Mansion
Subaru's eyelids fluttered. Everything was so bright; he couldn't make anything out through the glare. He dragged his arm up to shield his eyes and eventually things stopped spinning. Staring up at the ceiling, he was confused. 'What happened… that woman? She attacked us and gutted me… but how am I alive? Did I manage to use Variation and Change right before passing out? And am I in Reinhard's mansion? He seemed like a strong knight, and that assassin called him the Sword Saint, so he must be pretty rich.'
Subaru crawled out of the bed and made his way to the door, entering the corridor beyond. He took note of a very detailed painting of a forest clearing hanging above a vase and started down the hall. After walking for a solid ten minutes, he realised that the same picture kept cropping up at regular intervals.
"A looping hallway? One where I can't leave until I find the right room… the typical pattern says the first door is likely to be it!" Trying the nearest doorknob, it swung open to reveal a huge library. Subaru walked to the centre of the room and admired the sheer amount of books.
"Who do you think you are, barging into Betty's library like that, I suppose? What a profoundly aggravating man you, in fact."
Subaru glanced over his shoulder in surprise and saw a small girl with two blond drills sitting on a chair. She wore an elegant red and white dress, and had pink butterfly ribbons decorating her attire to match the irises of her sky blue eyes. She was clasping a book tightly in her hands and was visibly annoyed. 'The first new NPC?'
"Chill out, I'm just looking around. Besides, with that cold attitude you're gonna ruin your cute face. Come on, smile!"
"A derisive sneer is the only smile worth giving to you." Following up, she genuinely sneered at him.
"Are you mad because I guessed right on the first try? I've always been a pretty lucky guesser… I can understand why game masters would want me in all the events, but sorry! What is this place, anyway?"
She glared at him, but smugly replied, "Hmph, it's Betty's multi-purpose room, both library and bedroom, I suppose."
"Talk about a token response. Anyways, have you seen Reinhard recently? I need to ask him some stuff."
Jumping off the stool, she strode over to him. "Betty's just about had enough. Betty doesn't know who this Reinhard you speak of is, but it's time to teach you a lesson. Don't you dare move." She held out her hand parallel to Subaru's chest, and he visibly paled.
"W-what are you gonna do to me? Don't h-hurt me!" Pushing forwards, the loli tapped him on the stomach and nothing happened. 'What the heck, did whatever she was gonna do fail-' He started convulsing and dropped to the floor.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Subaru felt like his entire body was on fire. But it stopped after only a second or so. Halfheartedly, he looked up at the girl, only to see her backing away slowly with a shaken expression.
"W-who are you, in fact? Your mana is tainted! You have dark power in you, and traces of it… feel like Mother's, I suppose!" She opened the door and blew him through it with a flick of her wrist. "Betty needs time to think, in fact!"
Subaru laid in the hallway, back against the wall. 'What was that about? Pretty rude to do that and then just shoot me out of there without an explanation. What did she say… some of my mana feels like her mother's? Strange.' He got up and wobbled down the corridor. Eventually, Subaru found his way back to the room he woke up in and collapsed onto the bed.
Four hours later…
"Oh, our guest has awakened, sister."
"Indeed, he's awakened, Rem."
Subaru stretched out in the bed. 'Damn this is soft, I was way too tired to appreciate it before. Shame I have to get up.'
"Sister, our guest is a deadbeat. He truly has no aspirations."
"Rem, our guest is a loser. He truly has no motivation."
He groaned and sprang upright. "Enough! I'm up, I'm up! Who are you two- wait, maids? Maids exist here? This world seriously can't get any better!" Subaru saw two almost identical girls in maid costumes, save for their differing eye and hair colours.
They hugged each other tightly and looked a bit perturbed. "How terrible. You are being violated in our guest's mind, sister." Rem, the maid with blue hair, spoke like it was the most boring thing in the world.
"It is terrible. You're experiencing the ultimate shame in our guest's mind, Rem." The pink one stated, fully devoid of emotion.
Jumping out of bed, Subaru pointed a finger at both of them. "HEY! You're both fair prey in my fantasies!"
