AN: JDUBZYT HAS NOT EVEN REACHED HIS FINAL FORM. Thanks dude!

AN Fun Fact: We are now a quarter of the way done in the story. 75% left folks! Enjoy.

ARC Four: Battle From Zero

Chapter Twenty Five: Please Don't Go

Julius stood there almost dumbfounded in front of Bruce, one could clearly hear the whispers and grunts of his fellow knights. They once again felt dishonored that such a low-class man such as Batman would challenge a member of the Royal Guard.

But Julius took a breath and relented.

"So, I would assume that you as well wish to besmirch the honor of us fellow knights?"

"No, I just want to show you all something."

"And that would be?"

Batman closed his eyes, as he focused on what he wanted to say. Then he opened them up once more.

"I want to show you that not all of what Subaru had said was wrong."

"Excuse me?"
"Almost everything that boy said was utter nonsense, I can agree with you all on that. It was an unpleasant thing to see. But, he was right about the idea that a person's birth shouldn't dictate on what order they will have in this world. It's insulting to no end to hear something like that."

"..."

"A person can choose what they want to become, Julius. If they want to be a swordsmith, then they must study the methods used. If they want to be a clothes maker, then they practice."

"..."

"If someone wants to become a knight, they have the right, no matter who were their parents."
"Hmph, maybe that could be true. But not for Natsuki Subaru, he is utterly weak and powerless, he cannot stand with us."

The knights in the stadium spoke up loudly, agreeing with Julius. And Bruce nodded as well.

"Yes, it's true that Subaru has no reason to call himself a knight."
"Well, even one such as you can-"
"-But that can change."

Julius froze as he heard words that he didn't expect to hear.

"Subaru is young, he can still learn, he can still work to become something more. He can strive and push himself further….so that one day he can truly call himself a knight."

Julius stared at him for awhile before furrowing his eyes.

"I can see you think in an emotional sense, much like that boy. Do you wish to continue this insult to our chivalry?"
"I'm not insulting you. I'm pointing out your backward logic, Julius."

Julius then raised his wooden sword high.

"It appears we have another person, who wishes to learn the full strength of us knights!"

The knight roared loudly in response.

Julius took a battle stance...but Batman didn't. He instead had a rather relaxed stance in comparison.

"How much do you need to mock us?"
"No...I'm doing the exact same thing you did to Subaru."

Julius narrowed his eyes a bit.

He then dashed forward with incredible speed and swung his sword at Batman.

"...!"

Batman effortlessly dodged, simply by turning his body. Julius then quickly attacked him again, but Batman once again dodged. He continued to swing, but it quickly became clear that Bruce was dodging the attacks with ease.

Julius then gripped his sword with both hands sliced upwards at his head. Batman shifted his body out of the way. Once the sword was high up in the air, he unleashed a massive leg kick on Julius. Julius quickly realized that he was in trouble, as he felt two of his ribs crack. Batman quickly pressed his attack as Julius was recovering. Julius dodged the attack, and ran along the arena walls, and tried his best to get around him. Bruce quickly backflipped and actually tossed his wooden sword at Julius making him jump off the wall.

Believing he now had an opening, Julius charged at Bruce, directing the sword at him. Batman took a basic jiu-jitsu stance as he readied for the inevitable attack. Julius reached over to Batman and sliced upwards.

The attack hit, slicing his face open. But Batman quickly leaped into the air and used his legs to grasp the knight's right arm. Julius accidentally dropped his sword, Bruce then grabbed Julius's wrist and spun his body to the ground, making them both fall to the ground.

Emilia, the candidates, and even the knights, couldn't believe how fast Batman's movements were. He made fighting a royal guard look like child's play, let alone the knight of knights. Some of the candidates were wondering about his training.

Crusch made the first comment.

"He seems to be well trained, I wonder if he is a former knight?"

Priscilla pointed her fan at him.

"I think he was a gladiator, much like Al was in his past."

Anastasia chimed in.

"Hmmm...maybe he was a mercenary or even an assassin?"

Felt then looked over the fight and made her own comment.

"When I first met him, I heard he was called the 'Dark Knight'. So maybe he was some kind of knight?"

Crusch and the others nodded their heads, believing they may have hit the head on the coffin.

Emilia was busy healing Subaru, but turned with an expression, one of slight annoyance.

"Batman-san, isn't anything like that."

The candidates soon had their attention on her as she looked over the fight.

"A...terrible thing happened to him when he was a boy. It left him all alone, scared and most importantly...angry."

"..."

"So he trained himself to protect people, so that some other boy-"

She looked down at Subaru with a conflicted expression.

"-so no other child would have to suffer like he did. He trained in every martial arts, sword fighting and even techniques I've never heard. He sacrificed so much to be what he is now."

She moved her eyes to look back at them.

"That's who Batman-san is. A person who...gave up on everything for the sake of others."

Batman had Julius trapped in an armbar hold. Julius breathed heavily as he tried raising his arm. Bruce saw this and silently spoke to him.

"Surrender."
"...NEVER."

Bruce pulled his arm back ever so slightly and began gritting his teeth harder.

