Julius Juukulius, knight of Anastasia Hoshin, soon-to-be Queen of Lugnica, examined the man standing next to Emilia, rival of his lady, with a critical eye. He was a couple inches taller than Julius, just over 6', and had a faded goatee on his chin. He had prominent facial bones, narrow, steely blue-gray eyes, with thin eyebrows above them, and, most noticeable of his features, jet black hair. It was wavy, going beyond messy and into downright unkempt, went all the way to the base of his neck, parted in the middle, and had a single strand hanging down the right side of his forehead. His mouth was fixed into a slight frown, though given his otherwise neutral features, Julius gave him the benefit of the doubt in assuming this was simply his default expression.

His attire was also of interest. It was a stark white, with a black outline going down the middle of his chest, diverting to the right two-thirds of the way down to his waist, along with a noticeable collar. Around it was a black sash, which had another cloth tied to it hanging from his left. He had his right hand tucked into it. Below there, it ended halfway down his legs at the right side, revealing another layer beneath the main one. His feet were covered by black shoes, with white lines around the bottom, which arched to meet halfway up his feet. Fashionably asymmetrical, is how some of his fellow nobles would describe it. Overall, Julius felt it to be somewhat reminiscent of a Royal Army uniform.

"Julius Juukulius," he introduced himself. "Miss Emilia, a pleasure to meet you," Julius then gestured to the man next to her. "And you are?"

"Coyote Starrk. Most people just call me Starrk," the man, who Julius now knew as Coyote-err, Starrk-responded. He could half-swear he saw fangs. A demi-human perhaps? He certainly had a fitting name. Julius extended his hand in greetings, which was reciprocated in kind, revealing his hand to have a white glove on it, a solid 'U' on the underside. Julius grasped it, shaking firmly. Of high quality, too. His demeanor didn't scream 'noble.' A merchant then? It was the only other profession Julius could think of that gave the income required for Starrk's attire.

"As you wish. Are you Miss Emilia's knight, Starrk-san?" Julius inquired.

"No. I'm just a butler at the Roswaal Mansion. Truthfully, I only came here with Emilia because my sister insisted," he answered. A butler? Julius couldn't help but question the ability of a butler to afford such garments, unless Mathers was incredibly generous with his wages.

"Your sister? Where would she happen to be then, I may inquire, if it was her that insisted on coming here?"

Emilia had a hesitant tone to her voice. "She's back at the hotel we're staying at. Lilynette is… um… she's a-"

"Brat. Lilynette is a total brat," Starrk interrupted. Ah. They didn't want 'Lilynette' to cause a scene. Understandable. This was a very important event, after all. Though it was somewhat rude of Starrk to just interrupt her like that, Julius felt it wasn't his place to interfere.

Julius winced as he heard the councilman insult Emilia. Even though she was a rival of his lady, the half-elf didn't deserve what was being said of her. "A witch is the last person this council would let become Queen! You are filth , unworthy of being in this ha-"

"Can you shut your fucking mouth!? "

It was like a pin dropped, as silence fell over the room from the interruption, and Julius stiffened in shock. Just interrupting a councilman would be a severe faux-pas, let alone to tell them to shut up. All eyes turned to the culprit, a young looking girl, which only made the vulgar words even more shocking. She had light green hair arranged in a basic manner, and light pink eyes. Julius noticed she was standing next to Starrk, who was dragging his left hand across his face.

Bordeaux was stunned to silence for a few seconds, before, in a whisper, he iterated " What did you just say?"

The girl seemed unfettered by the question.

"I said to shut your fucking trap , jackass! You know nothing about Emilia! She is one of the kindest people me and Starrk have ever met, and her looking like some bitch who tried to destroy the world a few centuries ago is no reason to say the shit that comes out of your mouth!" Julius realized this must be Lilynette. The loudness, the attitude, standing next to Starrk. Although he was expecting more of a resemblance to her brother. Emila had paled at what Lilynette was saying, and had walked towards her.

"Lilynette, what are you doi- "

"I'm preserving your Reio-damn dignity, because you're too fucking nice to tell the shitheads walking all over you to suck a cock!" Lilynette interrupted, and Julius couldn't help but find himself agreeing to a certain extent. But did she have to say it with such profanity? He was almost certain he had never heard that number of swears and curses said in such a short amount of time before in his entire life. And who exactly was Reio?

