So we have hit the 100 review mark. I am actually impressed that this happened in about a week's time and if I am being honest I think part of the reason I actually updated so far was that I got greedy for those reviews. Well, I have another chapter for you all, I took the advice of those reviews and used Grammarly when I wrote this one so hopefully, it's a lot better than the ones before this. So enjoy.
Apollo opened his mouth wide as he chomped on the meat in front of him. Tearing it apart with ease, he was slowly consumed with his hunger as he continued to indulge. Red splatters soon decorated the wall behind him as he was without any thought in his actions. Subaru could stare in shock as he saw the Beast of Despair truly indulge with the Gluttony that had birthed it.
"I can't believe Reinhard hasn't kicked us out yet," Felt said as she took another bite of her food. They were all sitting in Reinhard's dining room for dinner; he, Felt, Rom, and Apollo surprisingly. Surprisingly he had quite the spread set up for them but Subaru wondered if Apollo would eventually push past it and eat him out of house and home. He glanced at the side of the Demon Beast noticing the Witch of Gluttony had also appeared. Despite not physically being able to eat…..she seem to share Apollo's taste and appetite as whatever the beast ate, a duplicate appeared in front of her to be consumed.
"I can't believe the staff can keep up with this Beast," Rom noted. Be it by fair or by loyalty, Reinhard's staff was able to keep a constant supply of food coming to quell the Beast of Despair. Subaru was aware Apollo was made different but considering how the other Demon Beasts fed on people, he was kind of glad Apollo wasn't a humanitarian.
"I'm more surprised he was able to wait till we arrived," Subaru noted. When they had heard the growl they had thought it was the Beast changing its mind and choosing to fight, but it had quickly proved them wrong by gesturing to its stomach. It was intelligent enough, Subaru would give it that, but he wondered how much of it was based on Apollo himself and how much was the Witches. Considering Daphne was also indulging herself, he was leaning more towards the latter. What made it worrisome though was that Apollo had consumed more food than he should be logically able to and he looked no different now.
"I don't suppose any of you can make him stop." Subaru thought to the other Witches. The rest of them had appeared alongside Subaru to eat, though rather indulge like Daphne, they had copies of his plate instead and ate at a more….civilized pace.
"I may have an idea for that," Satella said as she whispered something to Typhon. The little witch then proceeded to walk over to the uncontrollable Beast. Typhon then raised her hand and put it behind Apollo's ear before she started scratching it. It then escalated to belly rubs as Typhon immediately had the Beast of Despair reduced into nothing more than a lazy doggy. Daphne after having her meal interrupted attempted to get Typhon away from Apollo only to be met by Satella's shadow which pinned her down. Soon enough once Typhon had stopped her scratching, Apollo was now asleep as his body soon went limb and the glow in his eyes faded. Subaru now relieved, glanced at the other…living people accompanying him. To say they were surprised by the sudden mood shift with the Beast was an understatement.
"I don't know what just happened….but nobody wakes him back up," Rom told them. It was safe to say the rest of the dinner was uneventful even after Reinhard joined them.
"You know I never met a Demon Beast like that one," Reinhard told Subaru. It was night time and while Felt and Rom had retired for the night, Subaru couldn't sleep, at least not yet. He had gone to clear his head by the garden's and was pleasantly surprised when Reinhard appeared.
"Well, I would hope he is one of kind," Subaru responded. "He is one of kind right?" He asked Daphne.
"Only one in existence." She assured.
"Still I am impressed," Reinhard told him.
"I didn't think that was possible," Subaru told him. He had heard of Reinhard's resume, it was nothing short of impressive. Even Satella herself remarked that if they fought at both their full power, he would force the fight into a draw as neither of them could overpower the other. Of course, a fight like that could only end in destruction surrounding the combatants, he saw enough anime and read enough manga to know that when two powerful forces clashed they could destroy the whole world around them.
"Pardon me asking but what is your relationship to Lady Felt?" Reinhard asked. He got the sense of family between Rom and Lady Felt but Subaru was something else.
"I met her yesterday. She robbed my friend Emilia and we went to retrieve what she stole. Turns out an assassin had employed her to do it….Elsa the Bowel Hunter." Subaru said, the name feeling all kinds of wrong. If he was being honest…she was by far worse compared to any of the witches….okay, maybe he was getting bias especially when he recalled Daphne's behavior being less than human but even then the Gluttonous Witch was still nicer and didn't resort to needless killing.
"Wait you met the Bowel Hunter," Reinhard said in surprise.
"Yeah….we met her and let me tell you she was not pleased." Subaru said. That was an understatement, although he didn't know whether or not she killed them for spite or just enjoyment. During his first run, he had walked into the room to find Rom dead and he was positive Felt was dead as well during that run. He hadn't interacted with Elsa at that time and neither did Emilia. The exchange with the insignia would have gone on without a hitch and the Bowel Hunter would have been on her way. So why did she need to kill them?
"What happened?" Reinhard asked.
"The Demon Beast happened….it broke into the Loot house and fought her off." Subaru explained. It was still impressive seeing the creature in action, he had almost dismissed it earlier when Felt had easily knocked it down but after watching it get its guts opened and still fight….yeah he was never going to doubt it anytime soon.
"That's it?" Reinhard asked.
"Well Rom was injured during the fight but Emilia healed him after," Subaru explained. "But that's about it." He told the Sword Saint.
"So your response towards a girl robbing you was to heal her grandpa, save her from an assassin and help her become a candidate to rule a country." Reinhard summarized. "If that's what you do for your enemies then what do you do for your friends?" He asked.
