Sorry for the delay...school was catching up to me and I got a bit of writer's block but I'm back now with chapter 9. Also thank you all for reading and we managed to hit over 100 in all stats. next goal...200 favs, follows, and reviews.
Subaru pondered what his next move should be. He hadn't exactly thought this thing through. He arrived at the village earlier that morning and had bought some food and supplies but currently, he was staying a little way out in the woods. He wasn't going to risk his miasma attracting any of the Demon Beast's prematurely before the day of the attack. He was technically on Day 2 right now of his current loop; Rem would be in the village on Day 4 meaning it would be a bad idea to be there around that time. He could possibly try sneaking into the mansion while Rem was away, maybe he could inform Emilia about the whole curse situation. Then again doing that could cause trouble if he suddenly shows up knowing about a curse.
"Will you stop walking around me?" Echidna said. "It's getting rather annoying." She told him as she sipped another cup of tea while she sat on the tree stump. Seriously the others were having a picnic nearby, why did he have to bother her right now?
"Sorry." He apologized. "It just helps get the gears turning in my brain." He admitted before he caught himself. He had actually told Beako the same thing during one of his earlier runs as well. He still had to go back and free her from her contract as well. Wait, could he even do that now? "Is it possible for me to make a contract with Beatrice while I still have my contracts with you seven?" He asked the Witch of Greed, catching her by surprise.
"And why would you do that?" Echidna asked. "Why are you interested in my greatest failure?"
"She's not a failure!" Subaru growled.
"She is," Echidna said. "She was supposed to realize that she could make her own choices and choose who 'that person' was. She was supposed to be able to move on and live her life without even needing the Gospel but she didn't. She couldn't because she made defectively." Echidna told him. "She was too indecisive and too dependant on others. So she is a failure…"
"Are you sure you're not the one who failed her?" Subaru countered. Echidna froze for a moment. "A creation is only as good as its creator…so are you sure Beako's the defect and not you?" He asked her. "Beako waited for centuries because she promised you she would take care of the library and she had hoped you would have guided her with her Gospel. Instead, what did you do, you left her alone in the dark for so many years." Subaru told her. "If there is anything even remotely bad about Beako…it won't be her fault…it would be yours." He told the Greedy Witch as he turned to leave.
"You can make your contract," Echidna told him. "Just make sure you don't mention me so I don't have to be reminded of my failure," Echidna said quietly.
"Consider it a promise," Subaru said as he walked over to join the others who were pretending they didn't hear the whole exchange between the two. There was tense awkwardness in the air. Most of them were fully aware of the type of people, Echidna and Subaru were and they didn't want to land themselves in the middle of any squabbles between the two.
"So Baru…what are we going to do next?" Typhon asked trying to ease the tension
"Honestly…I have no idea." Subaru sighed. "Last time I had gotten Rem, Ram, and Roswaal to help me beat the Demon Beasts so I am wondering if it would be a good idea to go at it alone with just Apollo?" He pondered. He had seen the Demon Beast's strength first hand but he wondered just how tough it really was.
"Apollo doesn't need to beat them all," Daphne explained. "He just needs to break their horns."
"The horns?" Subaru asked.
"All Demon Beasts have a horn…you break the horn and they'll follow whoever or whatever broke it." She explained.
"That's awesome." Minerva cheered.
"But...Apollo d-d-doesn't have a horn?" Camilla noted.
"We're his horns." Daphne pointed out. "He follows us. If someone else wants to control him they'd have to sever the connection between him and us and that's impossible." She explained.
"Still with the amount he has to fight makes me wonder if he'll be able to break all the horns." Subaru wondered. No doubt it would be a challenge, multiple opponents at once, coming from various directions with only two of them actively being able to fight.
"Perhaps we can use one of the Authorities?" Satella suggested. "Some of the authorities can affect large areas so maybe he can use one." She explained. "Unfortunately they also change depending on the user." She noted.
"Apollo isn't technically using his own version though, he uses our versions," Daphne added.
"Wait so the Authorities change depending on the user?" Subaru asked.
"The change isn't so drastic, they will still share similarities but we could be wrong," Minerva said.
"Alright then well let's see what we can use for now," Subaru said.
"The Demon Beast's aren't sinners so I can't affect them," Typhon said.
"and I refuse to use my powers to harm any living creature," Minerva added.
"It seems too much like a chore." Sekhmet yawned.
"You agreed to help." Subaru pointed out.
"I'll help if it's absolutely necessary." She sighed.
"Gluttony won't have any effect on them," Daphne noted. A lot of them don't exactly have names or skills Apollo could absorb to use nor would it be viable for him to transform into the supposedly weaker creatures.
"So that just leaves Envy, Lust and ….Greed." Subaru noted as he glanced back to where Echidna was. Okay maybe after their recent talk, Greed might not be an option.
