Pieces on the Board

Zero days since the Last Death (Eight Deaths)

With a gesture of utter regret, Mimi's big eyes focused on the ear that Subaru was hiding with one hand; the other was still placed on her head. "I hurt you with my attack, Onii-san… I'm sorr-" Before Mimi could apologize, Subaru ruffled her hair, interrupting her.

"You don't have to apologize. You saved me, so now you're my hero once again. This…?" Subaru uncovered his ear, showing that both it, and the palm of the hand he was covering it with, were covered in blood. "… It's just a small price to pay to keep on living."

"Hmm…" Still hesitant, Mimi looked him in the eye. However, the moment could not continue, as another rumble shook the ground. It was the hostile entity, who was fighting to the death against Halibel and two remaining clones. Apparently, one had already perished. "In that case, Mimi will ensure that Subaru Nii-san's not harmed again. Wait here, Onii-san, Mimi's gonna help the mister and… Onii-san, isn't that Halibel, the Shinobi warrior who visited the mansion a few days ago?"

"Yeah, it's him." Subaru replied immediately, smirking. "I got him to agree to help me after I talked to you on the metia."

Smiling back at him with her typical lively expression, Mimi giggled. "You're amazin', Onii-san! You enlisted the help of the strongest warrior in all of Kararagi!" With her eyes wide open, the girl praised Subaru's ability to deal with all kinds of situations. A skill that belonged more to the Return by Death than to him; yet, Subaru kept his self-contempt to himself.

"I'd said it. Hadn't I, Mimi? I've been a nuisance to Anastasia, to your brother and to you. So I've to give my all to help you as much as possible..." Although he did not want to continue showing his eternal weakness , Subaru could not help but say the last sentence in a melancholic tone.

"Onii-san..." Realizing that Subaru felt burdened by being unable to be a useful person to their mistress, at least by his own standards, Mimi decided not to pursue the matter further to avoid hurting him. After that, she looked at where the most representative Shinobi warrior of Kararagi was fighting against a woman with a beautiful figure that radiated a very dangerous aura. "Mimi will stay by your side, Onii-san."

"Hmm?" Confused, Subaru looked her straight in the eye.

"Mister Halibel seems to have no problem with the attacker, so Mimi will stay with you, protectin' you."

"Mimi..."

"Besides, Mimi's sure that mister Halibel will fight more comfortably if he isn't concerned about defending you."

"You didn't have to put it that way..." With a slightly resentful tone, Subaru accepted Mimi's decision.

She was right, if Halibel had not been able to defeat the hostile entity so far, it was because he had to be careful that Subaru was not attacked in an oversight. Although Subaru had never said anything to the demi-human about him being the target of the entity, apparently he had already deduced it himself. In that case, Mimi would definitely be more useful by her side… Something that became clear before he could even finish thinking about it.

"Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!" Having gotten rid of Halibel and his two clones with a powerful magic cyclone, the hostile entity tried again to slice up Subaru. However, this time Mimi was with him, so a thick wall of earth and rock emerged between the three of them, blocking the passage of the dangerous wind gusts.

Enraged, the lethal female set out to launch another attack of greater power, but before she could do so, she felt a piercing pain in her side. One of the clones had carried out a suicide strike, thus sacrificing his ephemeral existence in order to drive his kunai into the right side of the attacker's abdomen.

"N-No… Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!" With her eyes bloodshot from rage, the female-looking being extended the area of the wind dome around her. With frantic movements of her eyes, arms and feet, the female conjured up winds of slaughter with which she reduced large parts of the street and several of the surrounding buildings to dust.

Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill! Releasing a non-human roar, the attacker dug her own nails into her head, visibly upset. The voice asked her to kill, the voice told her to kill, the voice forced her to kill. She must do everything possible to exterminate the being of terrible smell. Her instinct told her so, because he evoked an irrational hatred in her... She no longer remembered why she had to do end his life, but she was driven by hatred, rage and that within her, which was in charge of reminding her that her only mission in this life was to kill, dismember, exterminate, bitcher, murder, liquidate...

