Re:Circuit (Redux)
Author notes: had an oopsy last time and posted chapter 7 instead of 8 so I am making a new chapter faster this time the reasons is not diverging from canon is due to it being needed up to a certain extent, as it will inevitably pile enough divergences that would make it impossible to stay true to cannon. But you will see certain parts slowly changing, such as Subaru's personality and how he has his verbal spars with Ram.
Anyways enjoy this chapter and remember to share and review! Also please try your hand at my original webnovel I posted at fictionpress. Just look for my username.
Chapter 9: To be your hero
"I must say, I am reluctant to say this, but it seems that you, Barasu, are actually somewhat capable" Ram said as I slashed at an ulgram that came from behind, while she got one coming behind me with a wind spell.
While all my skills were basically handed to me via memories, I still had to practice them, otherwise I would have the know how but not the ability to use it.
Man everything about me was becoming to be a real fake… or rather a fake truth?
"You mean… you becoming a faker? Well, you are not as broken as me, but the road you take could take you to the same path I took, or perhaps you will find a way to not compromise yourself," the voice said.
"If I am gonna do something, I wanna do it so I am not crippled with regrets" I said out loud.
"Uhmm… so Barasu can say some deep things, you are not as stupid as I thought" she said giving me a sideway look.
I sighed after that textbook definition of verbal abuse.
We had a LOT of ulgrams to fight. Our desperation to find Rem fueled with determination allowed us to tap into previously untapped strength either had.
Behind us was a trail of many dead bodies of the monsters.
However I noticed something odd. Ram's magic pool was not raising and was only decreasing with each subsequent use and not filling back up, at least not in a noticeable manner.
"Are you ok?" I asked her.
"You should worry about yourself first, you are quite the sorry sight" she said.
"Ram… stop this foolishness at once, .okay?" I asked as I stabbed another Ulgram that got a bit too close for comfort.
"My magic reserves have dwindled considerably, but I SHOULD be fine" she said.
"Then stop with the magic use! You are literally dragging us down the more you use it!" I said.
She glared at me.
"Dont stop using it altogether, save it if it becomes too unmanageable for me! That way you save your strength too, why not try something else on the meantime, I handed her the sword and switched over to Elsa's kukri knife.
With the white knife he had the advantage of ranged attacks.
Ram was impressed at the weapon Subaru had.
"Where did you get that?" She asked, curiosity peaked at the ability the weapon had.
"This? I liberated it from Elsa… you know the Bowel hunter? I managed to disarm her and took this as a trophy, I learned of its ability when fighting her, quite a nasty little thing, but is getting a better use with me now" I said as I killed another Ulgram a couple of yards away from us.
She blinked, ah yes… that time she allowed Emilia to wonder on her own, to think this bow could have fought such a high profile killer like her, yet still be somewhat awkward with his attacks, was it due to the reason he was in town? Or could it be something else? However little by little Subaru's awkward slashes began to slowly fade and gain more precision.
In truth, what I was doing is reading into the kukri knife history to learn HOW Elsa wielded it, sure it gave me a headache, but the tradeoff was the experience that bleed into me, I readjusted my footing and grip to compensate for my body frame and height, how I had to move my body to narrowly avoid attacks, while delivering my own.
"Good, it seems you are managing without the training wheels, good for you" the voice said approvingly.
By using my hips I created more power and thus enhanced the range of attack by a few feet, I was curious as to how reinforcement would enhance this.
Ram was having trouble as she was… not as physically fit as her younger twin.
"You gave me so much crap at being a dead weight and you do this? It would be easier for me to move on my own you know?" I said with biting sarcasm as payback for what she said earlier.
She glared at me, but could not refute anything.
"Use both hands, spread it wide, it will lower the consumption of your stamina when you swing it" I said as we walked, it seems the ulgrams had left us be… for now anyways.
The forest was too big and with the discovery of Ram's blessing we decided to take a gamble.
It was a dud… she was nowhere Ram ccould detect, or outside her range.
I sighed.