Just then, a knock at the door sounded. Standing in the open doorway was Emilia, looking slightly peeved. "Can't you wake up a bit more peacefully, Subaru? And Ram, Rem, stop teasing him now." The twin maids nodded and separated.
He clutched his heart in mock pain and walked over. "Hey Emilia! So this is your mansion, huh? I thought it was Reinhard's at first. Anyway, I'm glad to see you're alright. But can you tell me how I survived, I thought I passed out before I could use my Authority of Lust to heal?" He completely missed the shocked glances and glares from Ram and Rem when he mentioned his power.
Emilia smiled and beckoned him towards her. "We need to go to breakfast, Subaru, but it was me and Puck who stopped your bleeding. We can use healing spells too."
"Damn, thanks a ton for saving me!"
The four of them trudged through the halls, but the twins kept their distance. Rem glared daggers into Subaru's head the whole time. 'I was right. Our guest, one of Lady Emilia no less, really is a Witch Cultist. The Sin Archbishop of Lust; just what I'd expect from a disgusting pig like him.'
Ram, picking up on her sister's internal distress, patted her arm and whispered, "I'm sure the Great Spirit wouldn't have allowed a cultist to be in such close proximity with his daughter. There's nothing to worry about for now, let's just keep an eye on him." She still looked wary, but Rem dropped the scowl for now.
After breakfast, Subaru spent a few hours wandering the mansion with Emilia, exploring. She'd explained that he drove off Elsa, and even turned her into a puppy, but one of her knives had sliced his gut open. Reinhard had rushed off somewhere with Felt, so Emilia had taken him back to this manor to recover. She went over some more details of the Royal Selection and even her contract with Puck, including (much to Subaru's delight) telling him all about the spells she could use.
They ended up at the garden together and he started doing radio callisthenics.
"Subaru, I've never seen anyone do movements like those. What are you doing?"
"Oh! This, Emilia, is my homeland's ancient practice of warm-up exercises. Speaking of practice, I should probably test out my Authorities, right?" He walked up to a nearby tree and scooped up some dirt. Clenching his fist and drawing back his arm, he bowled it at the trunk and it shot straight through, leaving small holes in the bark. Subaru then realised he did indeed need to remove Stillness of an Object's Time from something after it'd served its purpose, because the soil had just carried straight on - carving its way through an ornate pillar and over the horizon.
"Oh, crap. I hope that wasn't too precious to that Roswaal guy. At least I know I gotta turn it off now!" He struck a confident pose for a second which quickly deflated. "Who am I kidding… I've not even met the man and I'm already shooting up his property."
Little did he know, the small girl from before was watching him from a window, and she was still puzzling over him. 'Could that be… an Authority of Greed, I suppose? Mother was the Witch of Greed, after all, so holding the Authority of it would tick the boxes of both mana similarity to Mother and having dark power.'
"Subaru, you dunderhead! How are you so powerful, all you did was throw some mud!" Emilia went over to inspect the tree, peering through the gaps and sighing. "You need to get a handle on that if you don't want to destroy everything you see."
"I know, I know, but Emilia, no one says 'dunderhead' anymore."
All of a sudden, Puck burst out of Emilia's hair and zipped over to Subaru. "Hey, Subaru! From what I heard, I almost lost Lia yesterday. I can't thank you enough for saving her! I must make it up to you somehow."
"Okay, then… how about you train me whenever you've got some spare time?" He brought up his hands in a begging gesture and gave Puck his best pleading eyes.
Puck cupped his chin in an overdramatic way. "You drive a hard bargain, Subaru, but I'll agree to it. I'll still spend most of my free time with Lia, but occasionally we'll do some practice." He held out a paw to shake with Subaru, who took it like a giddy kid on Christmas morning.
"Yes! Thank you, sensei!"
"Don't get too ahead of yourself, now."
A set of footsteps approached, interrupting their banter. They turned around and saw Ram and Rem standing before them, both bowing slightly as they spoke.
"Our lord, Roswaal-sama, has returned. Please come inside." Subaru thought it was uncanny how they managed to speak in perfect synchronisation, but nevertheless followed the group towards the dining room.
Through huge double doors, Subaru was greeted by a drill loli huffing at him. "I was watching you from the window, and it appears you really are quite dumb, in fact."
