CHAPTER 3
Subaru fluttered his eyes open and was met with a towering muscular man that squatted down to his level.
"Kid, are you alright, you just suddenly started clawing your eyes for no reason and don't even think about doing it again or I'll knock your lights out"
Subaru leant against the wall while staring at his surroundings.
'Why am I back at the appa stand? Why is it daytime again?'
Subaru had way too many questions but one question stood out among the rest.
'Did I just die?'
Subaru stood up to the appa salesman's surprise then started to walk off with his journey now resumed
The appa salesman called after him.
"Hey kid what's your name?"
Subaru turned to him with his signature grin and struck his infamous pose.
"I'm Natsuki Subaru and I'm completely lost as well as being completely broke"
The man gave a booming laugh.
"Well, good luck Natsuki Subaru!"
Subaru turned away and walked down the road with now a prideful stride. The appa salesman returned to his stand while wondering what made Subaru claw his own eyes out so desperately.
Subaru strolled down the street in deep contemplation about what conspired at the loot house.
'I didn't die, because I'm still here well and breathing but was that a vision or something?'
He looked to the sun again, questioning why it had gone from night to day in mere seconds but continued to walk on.
Subaru found himself near the same alleyway he met Emilia in. He dragged the nearby wooden box and sat on it while trying to get his thoughts in order.
'Okay, so what happened in the loot house was an illusion? No that's not right, maybe this is an illu-'
"Give us everything you have or we will take by force"
Subaru turned his attention to the trio that emerged from the alleyway and pulled his hand behind his back.
"You three again. Didn't you learn your lesson last time? Go run away like last time you cowards"
Subaru dismissed the fact that he remembered the time he was berserk and persisted in intimidating them.
The lanky man lowered his body to Subaru's face and spat in it while the goons he had beside him chuckled.
"We are no cowards, how about you give us everything you got and run away with your tail between your legs"
Subaru looked up to them and slowly got up with displeasure on his face. He gave them a frown and spoke.
"I hope you like running away when you're paralyzed from the waist down, if you don't want to live in a wheelchair for the rest of your life I suggest you run away"
Two horns erupted from Subaru's forehead and instantly turned the man's spit to vapour.
The trio took a step back at the heat released from the two grand pires of energy and shielded their eyes from its light.
"Don't make me repeat myself"
The trio back stepped to a distance where the heat didn't burn them and what followed was their rapid footsteps fading into the background.
"Thank god, I doubt I could keep up that bluff any longer"
Subaru sighed in relief and he focused on walking to the slums in order to find out what happened but his mind kept wandering back to the terrified look on those low-live faces and in the back of his mind, the part he was ashamed of, had enjoyed the terrified look on their faces and he finally felt powerful.
Subaru banged at the worn door with tiny shards of wood coming off of the brisk planks. A booming voice was contained by the door.
"I'm coming damn it, just don't destroy the bloody door"
Footsteps echoed throughout the shack and through the door that sent vibrations through the stairs that Subaru stood upon. The footsteps only stopped after ten or eleven seconds.
"Now what is that you want to cause such a ruckus?"
Subaru back stepped as the door swung open to reveal the hulking figure that he saw as a corpse from back in his first visit to the loot house. Subaru raised his hand to the man.
"Hey, um I don't exactly know how to ask this but have you died recently?"
The giant gave a titanic laugh and patted the kid on the back.
"Nah, I may be an old man on death's door but I sure as hell ain't dead yet. Say, your a funny kid, come inside"
Subaru struts inside of the old shack and the creaking floorboards greeted him while making a chorus of groans.
Subaru looked around the shack in awe, it had weapons and armour hanging from the walls. Some of the weapons were simple while others were complex like a greatsword that seemed to have glowing engravings on the blade.
"Come on kid, take a seat"
Subaru walked over to the stool by the counter where the man sat. Subaru took the glass of water that lay on the table and sipped.
"So you're old man Rom I presume?"
Rom downed a mug of ale and slammed it down onto the counter.
"Yeah that's who I am, what about it? Are you looking to do business or something?"
"Well yes I am, do you have an insignia by any chance, I was told felt took it and that she regularly comes here to do deals"
Rom reached down below the counter and squinted at Subaru as if he was assessing him.
"Are you supposed to be the buyer? You don't exactly fit the description they gave us"
"Well I'm not exactly the buyer you were promised but I am a customer. Maybe we could have a bid?"
Rom contemplated for a bit, he opened his eyes and announced to Subaru.