"Ok, let me try something, it will suck but it should work" I said as I mentally prepared myself.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"Well, the reason your sister was so "lovingly" staring at me… was due to the Witch's scent that I got… so if she can smell it… she will probably rush over" I said.
She blinked as she took notice of how… sarcastically said lovingly.
"I think Ram should apologize for that… you see-"
"Don't care, that can wait when we are all safe and sound" I said "in truth I return by d-"
The world stopped, the colors of the world drained.
A dark shadowy hand emerged and grasped at my heart and gave a single squeeze.
I gasped, my heart had stopped for a bit.
But… I was still alive.
I could literally feel the cloying and disgusting scent had increased so much that I felt like gagging.
Also, while far away, I could hear screams of rage, but also a lot of steps.
"Ah… Ram?"
"What is it?"
"My plan MAY have worked a bit too well, we should run… like… RUN RUN!" I yelled as I pulled her.
Not even a minute later a large herd of Ulgrams were after us, yet we continued to run.
I turned around and did a few ranges attacks and killed 2 more as I twisted on the balls of my feet without losing much momentum.
I decided to sheath the kukri knife, which was a good idea in hindsight, as we ran out of places to run.
"WHY IS THERE A CLIFF HERE!?" I yelled as we began to fall.
Ram's eyes held a lot of fear, we were pretty high up, but I quickly grabbed the sword I loaned her.
My right arm grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close to me as I used my other free arm to use the sword, stabbing it against the side of the mountain we where falling…
The sword gave a horrible sound but persevered to ignore it, thankfully reinforcement still held in.
Still, it was carving the damn thing!
However our speed of descent had drastically lowered.
Once we were out of the YOU DIED distance but kept going down I decided to push away from the mountain.
It was quite a bit, but from some memories I got from the Kukri, I should be able to displace the… what was the name again? The… force(?) from the fall as to sustain little to no damage, but I had to compensate for Ram as well.
The fall was epic, but not perfect as I got quite a lot of scratches and wounds from the jagged rocks and pebbles, but I made sure Ram was safe, or as relatively safe as one can get after doing this reckless move.
My body was feeling warm and was heating up, it seems my circuits were still quite immature and thus unable to be used for prolonged periods of time.
Still I would use this time to take a quick rest, as no doubt Rem was still after my scent.
It seems like Ram was out of commission, damn, well, I sat down and inspected the sword, it took a fair bit of damage, but still should hold out, if it was not reinforced it would probably snapped, and that would NOT have been fun.
The heat of his circuits began to slowly subside, good, but not exactly stellar.
"Okay Natsuki Subaru… you almost at the home stretch, let's keep our shit together and aim for the perfect ending" I said as I slapped my cheeks to gather courage.
I was scared.
I wanted to run.
But if I did…
Hearing an all too familiar sound I flung myself over to Ram as a huge spiked ball of death took a chunk of the side of the mountainside.
It was Rem… and she was currently drunk in power, well fuck me.
In her drunken state she was attacking indiscriminately.
"RAM!" I yelled as I used the sword to deflect Rem's attack.
The sound of steel grating against steel.
The sparks flew as my reinforced sword met with her flail morning star.
I put all my weight into it, but I was still being pushed back.
I grunted as I pushed back against the power behind the attack.
I could see it's the minute cracks appearing on the sword, I gritted my teeth as I decided on a gamble.
By twisting my hip I redirected the force and made the ball hit the mountain side, however the blade entrusted to me broke, all I had was the kukri knife, while great for killing it would not help me to subdue her.
I felt a tremor crawl the way up from my hand to my arm. Even reinforced that attack was too much. I grinned like a loon, in a pathetic attempt to hide my pain and fear.
I rushed up to her, I would use the little hand to hand combat ability I had.
While Rem was superior to me in strength and power, I will shamelessly admit that such a petite girl can lick my ass 69 ways till December, that is if it was the old me.
