Rattling off the words like he was chanting a song, the no-longer-silver-haired monster's expression died a little with each additional phrase.
But as he spoke of what underpinned his love over and over at incredible length, Capella lifted her head, her beauty and cuteness and obscenity forming a strangely complex expression of love mixed with hatred as she shouted "Hey! What are you doing in my body?!!"
The black haired knight, who had just finished a speech that could plant envy in Greed's heart, looked perplexed for a moment before looking down and changing his expression into one of pure shock.
"Hey hey! Did your ears somehow get clogged with that rotten meat in your head that you call a brain? I'm talking to you!"
Subaru would have replied with a retort had the body flailing furiously before him not been his own, except for the golden haired feminine head sitting on top of it. As shock gave way to horror, the knight screamed in fear before yelling "You! What did you do?! WHY AM I IN A BIKINI?!!"
"So you finally remembered how to use words. How jolly! That must be a big accomplishment for you. And what do you mean what did I do? This lady didn't do anything! Don't you see how agitated I am? Are you demented or are you just that dumb?!"
Ignoring the fact that this girl was going out of her way to insult him even while freaking out, Subaru replied "What happened then?"
"Can you not think? I thought your brain was rotten but maybe you actually just have puke instead in that head of yours."
"You have no idea do you..."
"..."
"..."
"Whatever. You seem to forget this lovely lady's authority."
Silence reigned in the room as Capella just stood there looking smug for a second, before... nothing happening. The then confused archbishop closed her eyes in concentration before... nothing happening. The then livid archbishop started screaming at no one in particular in a strange display of childish stomping and mad flailing, asking why she couldn't transform Subaru's body to look like her own.
This gave Subaru an idea, but before he could try anything out, the whole room shook as a blood curdling roar resounded. The knight and the archbishop both looked in direction of the terrifying sound only to realize that the room was trembling under the feet of a massive black dragon. It was the same dragon that Crusch had previously attacked, believing it to be Lust. Its eyes filled with bloodlust, it looked at Subaru and prepared to attack.
Subaru looked back at the creature's eyes in a moment of surprise, before he felt someone step behind him. He looked behind only to see the monster who had showered him with abuse seconds ago, hiding behind him with fear and worry apparent on her face.
"Bruh" was all he could utter.
"Shut up and do something. That ugly thing clearly wants my head."
"I wonder why. And why should I help you? If it wants to kill you, doesn't that help me?"
"Wow... Your brain really is on vacation. Think you idiot!"
Subaru realized it, but he did not want to believe it. Right now, Capella had his body except for his head. If she were to die, he might never get his body back. Even if he did, it would likely be fatally injured and would cause him to die. That was probably what she was thinking. However, when he saw Capella being unable to use her authority, he theorized that maybe he now had her authority. If that were the case, then perhaps he could just kill her and transform her body to look like his own. He would try to use that authority against the dragon. So whether or not he did have it would be known soon.
But even then, there was something else that would prevent Subaru from letting her die. If he did possess her authority, then maybe that meant that she now had return by death. The implications of such a possibility were terrifying. If that sadistic monster had such an ability, then she could wreak havoc while having the knowledge of things that would happen. Or maybe the witch of envy would be furious that someone other than Subaru not only discovered return by death, but was also using it. And he did not want to think of what could happen then. So no matter whether Capella would permanently die or return by death,
"Either way, I can't let her get killed..."
"How touching. Do you perhaps finally love me?"
"Shut up."
Subaru glanced briefly at the dragon, then reluctantly closed his eyes for dramatic effect, and concentrated... only for nothing to happen... again.
"Uh... Capella, how do you use your authority?"
"Haa?! Why are you asking that now? Are you trying to use it? You think you can use it now? Even if you can, do you really think it would be so easy to do it? For a worthless meatbag, you sure are full of yourself."
"Can you stop being a pain and start being useful?!"
"And YOU are being useful?"
Before he could respond, Subaru noticed something.
"That dragon... Why hasn't it attacked us yet?"
