After Felix had finished healing the other victims, with some help from Julius's quasi-spirits and Reinhardt's Divine Protection of Allied Recovery. They stood close together and tried to come up with a plan of action.
"Why would they take Subaru?" Julius asked no one in particular. No one really knew anything.
"Was this entire thing just to kidnap him?" Felix followed, he had dropped the 'nyah' accent, deeming the current situation as too serious.
Reinhardt didn't answer. He didn't have the Divine Protection of All Knowing-ness. Not that such a Divine Protection existed, nor would Od Laguna create one for him. No matter how much he had wished, he wouldn't receive any power that allowed him to find Subaru. When he asked why, he wasn't answered.
Julius and Felix discussing what to do was able to keep Reinhardt on track and stopping him from spiralling further and further into despair and self hatred.
"It's clear it was an organised attack, although I didn't once sense the scent of the Witch." Felix piped up. "Other than Subaru of course, which I'm still uncertain as to why he has such a scent."
"Do you think this organisation took Subaru because he smelled of the Witch? Maybe they mistook him for a witch cultist." Julius reasoned.
"So we're looking for some form of organisation that is against the witch cult?" Reinhardt asked, decided to partake in the conversation.
"Perhaps. Or maybe one that collaborates. We don't really have enough information to be able to tell what this organisation is."
A woman coughing behind them snapped their attention to her. She had gotten up and made her way over to them. "I wanted to thank you for healing and saving us, in return I think I may have some information that can be of use." She stated.
The trio blinked, once, twice, thrice. "Of course, please tell us." Julius begged, his voice slightly shaky. Not that he would admit it, although most people already knew he was worried for Subaru.
"I recognised the symbol on the hilt of their blades. Their some Mafia who controls quite a lot of underground businesses in the Capital." She continued.
"I see, thank you for this information. Would you happen to know what this mafia is?" Reinhardt asked.
"It's called the Ninth Tail. It's an organisation who's goals align with the Witch Cult, and although they originally were based off it, they are now at each others' throats."
"So you're saying the organisation that captured Subaru is at war with the Witch Cult?" Felix asked, beads of sweat forming at his forehead.
"I suppose you could say that, yes."
Julius bit his lip, drawing blood.
If that's the case then Subaru might possibly already be dead. Please be okay Subaru. The Sword Saint begged the Od internally that he stay alive.
"Thank you for the information, but may I ask how you know all this?" Julius raised a question.
"I used to be part of this Mafia, however I was able to escape thanks to a certain Noble's family. I would love to give you information about their location but sadly they have most likely changed it dozens of times over by now."
Julius sighed. Felix put a hand over his nose and eyes and pinched the bridge between them.
"Well. Thank you anyway. You're knowledge has been very valuable." Julius thanked her. He seemed to be the only one who wasn't visibly panicking.
"Yes of course, you saved our lives after all."
The Ninth Tail... I will destroy you.
….
Subaru laid on the cold hard floor once more. He had opened his eyes by now. It had been at least an hour since his capture. The chains rubbed against his wrist every time he twitched, and the lack of warmth made Subaru shiver.
After what seemed like an eternity, the door opened. It revealed a cloaked man, with his hood down, pushing a cart of various tools into the room. Subaru's vision was severely blurred and in the dark he couldn't quite make out what he was seeing.
It was when the cart was stopped right next to him, he realised that the tools consisted of various scalpels, knives, pliers, and other possible forms of torture.
A second man entered the room with some black box.
After a minute or so of groaning and being lifted, he realised the black box had been unfolded into a table. Which he was now laying on.
"You shall now tell us about everything you know of the Witch Cult and their plans. For every second that goes by where you don't say anything, one cut shall be carved into you. And for every time you lie, one fingernail will be torn off. And once you're out of those, we shall move onto your teeth.
Subaru's eyes widened, panic shooting through his body. "Please no. Don't!" He begged but to no result.
The first man took a scalpel and sighed, quickly slashing a cut into Subaru's outer thigh.
"This is going to be a long night."
…
Reinhardt, Julius and Felix decided to split up. Julius would investigate one half of the district with Felix, while Reinhardt would investigate the other. They then decided to meet up back at the restaurant in two hours.
Two hours had passed, and he extracted a decent amount of information from several places. He had visited merchants, inns, bars, shops, anything where people may be.
"Ninth Tail? I don't think you should be prying into that kind of stuff. I'd recommend staying away from them."
"Yeah they're some mafia, run a bunch of stuff. Most of my neighbours are being blackmailed by them."
"Most of the town is some form of their puppet."
"If you're looking to take them down, don't."
"Anyone who challenges them disappears eventually."
"Keep this between us, but there's a run down building which may or may not serve as some form of base of operations for them."
"As far as I know the only way to find them is that place on Celmunt Street."
He was satisfied with the information, but he still wished he had more. He walked back to the restaurant and waited for Julius and Felix to return.
When they failed to return however, he started to get anxious.
Two minutes late.
Ten minutes late.
Twenty...