She threw a kick to my head, no doubt to decapitate me like so, however with my hand I gently redirected it and flipped her over, which gave me a rather nice view of her rather… shall we say… risque assemble?
"Thank you for the meal," I said as I jumped back as I took it to burn into my memory the sight of such thing.
Even redirecting her attacks caused so much pain, the back of my hand felt sore as hell, if I had not reinforced my body, my hand would have been gone.
Now to make matters worse a new pack of Ulgrams had arrived.
The only other party member was KO and had no way to effectively recover her mana, not to mention physically weak, and then myself, my body was now running on fumes… should I use my trump card?
*smack*
I cleared my doubts, no… this situation is not hopeless, at least not to that level.
Holding the kukri knife I began to analyze the combat area, seeing what I could use to my advantage, so far the only way I could do this is if I…
No, I would not kill her, after all… I made a promise.
I felt the stirring from behind, Ram had woken up.
"It seems we are in trouble," she said calmly.
"Wonderful deduction, did you also notice how dear Rem-rin is also kinda… off? Any pointers on how to stop her without having to… you know?" I asked.
"—The horn, it is that horn that has led Rem astray… A single, powerful blow will…bring her back…"
"You're sure that'll work?"
"Fairly. Largely. I believe that it will."
"That's kind of vague, you know?! But I wanna believe you."
I cut off my words and looked at Rem.
The white horn jutted out from Rem's forehead to a length of some four inches. If Puck stood on her forehead, he and the horn would be around the same height.
A single blow—there.
Close quarter combat was out, and I would try to save my trump card, but I had one trick under my sleeve.
If reinforcement strengths something, then what I needed was to alter something already existing to suit my needs.
Alteration, a spell that changed something, or altered it.
In this case the spell would target my kukri knife and alter its properties, from a slashing weapon into a blunt one.
I closed my eyes and said, "trace… start" I said.
Lines, the circuits in my body glowed, as I poured my od into the spell and actualized it into the blade, changing it to suit my needs, dulling it's sharpness.
I rushed towards her, my pupils dilated in both fear and the extreme concentration.
"Don't worry Rem… I SWEAR I AM GOING TO SAVE YOU! I AM MORE FANATICAL THAN AN ONI RIGHT NOW!" I yelled with a smirk.
The kukri properties now worked like a whip, snaring her body. I used all my strength and pulled her towards me, grabbing my broken sword. I used the flat of the broken blade and smacked her right in the horn.
Her eyes widened as light came back into her eyes, the madness going away.
She passed out.
Many hours later
Rem felt like her body was sagging left and right, unable to find a comfortable position, she then felt two hands holding her, she blinked and was shocked to see she was being carried piggy-back style, both her sister and Subaru running for their lives as the mabeasts chased after them.
"—Barusu, go right at the broken tree in front! You are slow!"
"Don't…demand the impossible… I'm—haghh—running…as hard as I can…here!"
Two familiar voices, one more intimately so, were yelling at each other from close by.
The intense up-and-down shaking jostled Rem's head back into consciousness.
"…Subaru, what are y—"
"—! Rem…you're awake?!"
I kept running as I voiced my delight and glanced down at her. Rem looked up at me, her mind still rather hazy, when something unexpectedly caught in her throat.
The side of Subaru's face was wet with blood. Maybe he'd cut his forehead? The scars all over his body from the night before had whitened; at some point, new wounds had been made on top of them, staining both with fresh blood.
Ram, her pink hair swaying as she ran beside I, made a faint, pleasant smile toward her.
"…I am so glad, Rem… You are one high-maintenance girl…"
Ram's words were few, but only those who really knew her knew this particular smile. She reached out and stroked Rem's blue hair. A moment later—"Fulla!"
She conducted the Blade of Wind incantation and used the resulting attack to slice through the trees—and cut the demon beast charging at them into discs to nourish the plants on the forest floor.
For a moment, Ram seemed dizzy; her steps went astray, making her lightly bump into me.
"Owwwww! Ram, you know better than to touch my right shoulder, geez!"
"…sorry."