Halibel noticed that the attacker was increasingly losing her temper, her attacks were becoming more erratic and desperate, and if he did not do something to kill her as soon as possible, there would be nothing left of the street or the buildings located on both sides of it. He only had one clone left, so he needed to use it wisely.

Jumping onto the roof of one of the stalls that were still standing , Halibel avoided the blast of wind that blew away another large section of the street. With his sharp eyes fixed on the blurred silhouette of the female figure, Halibel took the tip of his kunai and threw it. The blade flew straight ahead towards the attacker. However, the kunai's metallic edge was turned to dust as it tried to break through the wall of wind.

Blowing out a plume of smoke, Halibel shifted his gaze to Subaru, who was accompanied by the little demi-human he had seen the day he visited the Hoshin Company owner's mansion. Apparently, the attacker had the boy as a priority target. Had he seen that in his premonition, and so had asked for his help? It was a possibility, however, Subaru had not told him anything about it.

Preventing the attacker from harming the boy was now the little demi-human's job, so his was to deal with the hostile entity. However, that was easier said than done. As long as the female attacker had that wind barrier around her, damaging her would be an almost impossible task. He had managed to harm her with one of his clones, at the cost of its existence; even so, she didn't trust that this tactic would work a second time, less when he only had one clone left to try.

If he wasted his last clone, he would have to wait a while before he could cast another batch of them, and at that moment, the last thing he had was time. No, what he needed was an opportunity. An opening in the attacker's defense, that was all it took to end her life.

"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!" Frantic, the entity once again ignored Halibel and his clone, and lunged in the direction of the black-haired man.

With his eyes wide open, Subaru watched as the lethal female approached Mimi and him, exuding an amount of hostility aura capable of stopping his heart. "Ul Dona!" Conjuring a dome of earth and rock over them, Mimi prepared to utter a powerful scream.

"DIE, DIE!" A tornado slammed into the dome, turning it into rubble. However, before the entity could launch one more attack, Mimi's counterattack emerged from the dust resulting from the demolition of the protective dome she had created. The hostile entity, recognizing the sonic boom, propelled herself away from the scream's path, using a powerful blast of air to dodge it. "DIE, DIE, DIE!"

From the height she had reached, the entity, with eyes intoxicated by hatred that boiled inside her, released another attack of wind. The powerful gust of wind advanced relentlessly, possessing the necessary power to cut off anything that stood in its way; be it flesh or concrete. However, the attack was stopped short by another burst of sound.

From Mimi's mouth came a shrill scream that materialized in the form of a sound wave that painted the air a blueish hue. The scream, unrelenting, clashed with the lethal gusts of wind, counteracting both magical attacks against each other. Maddened by the whispers of death in her mind, the hostile entity prepared to attack once more. However, she was stopped by a sharp pain that spread along her calf.

"Well done, little one! You gave me enough of an openin' to be able to hit her with one of my kunais." With his sharp eyes staring up at the sky, Halibel approached Mimi and Subaru. "It seems that the wind shield that surrounds her loses power every time she prepares to launch a powerful attack..."

Subaru, who was barely recovering from the daze caused by the shock wave produced by the impact of the attacks, could not help but turn to Halibel as he heard him mutter his deduction. In that case, all they needed was to cause the attacker to lose her sanity even more and, consequently, force her to launch increasingly powerful attacks.

That means I could once again serve as a useful decoy, Subaru concluded bitterly. The memory of the occasion that acted as bait for mabeasts during the attack on the inn was still fresh in his memory. The scars along his calves were visual proof that the memory would never go away. Even so, if it came to achieving the necessary results, Subaru was willing to take the risk of exposing himself to immeasurable pain again.

"Halibel…" Yet, before Subaru could express the result of his machinations to his two companions, the scale of the game on the board was again altered. Unable to make his move, Subaru was forced to watch as a mere spectator, as a new event took place.

"N-No… No… No! Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill… Kill! Kill!" Shaking her head deliriously, the random attacker began to scream as she ripped out her white hair. In desperation, she began to launch attacks left and right, completely out of control of herself.

