couldn't use them for gate crossing and closing one would cost time which is something they don't have.
They weren't being chased but he ran nonetheless, he got tired and stopped for a while, he plopped Beatrice down, both panting harshly, the situation was dread and they felt something was coming.
Suddenly from in front of them, mabeast crashed into the room, there was also someone with them, "Yay, we found them!"
"My you are persistent... I will enjoy cutting you up..."
They looked back but saw that there were more mabeast blocking the way, they were surrounded, cornered, this was a dead end.
"Subaru... please..."
"Beako?"
"Please... hk- please..."
.
.
.
.
"PLEASE FORGIVE BETTY!"
It was yet, another ear-shattering cry, Subaru had to cover his ears due to the sheer volume of it. All attention was diverted to her, "Beako... wha-"
"Betty is sorry!"
She aimed her palm at him and a force had blasted him into a closed door, he broke straight through it and landed in the other room, "Akh... Bea- AGh...!"
The pain was too much, he felt his mind slowly losing consciousness, he tried his best to keep looking, what he saw was a tear-eyed Beatrice, trembling, but even though, she gave him a sweet smile.
"Next time..." she muttered, but Subaru didn't hear her, he was sure that he imagined it but the door seemed to fade away into nothing. He was dying, wasn't he...
A/N
...
[Subaru]: Author-san, why are you so cruel ;(
[ReviewR524]: Well, it's for character development, Subaru
[Subaru]: Character development my ass! I have to see them die!
[Elsa]: I don't mind though, so many bowels to cut... hehe [Insrt_Elsa_ ]
[Subaru]: Shut it Sadist, your not an MC! [Main character]
[ReviewR524]: Well I could make her an MC...
[Subaru]: DONT YOU DARE, THIS IS ABOUT ME!
[Elsa]: About you being cut up... yes?
[Subaru]: *Silently grumbles*
...
Woah, what do you think, pretty different from the canon story ey? Gonna make my story as different as possible from the original, so hope you enjoyed that.
So second loop is gonna end soon, Third loop here we come, any suggestions, idea, whatever please PM me or leave me a review, heck even one word is ok, I crave for those notifications!
Might make it a triple upload but Warlock's not gonna write itself, some slice-of-life here we go! Upload speeds vary, from five days to two weeks! but occasionally one day! like today!