"At least pick the other should—Owww!"
I was half in tears as I cried out in fierce pain.
Ram put her weight on Subaru as she bled from the scar of her lost horn. Rem watched both of them as the current situation slapped her in the face.
Why was she in a place like this? Why were they protecting her?
"Wh…y…?"
"Ah?"
"Why…did you not just let me be?"
She trembled as she voiced the question. I stared down at her with a look of disbelief as Rem's quivering lips continued.
"You and Sister coming made it meaningless. I…I have to do this myself… I should be the only one getting hurt…"
"It's a little late for that. Ram and I are all beat up already! Hell, maybe more than you are!"
While being prone to exaggerating, I was sure of every word of that last sentence. She wondered what Ram thought of that, but her beloved twin did not enter the conversation. Rem felt like her sister had left her out on a limb as she desperately tried to find the right words.
"It…it is my fault. I hesitated last night, that is why… I have to take responsibility… If I do not, I cannot face you or Sister…"
"Now may not be the best time for it, but we're actually, you know, talking! That's seriously awesome…"
"Really, you should not have been bitten at all—"
Though I didn't look like I was listening, I had heard her words loud and clear. My face went stiff, looking at Rem as she confessed her sin.
Rem's shortcomings had caused me to risk myself to shield her during the forest battle the night before. When she saw the fangs had punctured somewhat and slightly ripped my flesh, bathing me in blood, she could only gape at what her conduct and judgment had wrought.
The same scent as on that day long ago, when everything had been burned away, had hovered thickly around me. And Rem had caught a whiff of it, leaving her unable to move.
"It is because I hesitated to reach out to you that you nearly died. And then your body suffered too many curses to lift. That is why I—"
"You went off to deal with it by yourself to atone for it, right?"
Just as I nodded in acceptance, Rem drew in her chin, once again acknowledging her own sin.
Rem was prepared to be scolded and scorned. I should have given her a tongue-lashing before she had set foot into the forest again.
She had not let him because she had not a moment to spare to save me. That, or she was unprepared to face the consequences of her weakness.—Rem, resenting her own frail heart, thought it must surely be the latter.
She was prepared to accept whatever words I struck her with, however stern they might be. After all, that was only the punishment she deserved for the crime she had committed.
"Rem."
"Yes."
—Subaru's face was truly right before her eyes.
"Bonk."
"—?!"
The hard smack sound of bone upon bone sent sparks into Rem's vision.
For an instant, the sharp pain narrowed Rem's field of vision as she put a hand on her forehead in confusion. When not in her horned form, her flesh was no hardier than an ordinary human's.
No doubt others would be able to see a faint, reddening bump from the impact to her brow.
Rem's eyes were still wide, with no idea what was going on, when I looked down at her.
"To begin with, are you an idiot? No, you are an incredible idiot."
"Barusu. You split your split forehead and it is bleeding again."
Ram butted in to speak. I shook my newly bloodied face.
"Yeah, I'm an idiot. I know that already! But your little sister's an even bigger idiot!"
Rem realized that I had head-butted her. She didn't understand the significance at all.
"Now look here, in my homeland, they say, 'Three women make a market.' Not that that has anything to do with this. But they also say, 'Three heads are better than one.'"
What's sagacity, anyway? I murmured to myself after he spoke. "Er, anyway," I said, twisting my neck as I continued, "it's like how it's easier to snap an arrow with three people than a person might think."
"I am guessing you are using that somewhat unlike the original…"
"A-NY-WA-Y! Don't think about it all by yourself and rely on the people around you! You understand what I'm saying, right?! If you had your heart grabbed like m—"
Subaru was about to say something when his expression changed to one of pain.
"That was over the line, huh…? Th-that's a little strict, ain't it?"
"It seems the witch has covered her bases, making you unable to talk of the curse in any way, however obliquely it may be, I would applaud such ingenuity if it was not used the way it is" the voice said.
"What are you talking ab—? Wait, Subaru, the scent of the witch is suddenly much thick—"
Rem pinched her nose, twisting her body away from the repugnant smell.