"Envy isn't really usable right now," Satella said. "It's too unstable and using it could cause Apollo to go berserk." She explained. It wasn't the total truth. If she used her Authority there was always the chance she could lose herself and the Witch of Envy would take over. It was Envy's power after all not hers.
"Greed may not be useful either," Minerva noted.
"Figures," Subaru said. "How come?"
"The Authority of Greed operates by stopping time for the user," Minerva explained. "This includes anything they are wearing, touching, or even breathing." She told him. "Ideally it means nothing can affect them since everything requires time to move forward but they can still affect the outside world."
"That sounds like it can be pretty powerful," Subaru noted. "It would mean that any movement they made would be faster light speed, which would have significant effects on how their actions affect the world." He recalled. Whenever some anime characters reached light speed the physics always got pretty messed up. In some case punches at light speed could decimate an entire world or even move at light speed could create a black hole, that kind of insane stuff. "What's the downside? If it's that broken then there has to be a downside." Subaru realized. Echidna had the most broken ability of them all from what he heard so why would the others consider it a bad idea.
"The downside is that the user's heart stops as well. So if you use it then you run the risk of dying as such it can't be used in rapid successions or for long periods." Minerva said. That….that was irony. The most broken ability had a drawback that would damage the user's heart and it belonged to the Witch who Subaru would argue was the most heartless of them all. Maybe that's why she was so…she lost her heart to her greed.
"So that just leaves Lust," Subaru noted as he turned to the respective witch. "If I recall correctly it shows the person the one they desire most and makes them so in love with the person that they forget to do anything else." He noted. He had experienced it first hand and while he was able to fight it off, had he not been dragged to the tea party a third time he might have died to it.
"Y-Yes, that is how i-it works," Camilla said nervously. "But I'm not sure it will work exactly l-like that on the D-Demon Beasts."
"Well, it's the most effective option we have right now so let's go test it out," Subaru said as he looked to Apollo. He could not imagine how that power will work with the Demon Beast. Seriously it would be just like one of those old sea legends…the sirens was it? Although if it didn't actually hurt or kill anyone it would be pretty hilarious when they realized what had happened.
"Okay, so the barrier is just a few feet behind us," Subaru said as he did some of his usual radio calisthenics to loosen himself up with Apollo mimicking his movements. "Okay ready?" He asked the beast. Apollo nodded. Minerva established a link with Apollo as the Beast stepped behind Subaru with its arms raised high before it slammed it down into his back. A small explosion of hearts erupted from the two. "Man, that really loosened my back," Subaru said as the explosion cleared up. He didn't bother using his original lure strategy after he met Satella he didn't feel it was right to abuse the power like that anymore so they used Minerva's power instead. Subaru then stepped behind the barrier as he waited.
Soon they felt the ground rumbling as several Demon Beasts rushed towards the area. Subaru didn't see the Shaman though which was unfortunate as if it was here then hopefully they could have killed it sooner instead they had quite a few other Demon Beasts to deal with. Minerva broke her connection with Apollo as Camilla made one her place.
"Okay time to test it, Apollo, use Attract," Subaru said as he references that one game series he played often.
"Actually it's called Faceless Bride," Camilla said.
"Oh come on. That doesn't suit him." Subaru argued.
"That doesn't matter. It's my power so I get to decide what it's called." Camilla argued. "Don't be such a meanie." The Witch of Lust said as she started to tear up.
"Okay okay. We'll call it whatever you want." Subaru told her as he tried to avoid spoiling another relation with a Witch.
"Did he actually for that?" The other witches thought simultaneously before turning to Satella.
"Well he is naïve…he'll learn eventually," Satella said nervously. "I hope."
Apollo howled as he used the Authority of Lust on the other Demon Beasts. Subaru and the Witches watched closely to see what would happen with the Beast of Despair, even Echidna tried to spy from afar. The response was not what some of them expected. Half of the Demon Beasts remained immobile while the other half started to lunge for Apollo. Apollo likewise engaged them in combat. This time though Subaru noticed Apollo's fighting style had changed it was different now compared to when Typhon was linked with him. Rather than retaliate or attack at all, the Demon Beast merely dodged and evaded his kin. He sidestepped a few leading them directly into a tree or each other, while he rolled out of the way others.
"Huh? What happened?" Subaru wondered. He was expecting the monsters to drop dead or at least become more passive not try to attack and kill Apollo. "Did Camilla's authority change or something?" He wondered.
"No, I think it's working just fine," Daphne said. "The problem is that animals experience Lust in different ways." She pointed out. "Unlike humans or other more sentient creatures, they are only ever attracted to the opposite gender." She pointed out. "They also don't engage in such…. activities unless it's to mate." The Witch of Gluttony said trying to be cautious about her words around Typhon.