Subaru raised his fist and shouted, "Where do you get off saying that, you damned stalker loli?!"
"What does that word mean? I've never heard it before, and it irritates me, I suppose." She puffed out her cheeks and gritted her teeth, but when Emilia and Puck followed him through the doors she dashed over to them with a look of complete adoration on her face.
"Bubbyyyyyyy! I've been waiting for you to come home! Will you stay with me today, do you suppose?"
Puck floated down in front of her face. "Sure, no problem, Betty. Let's finally relax together today." She snatched him out of the air and ran off, squealing.
Subaru looked at Emilia. "Uh… who is that girl, exactly? Betty? She did something to me this morning as well that felt like getting set on fire."
"That's Beatrice, the Great Spirit of the Forbidden Library. She isn't very friendly, at least in my experience, but she's really taken with Puck. She probably drained your mana earlier, though you'd have to ask her to find out why."
She fell silent when a tall man wearing extensive makeup and a jester's outfit walked in. He towered an easy half a foot over Subaru and looked eerily pleased to see him. Subaru, on the other hand, frowned a bit and edged away.
"You seriously hired a clown to entertain you before meals? Kinda creepy, to be honest." He saw Emilia sigh and glance away, and the clown's smirk widen. "What? Oh, I've missed something, haven't I." The man stepped over to Subaru and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Only that I am the lord~ of this mansion, Roswaal L Mathers~, Natsuki Subaru-kun." Towards the end of his sentence, Roswaal dropped his creepy speech pattern and smile and stared him dead in the eyes.
They had a delicious mixture of meat, soup and tea and Subaru thought everything was so much better than back home. Sometime during dinner, Roswaal spoke up. "So~, Subaru-kun, since you so generously~ put your life on the line to save Lady Emilia, we are indebted to you~. If there is anything you desire~, just name it and it will be yours."
Subaru looked thoughtful for a second, and then pumped his fist. "Anything, huh… so could I be Emilia's guard? If you want, I can beat up some people to prove myself."
At this point, Roswaal's grin threatened to burst off his face. Yet he acted like the request was the most important decision he'd ever made and he was seriously considering denying it.
"That is indeed a large demand~… but I suppose I did say anything, after all. In that case, you'll duel both Ram and Rem. If you lose~ or sustain multiple major injuries against either, you fail. Overwhelming victory is your goal~, Subaru-kun. We shall commence the trial~ after supper and a short break. You may have a sword to fight with, but it won't be your permanent weapon should you~ succeed."
They finished up the meal, Rem (attempting to) sneak scowls at Subaru the whole time. Roswaal had given him a fairly basic sword, which wasn't pretty but would cut what he needed it to. Ram tapped him on the shoulder as they headed off in separate directions.
"We won't go down without a fight, Barusu. Especially Rem. Stay on guard against her, even if it seems you've won."
"Thanks for the advice- wait, hold up. You just turned my name into a blinding curse!" She smirked and walked off. "That damn maid!"
Rem and Ram were talking in the garden, preparing for the ensuing battle against an Authority user.
Rem, voice thick with disinterest, asked, "Sister, will you beat him? Or should I weaken him somewhat for you first?"
Ram shook her head with a slight frown. "Rem, we shouldn't be so confident. He's a Sin Archbishop of the Witch Cult - aren't they said to have terrible powers? He's already confirmed he has the Authority of Lust and we don't know the workings of the cult; each Archbishop could have multiple of those Authorities for all we know."
"But sister, he mentioned something about healing. Therefore he wouldn't be very strong in combat, no? And even if he does have more than one, which is unlikely considering the Cult would be a lot bolder if the Archbishops did, we could take him anyway. I'll fight him first then, to test him, and if he gets past me then you'll know where his weak spots are. Alright, sister?" Rem held out her hand.
Sighing, she took it and nodded. "Fine. But exercise caution, Rem."
Over in the main hall, Subaru was wondering what the maids would come at him with. 'They must be competent enough in combat, otherwise Roswaal wouldn't make me fight them. If I act weaker than I am and get a scope of their power, I can beat them easily… as if. I already know I'm gonna ignore that and go be a badass with my powers.'