"Please."
"No!"

Bruce closed his eyes and let out a faint breath.

Bruce then pulled his body back and snapped Julius's arm in two.

"ARGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Bruce let go of his arm and rolled away from him. The knight's scream echoed all throughout the arena. He raised his damaged body as best he could and gripped his wooden sword with left hand.

He breathed heavily as he stared at Bruce. This time, Bruce put up a simple kickboxing stance and slowly inched towards him. Julius then quickly leaped into the air and slammed his sword onto where Bruce was. The resulting attack sent chunks of dirt flying as the very ground crumbled away. Julius landed on the ground and watched over the cloud of dirt. He then saw Bruce walk out of the debris, obviously having escaped his earlier attack.

Julius calmed himself and quickly rushed towards his opponent, unleashing fast dashes around him. He was doing his best to catch him by surprise. Julius was behind him in an instant and quickly jabbed the sword at his back. Batman spun around as he did this, letting the sword brush by him. Then, with his left hand, clenched in a fist, he guided it down.

Bruce threw his punch viciously….but it didn't seem to make any contact.

Julius saw the opportunity to spin his sword around and smack the back of Batman's head. But he fell onto his knees.

"What?"

Julius raised a leg halfway and rested his left hand on it, but his knee was shaking uncontrollably.

"No..I must-Get up!"

Julius did his best to finally stand up, even with his knees shaking.

"Ugh!"

But he fell on his behind, not being able to stand. He tried again to lift himself, but he just fell back down.

He began to shake his whole body, with a concerned look on his face. Something like this never happened before, he has fallen and even been knocked out by Reinhard before, but he had never experienced something like this. That's when he noticed his chin was bleeding profusely.

Right then and there, Julius realized that Batman had hit him right where he wanted. Right on the chin, one of the weakest points of the human body. Thus, Julius had to accept it, however bitter it would be.

"I…"

He messed up.

Batman had now retrieved his wooden sword and was now looming over the practically paralyzed Julius. He then pointed it directly at Julius, his eyes softened a bit.

"Yield."

"...I yield."

Even Julius understood there was no point in continuing the fight. If he wanted to, Batman could easily begin beating him to a pulp just as he had done the same to Subaru. Julius tossed his wooden sword away.

All the knights in attendance were in utter shock and denial at what had just occurred. Just earlier, Julius was the ever brilliant knight that they had usually seen, but now in a manner of minutes, a warrior with no knightly background, had utterly defeated him.

Even without the use of his wooden sword.

The candidates were on the terrace looking down at the result of the mock battle, many of them were surprised at the complete victory of Batman. Anastasia looking at him with a blank stare, as if she was thinking of something. Emilia finished doing her healing for Subaru, waiting for Ferris to finish it for her. She turned to look back at the arena…

Julius let out some tired breaths...but when he looked up, he saw Batman reaching out his hand to him.

"Here."

"...!"

Batman was offering him help to stand up. At first, he was hesitant, looking at him with a confused expression. But he relented and gave him his left hand, Batman grabbed it and pulled him up. Julius still couldn't walk properly so he leaned him on his shoulder and helped him walk away.

"Why are helping me?"

"Because you're not a bad guy, Julius."
"...But.."
"Besides, at least you learned a lesson or two right?"

"...Shamefully so."

The two continued to Ferris, who quickly began healing them. Batman looked up at Emilia who was staring intensely at Subaru.

Later that evening, Batman was being healed by Ferris. He had just returned from taking care of Subaru and was on his way to see Julius.

"Nyao, you are all set!"

"Thanks Ferris."

"Nyahaha! Don't worry, I just don't like seeing injured people is all."

"Something the one with the title 'Blue' would say."

"Sure, but actually…"

He leaned over and began to whisper to him, with his cat ears moving up and down.

"I heard a little rumor that some of the higher ups want to see if you would become 'Light'."

"Light?"

"Yup, it would mean nyou would be recognized as the kingdom's greatest Yang magic user. Ferri-chan has the title of Blue, while Roswaal has the titles of Red, Yellow and Green!"

"...figures."

"The titles of 'Dark' and 'Light' are still vacant. But everyone that saw nyou today thought you'd be a perfect candidate."

"...I'll give it some thought."

"Well, since we're done here, Ferri-chan will be on his way. Bye Bye!"

"Right, take care."

As Ferris closed the door behind himself, his smile faltered and he began walking down the hall. Now putting on a stern demeanor, he began thinking about Batman. A single thought dawned on him.

He's dangerous.

His skills in fighting, his mastery of espionage and the near perfect use of Yang Magic, made him to be seen by Ferris as someone who could easily be a threat to Crusch.

Anastasia had seen what he could do and slightly held a grudge for what he did to Julius.

But all of them could agree that his over friendliness with Felt could potentially lead to an alliance between the Emilia and Felt camps. Both Reinhard and Batman together, could easily defeat anyone they would be able to send against them.

Batman was now feared by many in the Royal Selection...if anyone could become a target, it'd be him.

Batman had soon left his quarters in the Crusch Estate and was moving to meet with Emilia. But he saw her walking slowly towards him in the hallway, with her head hung low.