"I can't do th-"

"Emilia, Lilynette has a point," Starrk interrupted-Julius was beginning to wonder if it was a family trait-as his hand left his face. "You can't just let people walk all over you. And this is beyond just that. I'd say you have every right to be mad at the geezer over there." The situation was beginning to escalate, Julius could feel it. A girl saying such things was one faux-pas, saying them in the name of one who resembled the Jealous Witch was another thing, a full grown adult backing her up made it even worse.

"And who, are you, to defend the witch?"

"Coyote Starrk. And, let me tell you, I haven't seen a bunch of assholes with egos this big since Baraggan and Grimmjow, and at least they could back up their shit-talk," Starrk told them, and Julius actually felt a tinge of disappointment. From their, admittedly short, conversation earlier, he thought Starrk would have liked to defuse the tension. He made a note to perhaps ask him of these 'Baraggan' and 'Grimmjow.' Those were rather unusual names.

"Well then, Coyote, with a name like that you're probably a filthy half-blood yourself, do you fancy yourself this… creatures knight?" Bordeaux demanded. Julius had to resist the urge to facepalm himself. His eyes then widened as he saw Starrk's narrow, and his frown became one of anger.

"Yes. I suppose I would, though she shouldn't need one to defend herself from scum like you," Starrk spat out, voice losing it's monotone for the first time since Julius met him. Julius felt a sense of fear rise up as he fought the urge to yell out 'What the Hell are you doing!?' to the butler. He meant no disrespect to Starrk, but he did not give off the feel of a man who would even fight, much less be a knight. He could understand the desire to defend your friend, but it wasn't worth practically inviting the entire Army to kill you for disrespect.

Julius couldn't let that happen. He refused to let an innocent man die for the crime of defending his friend. But what could he do?

Then, an idea came to the Finest of Knights. Starrk would probably hate him for it, but he couldn't just let one of his comrades murder the man.

"Coyote Starrk!" Julius called out, walking towards the brunette, and Starrk turned to face him, recognition visible.

"Oh, hey there Juukulius-san. What do you need?" the butler responded, anger gone from his tone.

"For disrespecting the Knights of Lugnica by arrogantly declaring yourself one, I challenge you to a duel," Julius said. He had no other option, this was the only thing he could do. He mentally apologized to Starrk for the pain he was preparing to induce upon him.

Starrk's eyes narrowed once again. "Okay. When do you want to do it?" Julius actually had to withhold a bit of shock from his face, stunned by how easily the man accepted it. He expected the butler to have at least some hesitance in actually accepting a duel.

"In two hours. We will meet at the training grounds. There will be an audience," Julius dictated the terms.

"Alright then," Starrk responded, as Lilynette smiled besides him.

"Hell yeah! Kick his girly-looking ass Starrk!" she cheered on her brother. Julius was beginning to seriously question the 'brother and sister' relationship assigned to them. If anyone, he'd expect the man's sister to refer to him by given name.

Julius observed Starrk as he prepared for the duel. While he had switched into the black suit given for duels, Starrk had apparently kept on his jacket. Julius quietly swore he'd try to do as little damage to it as he could. Beating him was enough, making him spend the no-doubt large amount of money to have such expensive clothing repaired would just be adding financial to his injuries.

Starrk kept the wooden sword he'd been given for the duel at his side, which somewhat confused Julius. He'd expect the man to at least try to look as if he knew what he's doing.

As the duel began, Julius rushed forward, wanting to finish this as quickly as possible. He swung his wooden sword towards Starrk's neck, trying to bring him down to the ground.

Only for Starrk to, quicker than even Julius could perceive, suddenly disappear, and, with a slight boom noise, reappear behind him, and sweep his legs out from underneath him. Next thing the Finest of Knights knew, he was on the ground, and Starrk was pointing his sword at him, a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Do you yield?" the-apparently extremely fast-butler inquired of Julius. The knight of Anastasia Hoshin quickly thought through what he had learned.

Starrk was fast enough to get behind him before Julius could even realize he had moved. From right in front of him. Starrk had the physical strength and control to sweep his legs out from underneath him without tripping over himself

Julius realized he had severely underestimated the man. And, if Starrk was quick enough on his feet to trip him, then he honestly had nothing to fear from Julius' comrades.

"I concede," Julius responded.

Starrk's grin became a normal smile at those words, and he extended his hand towards Julius. The knight grasped it, and let himself be pulled up by the butler. He looked towards the audience, and gauged their reactions. His fellow knights were, rather expectedly, staring in shock at one of their finest being taken down so easily.

Lilynette, meanwhile, had fallen off her seat in laughter, clutching her stomach as she guffawed. Emilia looked somewhat embarrassed, covering her face with her hands.