"That still doesn't explain the aggression," Minerva noted.
"Actually it does." Satella said ". The other Males are seeing Apollo as a threat. He is an outsider who is trying to impress the other females." She pointed out. "They're jealous."
"Well regardless of jealousy or not, he just kicked their tails," Subaru said as he watched Apollo lead the last two males into each other, knocking them out. "It looked like it at least partially worked. The females didn't move at all."
"Um, I think they were just waiting to see who would win," Daphne noted. The female Demon Beasts once they saw the last male fell then started to approach Apollo.
"Wait a minute…you don't think?" Subaru and the other Witches except for Typhon just realized what it might mean for Apollo now that he used the Authority of Lust. Camilla likewise severed her connection almost immediately when they saw the beasts lunge at Apollo not to attack him…no they were going to do something far worse.
"Hey what are they doing?" Typhon asked. Minerva immediately grabbed the girl and turned her the other way.
"There fighting Typhon, nothing else. Come on let's go back to the village for a while Sekhmet should be waiting for us." Minerva said nervously. If the Witch of Sloth found out Typhon had to witness 'that' Minerva would most likely lose her title as the Witch of Wrath. Apollo meanwhile had realized the situation he was in and did the only logical thing he could have thought of once he threw them off himself. He fled as fast as possible into the woods, not even bothering to fight the female Demon Beasts.
"I want to say we should check on him, but I know from personal experience how bad things can get when you get in the way of a girl in love," Subaru said as he cast aside glance to Satella.
"Yeah...wait why are you looking at me?" She wondered as she saw him stare at her.
"No reason," Subaru said as he pretended to whistle.
"Do you think we should tell him about Satella having a split personality?" Camilla whispered to Daphne as they watched the two.
"It's not our secret to tell; when Satella's ready she'll tell him." The Gluttonous witch answered as she watched where Apollo had runoff.
"Well, no sense in waiting for it now. Hopefully, he can shake them on his own." Daphne said as she turned to head back to town, the other following suit. Echidna meanwhile had been watching where Apollo went and decided to follow the Beast.
Subaru arrived back at the village in the afternoon. It was still light out but after that little experiment, he was feeling a little exhausted. There was that he didn't sleep a wink last night since he was traveling the whole night and had to slow down a few times to make sure he wasn't getting lost. The Witches had all gone back to his dream house, leaving only him and Satella.
"Hey, Subaru." Satella's voice called out.
"What is it Satella?" He thought as he turned to the half-elf.
"Um, I didn't say anything," Satella said.
Subaru's eyes widened when he heard his name get called again by Satella's voice. Oh crap! He turned behind him to see none other than Emilia in her hoodie and accompanying her was none other than Roswaal's maids, Ram and….Rem.
"What the hell are they doing here?" That was the only thought that ran through his mind.
Alright that's the end of the chapter now for the discussion.
I'll be honest I love the fact that you all are so willing to help me make up for my mistakes in terms of writing, it really shows that you both care for this story and the story of Re zero itself. However, things from some previous reviews look like they were getting a little out of hand.
I am going to level with you all right here. When it comes to writing fanfiction I believe in two things that are almost contradictory. One is that you must respect the lore of its source and two is that part of fanfiction's joy is that you can be creative with said lore and change it up to suit the narrative and the story you want to tell.
Case in point I am glad...so..so many of you pointed out that blunder with Satella's hair color being called white in one of the earlier chapters...I went back and fixed it. I also fixed the Puck bit as well at least with him remembering Echidna with him feeling the scent is familiar but he doesn't know why.
I know from all the comments I've gotten that miasma is supposedly a generic form of corrupted mana that isn't specific to the witches apparently but the headcanon for this story is that the miasma works a little different. Each Authority has a unique miasma. The Authorities are given due to the witch factors which are the anthesis of Od Lagna which controls the mana and divine blessings of the world. Each Witch has a scent and the scents a distinct, the reason only Envy's scent is known, is because the others have been dead for four centuries. Envy is the last surviving Witch and her body is the only one supposedly intact so that's why it has the strongest scent. People might not also realize there is a difference as well. Puck was created by Echidna, so him being able to tell it apart is also due to those circumstances.
That's all I am saying about this.
As for the whole back and forth with speculation in the comments. I have no problem with it, just make sure you're respectful to each other and remember it's a fanfic. Some details will be altered to suit the story and some won't. If it's important stuff like personality traits and innocent details like the hair color I have no problem if it's pointed out. As it stands some backstories for some characters may be altered a bit.
Like I said I mainly follow the anime but I use the Wikia and various other sources to try and better understand the lore so I can write better. It's much easier for me to get short summaries from there than actually reading the LN/WN especially since I'm doing my studies for university right now and have to focus elsewhere.
I think that's about it. So thanks for reading, stay safe and I'll see you next time.