He clapped his hands and set off for the courtyard. Everyone was ready and waiting, and at the centre of everything was Rem in a battle stance. He walked over and stood in front of her, leisurely stretching his arms and stifling a yawn.
"Well, I guess you drew the short straw, Rem. Bad luck. Still, if you give up now then I guess I can accept that."
Rem didn't even respond, just snorted and rolled her eyes.
"So be it."
They stared each other down. Rem was slowly circling him, but Subaru remained stock still in place, only rotating to watch her with a small smirk on his face. Suddenly, Rem leapt at him, her morningstar whipping towards his head.
*thud*
It rebounded off the side of Subaru's skull, knocking his head back slightly, and a crack spiderwebbed down the centre of the spiked ball. While he merely grinned, Rem and everyone watching were staring on in shock. 'A direct hit… not even the strongest cultist should be able to survive that completely unscathed! And now I've gone and given away my intentions to kill him…'
"Hey, Rem, that was a bit violent for a test match, eh? But I'll ignore your… overzealousness if you'll admit defeat."
To that, she screamed in fury and summoned almost fifty ice spears around her. 'Who does this cultist think he is! I'll show him!'
"EL HUMA! DIE, CULTIST!" They whizzed off at Subaru, and not a single one missed their target - but neither did a single one have any effect. Subaru just stood there, looking like he was having a very hard time restraining himself from laughing. A glimmering pink horn emerged from her forehead as she glowered at him.
"Rem, come on - you seriously can't win. Just accept it." This pattern went on for about ten minutes, from morningstar to El Huma to even an Ul Huma here and there, but Rem failed to notice through her rage that after a few exceptionally long combos Subaru actually dodged some attacks. Eventually, she managed to score a deep gash on his leg with her weapon.
Then he gave up on the polite approach.
Subaru's eyes narrowed, and Rem's body was stretched out and lifted into the air by something she couldn't fight back against. She floated forwards to come to hover right in front of his face.
"I've been nothing but friendly to the people here, yet you still give me wary glances and glares when you think my back's turned. I don't know what I've done to make you distrust and hate me as much as you do, but it's seriously upsetting. Now, just know that I am sorry for what I'm about to do. I don't want to have to do this but I gotta test out its capabilities somehow, and you need to realise I am leagues above you in power." He grimaced, but pulled out his sword.
'Damn, this is gonna hurt real bad.' Subaru drove the blade through his bicep. Barely holding back a howl of pain, he scoured his mind for Wrath. Once he'd locked on, he could feel an almost physical connection between the intense pain he was doing his best to endure right now and everyone around him.
"You guys! Get back or you'll be caught in this too!" They all shuffled back… and then Subaru activated the Authority of Wrath, transmitting it all to Rem. When nothing happened he thought he'd done something wrong, but then she screamed in agony and started writhing in his Unseen Hands. He flinched and tried to block it out, but he couldn't drown out the harsh noise.
Through gasping breaths, Rem choked out, "I-I s-s-surr-r-render…"
Subaru audibly sighed in relief and cut off his Authorities. She collapsed to the floor in a shaking pile of limbs as he staggered back. Ripping the sword out of his muscle, he swung his sword in a wide arc to shake off the blood and gore before sheathing it. He sank to the ground and used Variation and Change to heal his arm, but then barely managed to trigger Stillness of an Object's Time to absorb a wide swing of Rem's mace on the dead centre of his forehead.
For the first time, his eyes flashed with pure and unadulterated rage. Subaru sprang to his feet and glared at the now-standing Rem, gritting his teeth.
"If I wasn't quick enough to react to that, you would've killed me! And you don't even give a fuck that I could be lying in a pool of my own blood with my head shattered into pieces right now. What the hell is wrong with you?" His outline quivered and then Subaru appeared in front of her. He made a punching motion and an Unseen Hand followed, sweeping her off her feet. "I went easy on you before, and that's how you pay me back? By trying to smash my head in?" Another few swings, crushing her outline a few centimetres into the earth. "What the hell, Rem. You could at least tell me what I did to make you hate me so much. I gave you so many opportunities to back out there, so you can't even pin that on me." This time, when he flattened her down once more, he didn't withdraw the Hand. He lifted her off her feet and his physical fingers grazed her arm, healing the bare minimum of her injuries.