'I should go and find them' He thought to himself.
…
Subaru screamed. The blades continuously cut at his skin. He had lost seven of his ten fingernails at this point and by the looks of it he would probably have none by the end of the hour.
They repeatedly sliced and diced him, tearing skin off of his body, punching him, electrocuting him. But no matter how much they did it, Subaru kept saying that he had nothing to do with the Witch Cult.
Of course, they didn't believe this, no normal person smelled of the Witch like this. After two hours of the torture, they wiped the sweat from their brows and left the room deciding to take a break. Subaru had already fallen unconscious and was currently dreaming of better times.
…
Julius was woken up by water dripping onto his face. He stirred and in his sleepy state he slowly wiped his face with his hand. When he opened his eyes, his memories quickly returned to him. His head hurt like hell, likely due to have being hit over the head with a metal club just fifty minutes ago.
Panic and fear crept into his brain, but he quickly brought himself together and sat up, inspecting the room. He was in some form of cell, the door in front of him only having a small window at the top. He wasn't chained, and he was alone in the room.
In? Nes?
He called out for his spirits but they didn't appear. Although he could still feel his contract with them in tact. After closing his eyes he felt them confined to their crystals.
Anti-Spirit magic? Maybe some sort of barrier.
He stood up and walked over to the door, peeking through the window. On the other side there were two men in white hooded uniforms. It resembled the Witch Cult uniform only for this one to be white, with a blue ring around the neck area.
After stepping back from the door, he racked his brain for ideas on escape.
Reinhardt, Felix, where are you...
…
At this point Felix had already figured out what was going on. He was in a cold cell and alone, similar conditions to Julius. He had used healing magic to heal his concussion and he had no choice other than to wait for escape. He had no combat ability and there was no way he could break the door down. He sighed and laid down.
It was when he turned his head to the wall that he noticed an out of place brick. He quickly got to his feet and approached it. The brick in question was sticking out the wall by a few inches compared to the other bricks. He tried to move it but it wouldn't budge. After his failed attempts, he noticed a hole big enough to fit a finger in between the brick and the rest of the wall.
Hmm. Maybe I can do something with that? Didn't Subaru ramble about something called leverage when I healed him. Who knew that his rambling could come to use.
He scanned the room and found a bolt sticking out from the bench. He pulled on it until it popped out. Then he went back to the brick and popped the bolt in the hole.
It took a couple tries, but he eventually got the brick out. Felix sighed in relief and scratched the back of his head, before peeping through it.
On the other side was none other than Julius Juukulius.
"Julius!" He whispered.
The purple haired knight turned towards the sound of the voice and spotted a brick missing from the wall, along with a familiar cat boy on the other side of the hole.
"Felix." He muttered and approached the hole. "How didn't I notice this hole before?"
"Probably to do with the fact that I just made it. Subaru used to ramble about the weirdest thing but I was able to put his weird knowledge to use." Felix grinned. "Now, how do we get out of here?"
Julius scratched his chin. "I do not know, my friend." Felix sighed. "Me neither."
"It's clear that we need to take out the guards at my door and somehow get the key." Julius stated.
"Can't you use your spirits?"
"No, something is preventing them from appearing."
"Of course, it would have been too easy otherwise."
…
Subaru woke up on the table. Pain and aching shot throughout his body. He patted himself down and observed his battle wounds. His bleeding had mostly stopped, the torturers sure knew their way around the human body. He sat up and scanned his surroundings. The door was... Open?
Did they expect me to stay unconscious and not make my escape? Maybe the average person doesn't just recover from all of that. But it's nothing compared to some of the other deaths I've had.
He got off the table and walked out the door. The hallways were empty, so he just followed them until he found something, sticking in the shadows.
When he came to two adjacent cells being guarded by four people, he had to wonder if they were keeping prisoners from the restaurant.
Judging by the fact that just one of these guys could wipe out a dozen people, they prisoners must be powerful for there to be four guards.
Hey, their uniforms kinda look like the KK-
His thoughts were interrupted when through the door window he saw a flash of purple.
Julius? He must be trying to figure out an escape plan. The other cell must be Felix, I have doubts that they were able to catch Reinhardt... Speaking of that red head, where is that adorable bast- I mean, Over-powered potato peeler.
"Guards! There's someone in here! I think he's trying to kill me!" A dramatic feminine voice escaped the second cell. Confirming Subaru's suspicions of it being Felix.
The two guards at the cell turned around and opened the door, only for one of them to seemingly be electrocuted. Then again, that's probably Felix's skill of turning your mana against you. He snatched the knife from the now unconscious guard and stabbed the other as quickly as he could. He then snatched the key from him and ran back into his cell.
Subaru couldn't see what he was doing but his only guess was trying to pass the key to Julius.
There was an obvious flaw in this plan, the other two guards were about to charge into Felix's cell and most likely kill him.