The hostility that was previously in its eyes was replaced with confusion as it opened its mouth and asked "You two... Which one of you is the one who turned me? And... Why are you in a bikini?"
"..."
"..."
"Well... Funny story..." Subaru started.
"This is... quite the predicament" was all the dragon could say in response to the insanity that had just been dumped on it. Being stuck in a monstrous form for an indefinite amount of time and unable to do anything to the person who caused that was quite vexing to say the least.
"So now what?" Subaru asked.
He experienced instant regret when Capella replied "As kind and lovely as this lady is, there's no way she's trusting a meatbag such as yourself to wander around in your current state. So I shall take and keep you with me until a solution is found. Feel free to shower Capella-sama with praise for giving you this opportunity"
"I'd rather eat a chair"
"You will if you keep acting like that"
"In any case, there's no way I'm going with you and leaving Crusch-san in this state"
In the middle of all that commotion, Subaru had almost forgotten that Crusch still laid there unconscious.
"That piece of meat is going to die soon anyway. Don't worry about her"
"Huh?"
"Perplexed as always~! My, my. How have you been living without Capella-sama to spoon feed you?"
"Quit this useless yapping. What did you do to her?"
"I merely indulged in a hobby of mine a little bit... and decided to see if she would lose to my blood~"
"Your... blood?"
"YES! Capella-sama's blood is special. Mixed with dragon's blood, it can do pretty interesting stuff to the human body~"
Perhaps it was the fact that she hadn't attacked him ever since they became stuck in their current state, but Subaru had either forgotten or not realized that this girl who was with him was but a crazed monster. Only then did it truly sink in what kind of situation he was in. At that moment, he felt an overwhelming urge to chop himself into pieces. He did not want these hands. He did not want these arms. He did not want these legs. This... thing that he was now controlling, had probably landed the fatal blow on countless innocent victims. This thing had mercilessly trampled on people's dignity, turning them into flies. This thing had inside it a blood that was currently killing his ally. This thing and its owner were disgusting, repulsive, revolting, abhorrent. He wanted to shred it, burn it, drown its ashes. He-
"I want to die..."
"Hehe~ don't worry. Capella-chan will gladly grant your wish after she's bored of you. Now chop chop~"
"Like I said, I'm not coming with you. I'm taking Crusch-san to Felix and you are coming with me"
"Oooooh feeling bold are we? Howev-"
All of a sudden, Capella froze in place. The surprise on her face was quickly replaced with a gentle smile as she whispered "Ah... I see"
She then looked towards Subaru and declared "On second thought, this lovely lady has decided to go with you. Rejoice, meat! You get to keep Capella-chan company and have it your way as well~"
"Huh?"
"I've had enough of this" Huh?"ing of yours. Is what I said so hard to understand? You wanted me to go with you, and I'm going with you."
"No wait! But... When you're convinced so easily, I'm not as confident with that plan anymore."
"Too bad~. Now excuse me"
She made her way towards the loud speaker, and opened her mouth.
"Roi ya smelly little cockroach! And the two zombie thingies! Go to your next positions without me now. Mama has stuff to do."
"Are you kidding me? What next positions?"
"You'll have to find out by yourself, meat. Now lead the way~" The archbishop chimed as she danced around like a child using Subaru's injured leg as support, her words betraying her tone.
"Hey hey! My leg is mangled enough as it is. Go easy on it."
He was met with a sticked out tongue and a mocking gaze.
"Why you-"
"Subaru?!"
A new voice resounded in the room as those present and conscious turned towards its source.
At the entrance stood none other than Julius Juukulius, also known as the boogeyman, at least to Subaru.
"I... have so many questions. Why is Crusch-sama unconscious? Why is this dragon just sitting there? Who is this girl? And why are you in a bikini?"
A long sigh interrupted the short silence afterwards as the black haired knight held the bridge of his nose.
"Today is going to be a loooong day"
Author's note:
For those who don't know, Yenpress made a translation mistake where they attributed Capella's speech to being Subaru's words. I saw a tweet with Subaru's head on Capella's body and someone else calling it our true lust if story and I got the idea of making this.