"Fine, it would be better for me and Felt because we would get away with making this item overpriced. So kid what do you have to offer in the bid?"
Subaru reached into his bag and brought out his phone as well as a bag of chips.
"This is a special food from my homelands and the metal item is a device that can freeze a place in time and store it as an image"
Rom picked up the phone and chips while poking and toying with the plastic bag. He dropped the phone on the table.
"Show me how to do the time freezing your talking about"
Subaru nodded and pressed a button while facing the phone at Rom.
Subaru flipped the phone towards Rom which mirrored him with an identical image of him with his grand eyebrows on display.
"Damn kid this could be worth 20 holly coins at least"
A knock on the door halted their conversation and Rom got up and went to the door with his stomps still sending vibrations throughout the shack.
Once he arrived at the door he spoke with a voice that showed that he had done this many times before.
"What's the password"
Rom then pressed his ear up to the door like he was expecting a reply.
"It's me, Felt, open up Rom"
Rom untangled the multiple locks and bars that covered the door.
The short figure emerged from the now open doorway and strolled into the shack as if it was a familiar haven and squinted her eyes to adjust them from the midday sun to the candlelit shack.
"Hey, you must be Felt right?"
Felt looked towards Subaru and back to Rom who was currently locking the door back up.
"Hey old man who's this chump"
Rom twisted his head to Subaru and walked away from the door and sat behind the counter again, talking all the while.
"I don't think you told me your name yet, if your employer wants you to stay anonymous then fine"
"I don't have an employer but my name is Natsuki Subaru"
Felt sat down at a nearby stool and asked for a drink from Rom.
"Rom, just one glass of milk and none of that watered-down stuff, it's nasty. So, Subaru all we need to do now is wait for the other buyer"
The sliding of glass on wood echoed throughout the shop as a nearly full glass of milk stopped in front of Felt. She grabbed it and tried to down the whole thing but stopped immediately as the milk entered her mouth.
"Damn Rom, are you trying to poison me or something? This milk tastes like the lake down the roads water and even the losers around here won't drink from there"
Rom took the glass and put it underneath the table.
A knock came from the door a second time and Rom got up for the like. The locks came off quickly as Rom had done this many times before.
Coming through the shack was a black-haired woman with a revealing dress and a long braid that had a purple flower stuck as a hairpin. Subaru's eyes sharpened at the enchanting lady.
The lady sat down at the table Felt and Subaru sat at and eyed him.
"And who is this supposed to be?"
Felt waved her hands throughout the air as she presented Subaru.
"This is your opposition, Natsuki Subaru"
The lady gazed at him and lingered her stare longer than normal on his stomach.
"Well, Subaru why do you look at me with such fury? What could I have done to anger you?"
Subaru's eyes carried a pool of vengeance within them that even Felt could tell he has some history with the black-haired beauty.
Subaru ground his teeth together as he scratched out a couple of words.
"I'd think you would remember me as we had met before?"
Elsa giggled.
"If we had met before then you would be a dead man"
Subaru's fist shot out across the table only to be matched by the flat side of Elsa's blade which gave a little dent. Subaru leapt backwards and ripped off a chain from one of the swords that hung on the Wall by the aforementioned item.
"Felt, Rom that lady there is a freak that enjoys slashing open people's stomachs to play with their guts"
Elsa spun her twin blades into her hands and readied to engage in combat while shooting her sight around the room.
"You've never felt their warmth so who are you to judge"
She gave a sigh.
"Well there's no point in arguing after because you will be talking about how I kill by first-hand experience soon"
She dashed forward while dodging the various strikes from the Roms massive club only to be followed by an attempted slash at the back by the swift Felt.
Subaru stood at the back and focused on summoning his horns.
Elsa flicked a look towards Subaru who now had two glowing magma horns whose energy caused embers to float around the battlefield.
Elsa grinned manically and ignored her other two opponents when her excitement rose to peaks when she witnessed her fight become more interesting.
With a flick of her wrist, a blade spun towards Subaru at devastating speeds. Subaru opened his eyes while exiting his concentration only to be met with a blade rapidly approaching him, he kicked a table up, its recently cleaned surface was littered with shrapnel of wood and the blade went right through the wood but only stopped when the hilt hit the table which broke its deadly momentum.
Subaru palmed the table with enough force to return the blade and the table along with it back to its sender.
Subaru spun the rusted chain he clutched in his hand and sluggishly slashed it at the remaining candles in the room breaking them and causing them to fall to the floor
Elsa grabbed the hilt of the blade that was engraved within the table and twisted her stance to shift the momentum of the table so it would deflect into the petit figure of Felt.