God... Why do I have to always help everyone... Subaru how dare you! You deserve to suffer for them. You've failed them so many times. You should just kill yourself and save them befo-
Snapping out of his thoughts, he charged towards the two guards and tackled one to the ground. Using the element of surprise to his advantage, he used his strength from all the sweeping to pry the knife from the guard and stab it into his neck.
Seriously, sweeping the floors with brooms really builds up your core strength. No wonder school janitors are always so buff.
The other guard was about to strike Subaru with his blade until the door slammed open, blocking the guard from Subaru and resulting in a loud thunk.
A purple haired fop emerged from the cell and closed the door again, seeing that he had knocked the guard out cold.
"The fact that your plan worked only because of my escape is just dumb luck. Jesus Christ Julius I would have thought you being the Knight of Knights would maybe force you to execute smoother plans.." Subaru ranted. Although he didn't actually mean the jabs at Julius, it was just showbiz.
Julius looked almost offended for a second before he charged to hug Subaru. "Oh I'm glad you're okay, we thought you had died."
Felix approached the two and scratched his head. "I guess you did kind of save my life from being ended by knives, so thank you for that." His sheepish look instantly changed into one of panic and concern when Julius pulled away and he saw the wounds on Subaru.
He lacked all of his fingernails, he had two teeth missing, a knife was sticking out of his shoulders and cuts and stab wounds were littered all across his body. The shoulder which didn't have a knife protruding from it was dislocated, and it through the tears in his jacket he could see several broken ribs.
"Subaru. What the hell happened to you?" Julius asked.
"Hah, torture. It's okay though. On the top 100 list of the my least favourite things to happen to me, it's only 35 or something."
Julius and Felix processed the sentence, and didn't even want to think of how this was only the 35th worst thing, and what could possibly be worst than it. How was he so calm? Is he not in serious pain?
"Felix, heal him."
"On it."
Two minutes and a lot of mana drain later, Subaru was now in top shape condition. The fact that it had no effect on his psyche worried the knight duo. Although the bags under his eyes showed signs of severe fatigue, his mental condition hadn't changed at all.
They decided to make their escape.
…
Reinhardt had searched all over the city for traces of them, then he was struck with the thought of them being kidnapped along with Subaru. He slapped himself for not realising it sooner and ran his way to the building he had found out about during his interrogations.
He found the building in the slums, on the crumbling avenue of Celmunt Street. After entering the tattered building, he saw several men in the same white uniform that attacked the restaurant.
Them having clearly not heard him outside, they sprung to their feet in surprise and got their knives out. But before they could even blink, Reinhardt had already executed every single one of them in some brutal manner.
Beating their skull in, popping their heads like a watermelon, smashing their faces against the walls, literally tearing their hearts from their chest.
He knew what he was doing was wrong, but they hurt his friends. His friends were the only thing that mattered to him at this moment, and god damn if anyone stood in his way he would obliterate them.
With blood stained on his uniform and dripping from his hands, he suddenly snapped back to reality. He fell to his knees and buried his face into his hands.
What have I done what have I done what ha-
His thoughts were interrupted by someone trying to stab his back, but like before, the knife shattered instantly.
Reinhardt stood up and turned around slowly, to see a man in a white uniform shaking in his steel capped leather boots. It was evident he was terrified.
He didn't hesitate to grab him by the neck. "You hurt Subaru, you kidnapped Julius and Felix, and now you shall die." He said in a low voice. He then exerted so much force into his hand that the poor man's head literally flew off his body.
Reinhardt glared at the corpse and smiled maniacally. He no longer felt remorse, he no longer felt any care in the world except for his friends. He would protect them. Anyone who opposed him would die at his own hands. Even if it was the witch of Envy.
…
Subaru, Julius and Felix made their way down the corridor, they were confused of the fact that there were no Ninth Tail members guarding the hallways. They continued to stay on guard and walked towards the exit.
At the end however, they noticed quite a large room. After sharing a glance and nodding, they opened to door.
They found a dining room full of white uniformed members with knives in their pockets. At the far end, they could spot a blue and gold uniformed member who Subaru suspected to be the leader.
The loud chattering that had been going on before stopped, the room falling silent and all looking at the trio..
"Ah."
"Holy."
"Shit."
They ran for their lives.
It was hard to find the exit when being chased by fifty seven men who could all run faster than a ground dragon.
They didn't need to run far, because as they turned a corner, The Sword Saint fell into their sight.
"REINHARDT!" Subaru yelled in relief. They all ran past him and came to a halt. Julius got into a defensive position in front of Felix and Subaru, while Reinhardt equipped a sword he had found laying outside.
"You have committed the sin of harming my friends. Perish." Reinhardt growled and proceeded to slaughter every one of them in an equally disturbing manner.
Saying he overdid it was an understatement. Julius's protection of Subaru and Felix was pointless because not a single guard escaped Reinhardt's attacks.
Subaru was horrified, and after glancing at the others, he confirmed that they were too.
After the genocide was completed, Reinhardt turned around to them and smiled creepily. "You're all safe now... I won't let them hurt you."
Subaru was scared of Reinhardt, for the first time in his life.