Then the whispers began.

"H-how did he?"

"So fast…"

"Julius-sama, h-he must have been holding back. How else could he be so easily brought down?"

"I wonder where I can get what he's wearing."

As Starrk walked away, tossing his blade to the side, Julius decided there was far more to the butler than there appeared.

Felix Argyle-more commonly known as Ferris-watched the Emilia Camp with suspicion.

Somehow, both them and the Anastasia Camp had convinced Crusch-sama to let them accompany her on the hunt for the White Whale. While he knew Julius was trust-worthy, Ferris couldn't help but feel a sense of suspicion regarding one of the Emilia Camp's representatives.

Coyote Starrk.

Ferris wasn't sure why , but… there was just something about him that put his hairs on end, and he trusted his instincts.

He'd heard about the man beating Julius-kun in a duel. Who hadn't? For the Finest of Knights to be bested so effortlessly, word traveled around quickly. And excuse him for being suspicious of someone able to casually best Julius-kun having apparently never been heard of before.

Which is why, even as the gathered soldiers wondered how to bring down the Great Demonbeast, Ferris was paying attention to Starrk and his 'sister', Lilynette, who were whispering to each other.

"Starrk, what do you think we should do?"

That right there only contributed to Ferris' suspicions. Who the fuck calls their brother by their surname!?

"Relax, Lilynette. I have just the solution."

"Are we going to use it?"

It? What did they mean by 'it'? And why would there appear to be hesitance in using 'it?'

"No. I'm gonna use something else."

He then saw Starrk begin to walk forward.

"Clear a path! I know how to bring that thing down," the representative confidently proclaimed. The soldiers briefly looked towards Crusch-sama for approval, who momentarily appeared thoughtful before giving a nod of confirmation.

Starrk looked towards the White Whale for a couple of seconds, as if gauging the distance, before he pulled his sword-a katana?-from its sheath by his side, but not before pulling the glove off of his right hand. He then brought the katana to his left hand, switching grips.

Then, to the shock of all present but one, he laid the index finger of his right hand upon the blade's edge, and slid it down.

Slice.

A small stream of crimson flew into the air as he swung his hand toward the White Whale's direction in a claw-like shape, left arm holding it for stability. Before Ferris, deeply offended by such casual self-harm, could scream out as to what he was doing, he received his answer.

Purple mana was gathering in Starrk's claw, a ball appearing in his palm, slowly expanding as lightning appeared to begin flying out of it. As the ball grew larger than his hand, Starrk said three words:

"Gran Rey Cero."

BOOM!

The attack, a 'Gran Rey Cero,' as Starrk called it, suddenly erupted from his palm, flying towards the White Whale as it spun like a razor, spontaneously increasing and decreasing in size along the way.

When the ball impacted the Great Demonbeast, a large explosion rang out, nearly deafening Ferris' sensitive ears. It was followed by the Whale giving a scream of pain as the wheel-like appendage upon its back was destroyed, and began to fall to the ground.

Ferris was struck by a realization as the ringing in his ears stopped. If that was 'something else,' then what the Hell would 'it' have done!? Obliterate the White Whale on the spot!?

The army gathered was in shock-from the display of power, the action required for it, the relative ease with which it was done, all three, who knew?-only for Crusch-sama to disrupt the silence.

"Well!? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? KILL IT!"

Brought out of its momentary shock, the troops rushed towards the downed Whale, with Wilhelm van Astrea, to none of Ferris' or Crusch's surprise, leading the charge with gusto.

Before Ferris joined them, he saw one last thing.

Without any visible mana expended, the cut on Starrk's finger closed over, healed as if nothing had ever happened.

Notes:

Now, a couple of things.

1. I adamantly believe that if placed in Re:Zero, Starrk would be one of the strongest characters. At the very least, I'm convinced Julius would stand no chance against him, and a serious Starrk would be capable of bringing down the White Whale with relative ease. The main reason he didn't use Resurreccion to just obliterate it with a Cero Oscuras or Metralleta is the large audience, so I settled for having him use Gran Rey.

2. Regarding Julius' underestimation of Starrk, bear in mind, Starrk does *not* give off anywhere near a threatening air. I'd say he rivals Urahara in appearing nice and harmless.

3. The reasons I have for Ferris being so suspicious of Starrk is demi-humans being more "sensitive" in regards to sensing Starrk's Arrancar Reiatsu. As well as Starrk having likely been a wolf Adjuchas, and Ferris' being a cat demi-human.