Right beside her, the horrible, abominable stench wafted about. What had suddenly caused it to—?
But I moved to set Rem's misgivings aside with a statement of my own.
"Well, I need you to switch gears on that for now. I'll switch gears, too."
Rem was agape, but the serious look on my face told her to push that question down the road.
I looked ahead as they ran, the tension and caution in his eyes growing stronger.
Simultaneously, Ram, again running beside him, put a hand to her painful forehead as she began to chant.
"Ram, the villa—No, the barrier's good enough. Which way is it to get there?"
"If we can slip past the pack before us, we simply need to sprint to the left, but what are you planning?"
When Ram asked, I let out a long mmm sound as I made a sour face.
"How about I push Rem onto you and I cruelly run off to the barrier on my own?"
"You intend to let me flee with Rem while you lure the Urugarum away? Understood."
"Can you not spoil what I was trying to hide?! It's embarrassing!" I said with a smirk.
The speed of their run did not abate as Ram qnd myself sparred with words back and forth.
When she heard what they were saying, Rem felt a feeling of despair, like the whole world was turning black before her.
"I cannot…save you like that… Pl-please stop this. If you do this, I…"
"Luggage should be seen and not heard! It's all right, I'll get past the barrier and hook up with you there. After that, I have a special plan you don't know about to take down the demon beasts all at once. It'll be big, an easy win!"
She had no idea what "special plan" I had prepared. To be blunt, she wondered if there even was one.
Was he simply papering things over? I slipping past the pack by myself was all but impossible in the first place, she thought.
"You need to do no such thing… I will wipe out the demon beasts all by myse—"
She couldn't let me do anything rash. Rem tried to move her arms and legs. But her limbs merely dangled, refusing to obey her commands. The most she could do was wiggle her fingers and move her tongue around a little. Nothing was working as she was accustomed to.
"Where is my weapon…?"
"Like I could carry around a heavy thing like that! I'll make you a new one later, geez!"
Pain shot through Rem as she realized she was unarmed and unable to move, so there was nothing she could do but be protected by others. The thought drove her to despair.
I gently handed Rem off to Ram.
"Don't drop her."
"I believe I have more strength than you possess in one arm, Barusu."
"oh? Then who was the one who carried you whe we were recalling from the cliff? And also why'd you make me carry her, then?!"
"You never told me to, did you, Barusu?"
"Seriously, that's your answer?!"
I slapped his own face for the sheer stupid reason she gave.
Rem looked up at me from her sister's arms, shaking her head at the unbelievable reality. She'd said so many mean things about him. Why was he going this far?"Subaru, why are you going this far to…?"
"—Good question."
Her inquiry sent me into thought for but a single moment. I raised a finger and smiled.
"Because you're the first girl I ever went on a date with. I'm not so cruel that I can just turn my back on you. And I wish to live to my teacher's dreams and ideologies"
As he spoke, he gently petted Rem with the same hand.
"Well, I'm gonna head off for a little bit. Take care of Rem, Big Sis."
"I pray that you meet with us safely, Subaru."
I blinked as Ram actually used my name, seems like my social links went up with her.
With that brief exchange, they suddenly parted ways, with my running one way and Ram another.
Ram ran right. While I ran left.
The Urugarum pack coming from the front hesitated at their prey splitting up, but only for a moment. They immediately ran off in pursuit of me. This dman scent was quite addictive to these little beasts.
"—Sister!"
"Barusu is risking his life to buy us time. I shall make good use of it."
Sweat formed on Ram's brow as her tone made plain she had no margin for error. The combination of wounds and fatigue slowed her down considerably. Compared to Rem in horned form, it was nothing.
When Rem thought of that, she regretted what she had done enough that she wanted to cry.
If Rem could have returned to horned form, she'd have had the power to get them through this, not only to save Subaru but to carry her older sister out of danger. She could do it all.
And yet, at the most critical of moments, she was unable to even bring out the demon within her.