"Ul Dona! Dona!" Mimi, reacting quickly, created an earth dome over her and Subaru, and then created a kind of wall in front of the dome, to reinforce its resistance. Even so, as erratic as the lethal female's attacks had been, most were still focused on ending Subaru's life.

Both the wall and the dome fell, once again leaving both exposed. Mimi, who hadn't had the time to recover after the use of two spells in a row, could do nothing but watch in desperation as the killer cyclone approached her and Subaru. Desperate, she forced herself to raise one more scream, however, the time needed to gather the necessary mana was too much to be able to save their lives...

"It seems my time has come… I hope you make my sacrifice worthwhile." With a casual farewell, Halibel's last clone stood in the path of the dangerous gust of sharp winds and used the full force of the arm to reduce its momentum. Exhaling a last plume of smoke, the clone received the full attack with the kunai.

The blade cut through the wind gusts, however, the force of the attack was too great to deflect it with only a small piece of metal. Receiving the partially weakened cyclone, both the kunai and the clone were split in half, becoming almost immediately a cloud of smoke and ashes.

The hostile entity's attack had been weakened, but that would not be enough to stop it altogether. Luckily for Subaru, Mimi had taken advantage of the time given by the clone to load a powerful final scream. Opening her mouth wide, Mimi let out a massive sonic boom that consumed the gust of wind without halting a bit.

Having vanished the attack of the hostile female, the roar continued to advance without being slightly weakened. As Halibel ran around the female figure in search of another opening, while dodging her erratic attacks, he watched as the trail of bluish air impacted the crazed figure.

With an explosion that raised strong winds across the street, Mimi's scream struck her target, piercing through her air shield and hitting her squarely in the abdomen. Halibel could observe out of the corner of his eye how the little demi-human lost consciousness and fell into Subaru's hands. The little girl had given all of herself in that last attack, and he was not going to waste this opportunity created by her.

Holding his kunai firmly, Halibel approached the point where he had seen the attacker collapse. He had a suspicion of who her might be, and if he drove his weapon through her, he would finally be able to ascertain her identity. Halibel moved nimbly to the point of the entity's fall, but was then stopped by a violent aura of hostility.

Jumping to the side, Halibel dodged a deadly air saw that had been thrown in his direction; his instincts, once again, had not failed him. And although he had escaped unscathed, the same could not be said for his kimono, which now had a tear on one of its sides. Halibel prepared to dodge any other attacks thrown in his direction, or to protect Subaru and the little girl, should an attack be thrown in their direction. And it was then that the sound of glass breaking reached his ears.

"K-Kill… No… No… No… No… No, no, no, no!" Coming out of the dust raised by her multiple wind attacks, the female entity stared at the ground in terror. Her eyes, which until now had only conveyed hostility and hatred, was now clouded by fear. Bewildered, Halibel followed with his own eyes the gaze of the entity and found a broken bottle. Just inches from the dangerous entity's feet, was the bottle of sake that he had kept in the pocket of his kimono.

The smell of alcohol wafted through the air, reaching Halibel and Subaru's noses. Subaru, who had seen everything attentively, while wrapping his arms around Mimi protectively, had a feeling of déjà vu. Surprising those present with an unexpected attitude, the hostile entity turned her back on Subaru and jumped into one of the few food stands that had barely survived the combat.

"Oh no! I won't let you get away!" Halibel then set out to chase her, but she, shrieking, unleashed a powerful whirlwind that swept the entire street.

Barely able to distinguish anything amidst the violent winds, Halibel could observe as the attacker began her retreat. As a last resort, he raised his arm and with superhuman strength threw the kunai in his hand, successfully nailing it into the back of the female figure. Even so, she ignored the pain that ran through her body and disappeared behind one of the buildings.

The Shinobi warrior considered for a moment to pursue her, but after looking at Subaru, whose body was covered in cuts, and the fainted child in his arms, he decided that the risk was too high. Sighing, defeated, Halibel lowered his arm and approached Subaru. The force of the wind was already calming down, and it would only be a matter of seconds before the air currents to return to normal.

