Subaru's eyes broadened as he found himself…somewhere. His nasty eyes locked around the strange area he was locked in, fear gripping his heart.
His hands connected with the floor as he tried to lift himself up. Resistance as his eyes widened from the realization. "Water?" He mumbled to himself as he lifted his left hand from the strange black tar.
His orange eyes littered along the room as he picked himself up. The water was knee deep and it was hard to move around. His shirt was removed, the only thing he had for clothes was a pair of white sweatpants as he tried to move around the room.
Darkness…
The edges were closed off by them, so dark that they were like a borderline endless pitch. So deep and dark that Subaru could hardly see through the veil. Subaru could not explain it but seeing that area made him relate to the feeling he felt when he saw that figure.
Wait!
Subaru's eyes focused on something. A table…a strange table composed of weird white marble; cracks decorated the stone as Subaru's eyes locked along the table. A sword…
Subaru's eyes trained along the blade. It was not unique like Julius's sword or beautiful like the dragon sword was. The hilt of the blade held a faint steel like elegance, the blade was the length of Subaru's arm…Subaru even pricked it to feel if it was truly real.
The leather grips of the blade felt comfortable and was meant for a two-handed style. Subaru once again gazed around the room, or rather calling it a room seemed wrong. The place was massive in size to even be considered a room; the only illumination came from some strange light in the ceiling…calling it the sun would be wrong.
Subaru turned around as he continued to think about the next option. The next possible thing to do would be to…
Subaru's eyes locked onto a figure…not the same one from before. Though, a man had appeared in the center of the area. Subaru's mouth opened to speak, to greet another person that was thrown into this strange place.
Though…Subaru's eyes widened. The strange man wore standard attire that a member of the village would wear. The light green shirt stood out as the man's worker pants.
Though…Subaru could feel it with those eyes of his. That man was not human, almost zombielike in a way. The very next second, as Subaru was about to raise his hand. The man bolted, the man's sword cutting through the air as Subaru dodged the first attack.
Subaru's reflexes were heightened from the near death and true death experiences. The man tried to volley with the second attack, only for Subaru to tread through the water.
'What am I supposed to do now? I cannot find an exit here or anything like that. So…' Subaru thought.
Mid thought Subaru fell…the man's blade cleanly slicing him across the chest as horrible and disgusting pain spread throughout his body. Subaru…even after death, new pain would spread but there was a certain dullness over time.
Though, it felt he had never felt pain before in his whole life. Subaru's eyes opened wide as tears began to pour. Subaru could not stop or do anything as crimson poured from the cut as he so desperately threw his arm over the wound.
The man did not stop as he merely put himself in front of Subaru's trembling and pitiful form. He swung the blade again and again, the blade decorated in red strands as Subaru's screams resounded through the halls.
The man did not swing the blade like a swordsman would, rather like how a child would swing a bat or a mere tribal would swing a club down. Though, it worked.
The blade cutting into his skin and organs, tarnishing them as Subaru felt the pain skyrocket through him. It felt worse than when Elsa slaughtered him as the newfound pain sent vibrations through him as he struggled to move an inch.
He could not compare it; he knew that such pain should not of have come from a sword when he had felt what it was like to be killed by one. No…this was different almost like his pain was amplified.
It kept on going…to time that even he could not understand. Until…the blade was lifted as the final volley came down on him, splitting his skull open as Natsuki Subaru fell from the sword.
He awoke…
Subaru's breath was uneven as he woke up in the same place. His eyes locking onto the middle of the room as he saw the figure from before. The blade cleaned and he was staring at Subaru again. Subaru opened his mouth to scream…though, the pain was still running its course as he fell onto his knees.
He could not move…his body refusing to cooperate as Natsuki Subaru's body still shook from fear. He tried to shoot himself through towards the darkness, hoping to run away and hide as he felt the presence like a shadow consume him.
The blade piercing him through his back…tears following free as the pain shot from the middle of Subaru's spinal cord as it was sent through his nervous system. His mouth filling with the water as Subaru struggled to try and wedge the blade free from his back.
The man did not stop…his hand planting Subaru's face into the water. Subaru's gnashed and frantic mouth opened as he struggled to breath. The man launched his left fist into Subaru's cheek, teeth, and blood sputtering as Subaru's consciousness began to fade.
He awoke…
Subaru's body thrashed in the water. Subaru never died from that…drowning. It felt like he still had water filling up his lungs, his body lunging around like a sick fish as he tried to funnel air into his lungs. His heart beating a million miles per hour as he once again bolted towards the darkness. Though, once again the man was faster.
Slashing…cleaving…cutting…slicing…impaling…
The man's blade ended Subaru's life. His sword a present and forever a reminder of his failings as it tore open the skin and destroyed the insides of Subaru's body.
One…two…three…
Subaru's loops. Every time the young Natsuki would take an inch towards the darkness the man was ready. The pain soaring through Subaru as tears and bile would follow.
Ten…twenty…thirty…
Subaru tried to time it…the young man throwing himself into the water, dodging and weaving as he tried to hope to reach the darkness through mere evasion and tenacity. Though the shadows would not reach him, rather pulling farther away from him as he would get closer.