It was her own halfhearted weakness that had brought Subaru and her older sister here and held them back.
In contrast to the regret-filled Rem, Ram had not hesitated when Subaru offered himself as a decoy. No doubt that was because she valued Rem's life above Subaru's and, indeed, even her own. Knowing that Subaru's ploy would buy them time and increase their odds of survival, she had accepted it without the slightest Rem thought her beloved older sister's judgment was correct, she suddenly rebelled against the idea.
Why was Sister so strong, strong enough to cut anything and everything away? What incredible part of her allowed her to make such a horrible decision so easily? Rem wanted to see for herself.
"Sister… Subaru… Subaru is—!"
"Rem. We cannot turn back. It would put his resolve to waste."
They were the words of her beloved sister. Her sister was always right.
If Rem followed her, she would surely be safe, for Ram had always been right.
—Then why did what was right feel so empty…?
"—Sis!"
"—!"
Ram's expression greatly trembled in response to Rem's heartfelt shout. Ram bit her lip, her eyes wide open as her feet came to a stop. Rem instantly twisted her body, escaping her sister's arms to fall to the ground, rolling as she looked behind them—and saw Subaru's back as he ran.
Far away, his run was much too slow to be called a sprint.
She saw his black hair and his wounds all over. She saw the sway of his listless right arm, devoid of strength, and the way Subaru appeared to be hiding his emotions.
Towering before Subaru was a giant, sheer black demon beast. Judging from its size compared to the rest of the pack, it might well have been the leader.
Under that fearsome gaze, surrounded by predators, Subaru ferociously ran.
No matter how much she stretched out her fingers, no matter how much her heart quaked, she could not reach his back.
And yet, Rem shouted, as if pleading.
"—Subaru!"
She did not know if her voice reached him.
All she saw was Subaru on the run, his left hand drawing the dimly glimmering sword as if responding to her call.
As I kept running I could feel the pain from all the accumulated battles we had.
It hurts.
It hurts so bad
It hurts so bad I feel like dying.
Why? Why keep the pain?
Because…
There is something I want to change.
The pure smile of the oni girl with blue hair…
To prevent the tears of the pink haired oni girl.
To change myself into a person who has value.
"Hey voice… I am ready, even if I have to use my soul to power this It's fine… we need something to take care of the beasts once and for all"
"Agreed, however your soul will not be required, however you will be bedridden for quite a while, is that okay with you?," the voice asked.
"That is a dumb question"
"Indeed, my apologies for doubting your resolution, as an apology I will make it flashy so even the red haired one will not be able to reprimand you," the voice sais with a smirk.
He would use his trump card number 1.
I begun to chant…
"Let silver and steel be the essence. Let flesh and soul be the vessel. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation. Let red be the color I pay tribute to. Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall. Let the four cardinal gates close. Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom it be filled. Again. Again. Again. Again. Let it be filled fivefold for every turn, simply breaking asunder with every filling. I declare, my body is your vessel, my blood yours, my soul your power, so I declare here and now, we shall become as one, your power will be my power and my fate your sword, if you acknowledge this plea and this reason a contract shall be formed here, come forth and inhabit this body… KEEPER OF BALANCE"
As soon as I finished the chant, fire emerged from within, not in a metaphysical way but an actual fire, yet it did not burn me, my clothes began to change.
I now donned a tight a tight black chest armor with silver highlights over the chest area, my pants changed to black jeans with tight belts to protect certain areas, my left arm had a sleeve of the color orange, tied around my chest with a white tassel of sorts in the shape of a 4 leaf clover, and shoes that had metal plates on the tips, and on my waist was what appeared to be a drape of sorts, all.
I felt power, so much so that it hurt.
And, rather than the voice taking control I was the one with it, he would guide me and I would be the one to do it all.
So… with 2 voices speaking as one…
"I am the bone of my sword"
I will become a facsimile of a hero… if it's to save them, even if it means burning my soul.
I would risk it all for them.
To be a hero… that is sure a tall order.
Chapter End