The table was met with a deafening crunch as it caved in the blond-haired girl's neck.
The shattered remains of the candles hit the floor and set flame to the easily burnt floorboards.
Elsa raised her head to the roof and gave a wild giggle when the brunt of old man Roms club launched her into the corner of the room.
Subaru ran from corner to corner lashing out his makeshift whip all the while.
For Elsa, this was a dance where she would constantly switch partners, Rom with his brutal bludgeoning attack and Subaru with dwelling threat always ready to attack from long range.
Elsa dodged Rom's club and gracefully landed on top of it.
"Well this fight was fun while it lasted"
With a slash of her blade, Rom's head fell to the ground, covering it with blood.
Subaru looked towards the two corpses with the realisation that if he didn't fight harder than he was before then would be subjected to the unbearable pain of his guts spilling out of him once again.
With his fear of death renewing his determination Subaru leapt towards the architraves and wooden pillars that held up the burning shack.
Elsa stood above Rom's corpse while watching Subaru sporadically destroy the support beam with his chain that had flame and shadow spiralling from it.
She crouched down and lifted the crimson coated table off of Felt's mutilated body. Elsa searched around in her pockets until she found a sparkling insignia that perfectly reflected the glowing flames of the lit shack.
Embers flew through the air as fire licked at Elsa's fur topped cape. Elsa stood up and walked towards Subaru with her twin blades drawn again.
"I wonder if Meili would be pleased if I took your horns and gave them to her and as a gift?"
Subaru stopped what he was doing and readied his chain once again while keeping his eyes locked on Elsa, observing for any sudden movements.
The silence between them broke as their patience ran out, Subaru's rusted chain was sliced in half as Elsa's blade was ten-fold more durable than Subaru's makeshift weapon.
Subaru took a step forward but winced in pain. His hands tore at his jacket while desperately whispering.
"No no no, please not again"
The clean cleave on his stomach leaked out blood and when he moved a peak of entrails where there.
"No, this won't happen again"
Subaru looked around at the flame surrounding him and Elsa enjoying his reaction.
Subaru held up his fingers to his wound as he remembered how fire trailed off of the chain as well as the shadowy substance, Subaru tried to call on the feeling he felt when he summoned that flame.
Then he felt it, that desperate feeling, that determined emotion, rage.
A flame appeared at the peak of Subaru's finger, its flickering glow enchanting Subaru as it refused to go out.
He grinned at Elsa with his hatred towards her only intensifying.
Subaru felt the feeling spread throughout his hand and he plunged into the surface of his wound, evoking grunts of pain from himself but it was worth it.
Subaru rose from his spot on the floor and stood against Elsa, his shirt torn from her many attacks but his stomach's former wound was now a mound of burnt flesh.
Elsa glared at it with a mixture of excitement and anticipation at an opponent who had enough willpower to cauterise their own wound.
Flames gathered around Subaru with the familiar yin magic still circling his body.
He leapt forward while bringing a piece of a flaming pillar with him. Elsa still stood covered with Felt and Rom's blood with a crazed smile stretching from cheek to cheek.
She held up her blade to slice the massive piece of wood hurtling towards her. Subaru gave a glint of intelligence as he threw the wood during the last second, it still split into splinters when it met the blade but Subaru ducked and readied a flaming fist.
It plunged into the side of Elsa's torso with its flames rapidly spreading throughout her organs setting her kidney, lungs and the like aflame.
She fell to the floor and Subaru stood above her with a look of shock and then accepted that he had defeated her. He crouched down and pried open her hand to grasp the smooth gold of insignia as well as one of her blades as a trophy of war.
Subaru limped out of the burning shack with droplets of his blood littering the pathway occasionally and ignored the gazes of people who had come to see the flame and its cause.
'Now all I have to do is find Emilia and give her the insignia'
Subaru grasped the insignia and nearly cried
of joy.
His victory was cut short when Subaru froze as he felt the cold bite of metal up against his throat and a gentle voice whispered to his ear.
"A good assassin knows how to play dead"
Subaru spun around as well as the blade spinning around his throat tearing it open.
His eyes widened when he saw Elsa with no injuries from his attack and he tried to speak but all that came from gurgling from his blood choking him.
He fell to the dirt floor with his vision tunnelling, Subaru tried to move but was completely out of all energy. his vision went black as the cold hands of death grasped him once again.