One hundred…two hundred…three hundred…
Subaru's skin was decorated in cuts, the pain not losing its feeling as the boy's tears would follow. Clouding his eyes as he so desperately tried to fight…but what was he fighting for?
Unknown amount of time…
Subaru's knees collapsed into the water. His eyes open and red as he felt the way his knees buckled into the strange stone floor, the water casting off a strange image of a face that didn't feel like his own.
'How long have I been here for? So long…I don't know…how many loops?'
Subaru tried to open his mouth to speak…only for a garbled form of sound to be exposed. His way of speaking nearly mute as he clamped his mouth shut. His eyes focused on the shadows; his eyes shone with their orange allure.
Though…there was something missing. Resolve…or maybe even a piece of something was stripped of Subaru, maybe there was a part of him that was removed or even more broken than before.
'I can do it…I was closer last time; I can't give up. Not now…not when I am so close to home!'
"You are the one that saved me…so I will allow you to be saved, too."
Subaru…her words. For a second Subaru felt it, like a light sharpening from within like he could once again fight and as Subaru was about to once again bolt into the darkness. Though…right before he could take that second step.
"Funny…kind of ironic in its own way."
The voice echoed throughout the confines of the room. Subaru's head frantically shaking to catch the area of the voice, rather in the end being confused by how such a sound could not hold any location.
"Doing the same thing. Over…over…over…over…over and over again. Even as the pain tore into you, even as you began to lose the bits of yourself repeatedly to that dummy over there. You kept on doing it again and again."
Subaru's ears located the voice. The person from before…the strange woman that took his hand. He's been here for so long to the point he did not know if he had been in this strange place for thirty minutes to even one hundred minutes.
"Where am I!" Subaru screamed out into the darkness. The dummy not responding as Subaru tried to find any sense of a clue.
"I used my authority to make you this place. A place where time stands still, your own little pocket dimension Archbishop Natsuki."
"Archbishop…" Subaru repeated. The young boy didn't know how to understand it, the weight of such a name. He hated them…the witch cult and wanted them all gone. Though, Subaru…he knew that to get home he would have to play this woman's games.
"Though I was surprised." The woman kept her strange voice, the monotone a mixture of melancholy and strange excitement littered her voice. "…Of all the people you would think of…it was the Witch of Envy who gave you the courage to keep going. I expected the other girl…though after her words and her punches I doubt you would think of her like that."
The ache of pain shot from Subaru's stomach. Tears welling in his eyes as he remembered what his Emilia did to him, the things she said. He blinked them away as he began wiping them. 'It doesn't matter anymore, all that matters is going back home to mom and dad.'
"Though…we will get back to that. I wish to ask why you are not fighting back."
"I don't…I don't have my whip. It's gone…" Subaru spoke, looking down at his pants. He missed it; he was in such a rush that he left it on his table. Knowing the camp, Subaru thought that they would throw away all his stuff. They hated him now…even more than he hated himself.
"A whip is not a weapon, Archbishop. It is a tool to be used. Every time you took your eyes off that blade and ran in the opposite direction from it. Have you realized what happened?"
Subaru's eyes opened wide in realization. The countless loops as he felt the pain through him, the constant suffering was due to his incompetence. "I made it kill you after all these times. I made it painful so you would learn from it."
Subaru's body hitched as he felt his chest tighten his air beginning to slowly being restricted as he gazed into the ceiling "You…you bitch!" Subaru cursed her. This woman was meant to help him but instead was now actively working against him. "I can't use a sword!"
"I wish to ask you another question…why do you care for the Witch of Envy?"
The figure from before, the woman. Subaru realized how quickly she changed the topic as he shook his head. 'I'll deal with that later.' He thought as he began to open his mouth to speak.
"Satella…I…"
"The Witch of Envy. That is her name, the woman that destroyed the world. "
Subaru shook his head. He knew of Satella's kindness, without her he would not have been able to last a day in this new world. "She saved me…she loves me." He confessed. Satella, after losing his camp she was the only one now in this world that truly cared for him.
"Really, she abducted a kid not even of eighteen and dropped him in a world foreign to him. She left him no money, no time to go home and see his family. I wonder…Naoko and Kenichi how are they fairing knowing their son is gone and most likely dead?" She spat out, her words fierce like venom though masked under a tone of contestation.
Subaru growled as he laid his finger towards the ceiling. "Shut up…don't you talk about my family!"
"To think you would of have fallen and believed the words of your kidnapper."
"It didn't feel like that!" Subaru defended. His hand going to his chest.
"When she asked you to kill her do you know what that means, Subaru?"
Subaru heard the way she spoke. Subaru, she called him by his name and in a quiet different tone this time. Subaru did not like that; he could tell that there was something off with her and maybe she was trying to get under his good graces.
"What…to kill her. But I decided long ago, to save her and to find a way!" Subaru once again defended his beliefs. Though, as the figure heard the way the boy spoke, a faint grin appeared across her face.
"Did you know that to kill her you need her physical form. It's locked in a seal that can only be opened by one who takes all their sins…and guess who is the most compatible?"