"I'd probably die for them…a lot." Subaru half laughed, however, the Witches' words echoed in his mind. "Although I think now I'm going to try living for them instead." He said. Reinhard gave him a rather perplexed look, no doubt confused by the cryptic way he had phrased it. Thankfully the Sword Saint didn't push any farther. Speaking of his friends….
"Hey, Reinhard. I need a favor." Subaru said. "I have to go to a nearby village for a few days, for some business. I was actually supposed to leave today but well you know." Subaru said. Reinhard recalled how the boy had been in a hurry to leave after they had confirmed Felt would be a candidate.
"You are aware Lady Felt will not be pleased," Reinhard interjected.
"I'm aware…which is why I want you to look after her for me till I get back," Subaru said. "I am positive she wouldn't let me leave so soon but this is something that I can't afford to put off," Subaru told him. Rem's life was riding on this. If he didn't go and deal with Demon Beasts then she would be dead in the next couple of days.
"Do you plan on leaving tonight?" Reinhard asked.
"Yeah, I was actually thinking about it," Subaru admitted.
"Do you have any means of transport?" The Sword Saint asked.
"Ye…No. I don't." Subaru said. He had left Patrasche behind when he returned Zero.
"Very well. Come with me." Reinhard told him. The knight led him to his stables where Subaru saw quite a few Ground Dragons…none were like Patrasche though.
"You know if you keep thinking like that. Satella might get jealous." Daphne teased. "Just saying."
"Why are you still out here?" He asked mentally.
"Satella thought it would be a good idea to get you familiar with each of us." The Gluttonous witch said.
"How strange?" Reinhard asked. "It seems the Ground Dragons are all agitated" He noted. Subaru blinked…he was right the animals were all looking at him in a rather hostile manner.
"I see they can sense the miasma coming from you," Daphne said. "It makes them more aggressive." She noted. "Also makes the meat a lot saltier."
"Patrasche never had a problem with it," Subaru noted.
"I suppose she is special just like you. You don't have problems with us….if I recall Typhon almost broke your soul when you met her and you didn't even seem angered or upset with her in the slightest." Daphne noted.
"So what am I supposed to do now?" Subaru asked. Daphne seemed to ponder this for a moment.
"Ask him for the Strongest Ground Dragon…the one that would supposedly lead the others," Daphne instructed as she whistled for Apollo. Subaru did as he was instructed. Reinhard procured the strongest and supposed leader of the Ground Dragon just as Apollo arrived. "Okay ready….now to let Apollo work his magic," Daphne said. The Demon Beast walked up to the Ground Dragon. "I'd reckon you stay back," Daphne told Subaru.
Both Subaru and Reinhard watched as Apollo punched the Ground Dragon in the face sending it flying. However the Demon Beast wasn't…he walked up to the fallen Ground Dragon and roared in its face, shaking the room. He even slammed his fists into the ground as got into a more predatory-like pose as he continued to growl and snarl at the creature. The reptile attempted to fight back but Apollo caught him and slammed him into the ground much as Garfiel did with Patrasche. Apollo then walked up to the fallen creature. It was still alive Subaru and Reinhard could see that ready to try again. Apollo then roared once more in its face before stomping its foot down as he showed his dominance and the Ground Dragon…submitted and soon all the others did as well.
"Law of the Jungle," Daphne said. "Even if you domesticate them, the rules of the animal kingdom are still the same." She explained as Apollo walked over the fallen leader and then clocked him in the face once more causing much to their surprise…an explosion of hearts.
"Did you really have to beat it up so bad?" Minerva said from behind them, she was currently wearing what looked like pajamas with a rather sleepy expression on her face. She was now holding a link with Apollo, no doubt using her Authority to avoid any negative fall out with Reinhard after Apollo just brutalized his steads.
"If you don't show force…they won't listen. I learned that the hard way with the original Demon Beasts." Daphne countered.
Reinhard checked the creature noticing that despite the fight it was still uninjured. In fact, it actually looked healthier than before. The Ground Dragon also seemed to be more complacent now. "Hmm…well I will admit that I don't approve of the method, I can't argue that it calmed them down." He said.
"Believe me I am not exactly proud of what I just saw," Subaru admitted.
"After what I just witnessed I can only say this…take care with my Ground Dragon and don't let harm fall on it if you wish for me to continue to aid you like this," Reinhard said. "And make sure that Demon Beast behaves itself. So far it has not shown itself to be like the other monsters but after what I just saw I can't help but feel cautious of it." The Sword Saint said.
"That's…fair," Subaru noted. He was able to organize himself rather quickly as he didn't have much luggage, to begin with. He wrote a letter to explain his absence and handed it to Reinhard to give her when she woke up.
"I wish you the best of luck on your journey," Reinhard told him.
"Thanks again, Reinhard," Subaru said and with that, he was off with Apollo by his side as they left in the night.
You people...you are all very observant...I was hoping to pull a fast one with Apollo's stomach growling but you all saw right through it. I am both impressed and a little scared it would make things too predictable but that's for another day.
So I've seen a lot of people comment on stuff that's happened in the LN/WN. I'll be honest I haven't read either. Like I said I mostly follow the anime but I read up on the Wikia to avoid deviating too much from the lore so I hope you all can excuse when some details don't line up. As it stands while I am aware of some details post arc 4 my knowledge may not be as expansive as other writers. I even look at some videos on youtube to check what content was skipped in the anime but that's about it.
That's just something I thought I should put out there. Thanks again for all the reviews and support and I'll see you all next time.