"This is done. I'm clearly the winner here." Subaru dropped her to the ground and walked back to Roswaal and the others, who were all looking on in surprise and shock. Ram looked like she wanted to throttle him, but took into account how her sister had just tried to murder him and therefore she'd kind of had that coming.
"First fight won."
Roswaal had to hide his smile behind his hand. 'It's better than I could ever have thought… on top of what he can already do, he has that much power. If he's at full strength, he may even pose a threat to the Sword Saint.' He walked over and helped Rem up, casting healing magic over her beaten body and walking her back to the crowd.
"Subaru-kun~, I would say that's passable. Would you prefer~ to fight Ram now or later~?"
"Why not get it done now, eh?"
"Very well. Ram, Subaru, take your positions~. You may begin when you're ready~!"
Ram huffed at him as she drew a long wand from seemingly nowhere.
"Let's get this over with, Barusu. Fura!"
Subaru threw himself to the side, just managing to avoid the razor-sharp blade of wind that would've torn his head from his torso.
Tensing up, he stared at her wide-eyed. "Jesus! I thought this was a test fight? Or are you also a psycho like Rem?"
She just rolled her eyes. "Barusu, since my stamina is far less than my sister's and my magic isn't anywhere near as potent if I pace it, I need to use everything I have if I want to stand a chance. I doubt I'd be able to kill you even if it was my goal, and if this were a real battle with actual opponents then they wouldn't be holding back. El Fura!"
He twisted his body and narrowly dodged more wind slashes. 'Damn it! She's way too fast; I have to put all my focus onto her movements or I'll miss the magic and I'll get hit! I can't spare any concentration for Greed and she wouldn't let up before five seconds anyway… I'll just have to make a bunch of barriers with Sloth!' Ram was still chanting spells nonstop but it appeared to be taking a toll on her. She wavered and stuttered a few times, and the force behind each one was weakening. Though that didn't mean the fight was done; Subaru leapt into the air again but his chest was still sliced by the sheer speed. He had Unseen Hands in a shield around him, and while they did manage to take the edge of the momentum off the blades, they couldn't stop them.
Subaru kept flinging Hands at Ram, but they were either scythed through by her spells or only landed glancing hits. By this point, there were scores of cuts all over his body and it was starting to weigh him down.
However, he formed a crude ball of Unseen Hands to protect him and inhaled a deep breath. Subaru dropped the shelter and blew out all the air in his lungs, forming a blade and severing Ram's left arm cleanly below the shoulder.
"It seems… I've hit my… limit for today…" She took a shaky step forward and fell face-first into the dirt, her missing limb already pouring blood into the grass. Rem had recovered by now and she took off to reach Ram, but along the way she grabbed the arm, handed it to Subaru and shoved him roughly towards her sister. He took the hint and gently touched the appendage to the gaping wound, before Ram's flesh began to bridge the gap and reattach it. Then he backtracked until he was again at Emilia's side.
"So the second fight's done, guess I won 'em both."
In a forest, not so far from the Capitol…
The Sin Archbishop of Sloth was running through the woods. Petelgeuse was in pursuit of a girl with silver hair; he had yet to test her for the Ordeal. Trees crashed down everywhere as he slung Unseen Hands all around him, but then he just stopped the chase. Around twenty Unseen Hands were swirling around him - not even close to his limit - but… he couldn't bring forth any more. No matter how hard he strained, bit his fingers, or pulled his hair, he couldn't summon more than twenty Hands.
Digging his fingers into his hair and craning his neck to look directly at the sky, Petelgeuse screamed.
I went back and changed the explanation of Greed in chapter 1, one of my friends pointed out I'd got Lion's Heart a bit wrong and sent me some changes to make to it. Aside from that, I hope I didn't make Subaru go too overboard against Rem. I reasoned as anyone would (rightly) be pissed off when someone refuses to give in and then when they finally surrender they try to kill you with a scummy surprise attack. And because he also had to try out Wrath somehow. I had a really hard time trying to write Roswaal's annoying ass speech pattern, so if anyone has a better way of doing it then please do leave it in a review.