The words halted Subaru's breathing. His eyes frozen and staring into the murky water below him.
"Did you ever think that she knew this whole time that you were compatible with them…that she has been leading you down this journey so that she could manipulate you and lead you until you can finally free her."
Subaru felt sick contorting bile welling in the pits of his stomach. His body collapsing as he had to use his hands to not fall face first into the water. "Then when you open those doors…she will reveal herself, for what she truly is. And finish what she started all those years ago…and put an end to this world."
Tears began to well up in Subaru's eyes. Of all the people he knew, he thought that Satella…he knew…he thought he knew who she was. He thought that if there was anyone in this world that would have had his back, had his best intentions it would of have been her. "But this feeling…this love…why do I feel this?"
His words came out in a sob as more tears spilled down his cheeks. Merely a day ago he had gone through betrayal, and now once again he just realized that there was no one for him!
"Love…don't make me laugh. The Authority of Envy is an unstoppable force, she could have had programmed those feelings into you when she gave you the ability to return by death. Also, didn't you believe that you and Emilia's love was true?" She goaded.
Subaru's heart stopped, the mention of Emilia and her betrayal fresh in his mind. "How could I ever love you!" Her voice broke through his ears.
Subaru's breathing was uneven…tears spilling as another emotion began to take hold, the emotion that the figure wanted to exploit the most…his inner wraith. Also, the second objective…removing all those people that Natsuki Subaru loved and treasure.
Subaru's heart bumped along his chest as he pressed his palm against it, his teeth gnashing together as split flew free from his mouth.
"A…trick? Another fucking trick…another fucking lie…another person in this sick fucking world that told me that they loved me, but they were using me this whole fucking time. Another fucking liar!"
'Fuck Emilia…Fuck Satella…Otto, Garfiel, Frederica, Petra, Melli, Rem, Ram, Roswell, Beatrice and Puck. There dead to me, they have been dead to me. There all useless, none of them could of have lasted a day without me. I don't need them…I will go home, no matter what!'
"I'm tired of these witches trying to control me, I am sick and tired of this sick and cruel world I was forced to fight for!" Subaru screamed, his roar echoing through the room as his fist pounded into the stone.
"Then I ask you again, join me. I will offer you a way out of this sick and cruel world. Though, I need your loyalty."
Subaru did not wait. His body following his commands as he planted his knee down in a steady bow as he hung his head low. "I will follow you, to hell and back. I will do whatever you ask, and your enemies shall be mine."
"Then pick up the blade." She firmly commanded.
Subaru walked over to the table, robotically as his feet clamped along the stone floor. He lifted the sword with both of his hands as he approached the man.
Subaru's nose breathed out smoke like a bull. He knew it was useless…he knew how pathetic he was and how weak he was, though the anger clouding from deep inside, the flames that burnt far to bright for a boy that wished to return home.
The corruption from the witch spreading through him…
That was Subaru now…not the archbishop of Envy, not Satella's champion or the Half Elf's Knight. He was Natsuki Subaru, the boy who sole desire was to return home.
He lifted the blade as he pulled it to his side. The man slowly forming into a defensive position or rather the fake man that the woman created for him prior. All the pain filtered through Subaru's body…his spine tingling as the waves of heat shot off like pillars along the edges of his fingertips.
His muscles tensed as veins bulged along his calf as he planted his left foot down. The muscles in his shoulder and arms constricted as he swung, the blade cleaving through the air. All that time…training his body all for it to be proven useless, getting beat by those that looked twigs.
Though for a second…Subaru could feel it. The mana inside of him working as his body was strengthened, the feeling of it working as a temporary high.
Subaru…his sword…his sword was cleaving through the man. The snap of the man's sword breaking in half as the man's upper half was completely separated from his body. The blade stopping with a mighty shockwave as it impacted the water.
Subaru took a deep breath…fatigue rolling off him as the sword was planted to keep him steady. His eyes going to his right palm as he stared into it. "What was that?"
"Mana…or rather the innate mana that everyone in this world has stored. That is how they use their feats."
"I can do that…but my gate is…" Subaru spoke out loud. In shock of the strength he displayed, to cleave a man in half or rather a dummy created from the woman.
"Yes, Subaru. With training you can learn to calculate the mana within yourself, though your gate is a separate story. I have been slowly repairing it for you…soon your gate will be fully repaired."
Subaru felt his body nearly shut down from the very words. He would be able to use magic again soon, he would not feel the taxation from having a damaged gate or dealing with the effects of mana sickness. "Thank you."
"Though, don't feel so happy just yet. This is the only free things I am going to give you. Training with this and the gate repair using my authority. Your trials are ahead…and killing one measly creation which bears the traits of the average Luginica farmer will be the easiest of your trials."
"You were a wasted pawn for the girl, Natsuki Subaru. I will make you so much more, even with your wide-eyed innocence, even your naïve love for those murderers."
A silence rolled off her tongue as Subaru stared into the strange light. Subaru had a question to ask and he needed to know. "What is your name?" Subaru spoke as he still held onto the sword, the young archbishop staring into the artificial light.
"Pandora."