"Emilia?"

"Oh...Batman-san."

"How is Subaru doing?"

"...fine."

It became quiet between the two before Emilia finally looked up at Batman.

"Batman-san, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Why did you fight with Julius?"

"I needed to bring him down a peg."

"Huh?"

"Julius viewed himself too much as some sort of pinnacle of knightly strength and used it to beat on a person obviously weaker than himself, with almost no mercy."

"..."

"So I stepped in, to show him what it felt like to be toyed around with. But I made sure to be the bigger man and not to crush his pride or belittle his code of chivalry."

"...I see then."

Emilia nodded her head but soon had a guilt ridden look on her face.

"I...I decided to leave Subaru behind here. At least...until his treatment gets better."

"...And You told him this?"

"Yes."

"Knowing him...his spirit is probably crushed right now."

"I know, but I don't want to see him get hurt anymore...especially not for my sake."

Batman looked out the window for a moment and stared out at the orange hue sky and took a breath.

"Emilia.."

"Yes?"

"I will not be coming back with you to the mansion."

"What? S-so you're going to be staying with Subaru and Rem then?"

"No."

"W...w-why, was it Subaru, or are you angry with me? I can fix it, just please-!"

"-That's not it!"

Batman clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes, but relaxed when he saw that Emilia was getting scared. He removed his mask and looked down at Emilia with a soft expression.

He knew he couldn't tell her about his struggles to stop Roswaal.

"Emilia, much like you and Subaru need some time apart, to think things through. I need a bit of time to...figure some things out. Understand?"

"Will you be coming back?"

"It all depends on what I decide."

"If that's how you feel."

Emilia soon had droplets of tears fall from her eyes as she quickly walked away. Batman knew he picked the worst time to tell Emilia this, and so when it came to Subaru, he left a note with Rem that would explain to both of them his decision.

Batman then grabbed a few things and made it outside and leapt over the gates. He looked behind himself and saw Crusch staring at him through a window along with Wilhelm and waved at them.

They waved back as he continued on...before disappearing from sight.

Rem was gazing out the window with the note in her hands. Her eyes were filled with tears.

"Why…?"

She crumpled the note in her hands as she quietly sobbed.

"Why is everyone leaving Subaru-kun? He needs us now more than ever! Please…"

She looked behind herself at the room adjacent to her. Inside it, was Subaru weeping into Emilia's cloak, unaware of Rem's presence.

She looked at him with sad...worried eyes.

"Please don't go…"

The trinity of Emilia, Subaru and Batman, one that had started in the Capital of The Dragon Kingdom of Lugnica...had now splintered apart in the very same city.

In a cave, somewhere in the forests near the Irlham Village...an eerie meeting was underway.

A hand drawn picture of Emilia was nailed onto the wall as several cultists were bowing before a man who was staring at it.

While he was biting his fingers.

"Hmmmmmm...you're slothful are you not?"

Just then as he was smiling with blood dripping down his mouth the cultists turned around, as they felt a presence.

"Oh? Having a meeting without me involved? That was quite unfair of you all."

From the shadows emerged a fearsome cultist known to them all.

Scarecrow.

"Ah! Scarecrow-kun! And how has this diligent follower been doing lately?"

"Can't complain. My gospel has been sending me around to different areas, so I've been busy as usual."

"Hehehehehe. Yes indeed, you're diligent and may I say, the colorful work you do, has been something that I will always truly admire about you! Yesyesyesyesyesyes! How it makes my brain tremble!"

Betelgeuse stretched himself back in an odd pose as he yelled. Scarecrow shook his head at the sight before him.

"Your mannerisms still baffle me, as well as you using that honorific with me...Well, I came to see if you found out any new info about that half-elf I told you about."

"Ahhhh! Yes indeed, we have learned the half-devil is currently with the Court Sorcerer...so we have begun our preparations to retrieve her!"

"Excellent. I wish I could join you all...but my gospel is pointing me elsewhere. Thus, unfortunately, I have a role somewhere else."

Betelgeuse reached over and hugged him.

"Oh nonononononono. You must follow your gospel, no matter how much you want to help us. I understand that the witch has other plans for you. But we must show her our acceptance of her love by following her guide."
"Yes of course."

They let go of each other as Scarecrow smiled a bit.

"But I am ever so enticed to finally see Satella come back to this world!"

"Ohhhhh? And why do you want to see the witch so much?"
"Simple. In this world, she is the master of fear. Hehehe, even after four hundred years the people of this world show her respect by fearing her! Even her name is taboo to say out loud in the public. Such a person, is someone I can follow, respect and love like no other. Please do your absolute best, Sin Archbishop!"

Scarecrow gave him a polite bow, while trying his best to hide his crimson red cheeks.

"YES! We shall commit to our cause so that the beautiful, powerful and FEARED one can return to us in the flesh. HEHEHEHEHEHEHE!"

Betelgeuse spun around and around as he laughed giddily at the thought of bringing Satella back. Scarecrow finally stood up and gave a wicked smile as well.

Danger was afoot, as Emilia was now targeted by the Witch's Cult.