"How's the child?" Once at the pair's side, Halibel questioned Subaru regarding Mimi's well-being while exhaling a good puff of smoke.

"Hmm…" Subaru, who hadn't looked away from Halibel during all that time, lowered his head to get a better look at Mimi. Her big eyes were guarded by her eyelids, like a stage curtain in an amphitheater. The girl had taken her body to extreme exhaustion in order to save him and herself.

Subaru raised one of his hands and was about to touch Mimi's forehead with it, but before he could do so, he noticed that said hand was shaking. Like maggots fresh out of the ground, his fingers were twisting, and his palm and wrist were quivering, as if they possessed a life of their own. Taking a deep breath, Subaru forced himself to calm down his disturbed heart. Once the trembling subsided, he placed the back of his hand on the little girl's exposed forehead.

"Well?" With his sharp eyes fixed on the girl's motionless body, Halibel asked again in the face of Subaru's extended silence.

Not that he was concerned about the little girl's health, as it was clear that she had not received lethal injuries, and that all she had were symptoms of a complete physical and mana exhaustion. Still, Halibel knew that staying in the middle of that destroyed street was not a good idea, and he wanted to get the child and the boy out of there as quickly as possible.

"She's fine. She has a slight fever, but I'm sure a little rest will be enough for her to fully recover." Subaru's voice carried relief, however, Halibel noticed something else. Deep in his gaze was another emotion. Was it guilt? Fear? Pain? Shame? The black wolf couldn't exactly grasp the emotion that swirled around deep in the boy's pupils, but his intuition indicated that it was not a positive emotion. "… We should get out of here immediately and go back to the mansion. I'm not a healer, and I may be wrong. So I want someone to check on her as soon as possible."

"Hmm... I was about to say exactly that… Subaru." Breathing out the smoke he had been retained in his lungs, Halibel agreed with Subaru's statement with a smile on his snout.

Smiling back at him, though his smile was clearly a facade, Subaru stood up. Halibel gestured to him with his hand, indicating that, if he wished, he would carry Mimi instead. Subaru's body was covered with several cuts, and from the way he was leaning on his right foot, it was clear that he was suffering from pain in his left ankle.

However, Subaru held the girl a little tighter and shook his head. After denying Halibel's help, Subaru looked back at Mimi and stroked her hair with one hand. After this action, Subaru turned to where the entrance to the alley connecting the street to the main avenue was located and began to walk. The message had been clear to Halibel: she is my responsibility.

Was it because Subaru now saw her as a kind of little sister he never had? Was it because she, like Tivey, had become a pillar of safety for him? Was it because both she and Anastasia had been by his side when he suffered the panic attacks due to the trauma he experienced in Priestella? Or was it because guilt, caused by depending over and over again on the little triplets, was eating away at his soul?

Subaru did not know the answer. It may well be none of them, or it may be all of them at the same time. In the end, all he knew was that he could not hand over the responsibility for carrying Mimi to Halibel, not when he hadn't cooperated in any way throughout the fight against the hostile entity.

He, who had been protected by the demi-human wolf, but especially by Mimi, could not be so shameless and pathetic as to relinquish that responsibility as well. Mimi was part of the same faction as him, and moreover he was sharing a roof with her. Getting her back to the mansion alive was now his job; no matter how exhausted, physically and mentally, he felt.

Limping, Subaru, accompanied by Mimi's body heat and the scent of smoke coming from Halibel, walked out the wretched street and into the alley; the same one where, surely, his restart point was still located. As he took the first step into the narrow alley, Subaru felt a paranormal chill run down his spine. Returning to that place knowing that the hostile entity was still alive, somewhere in Kyo, made him feel that he had failed.

Ignoring the unpleasant feeling, Subaru continued walking without loosening his embrace over Mimi's small body. After less than a minute, Subaru and Halibel left the alley and found themselves on the main avenue. The number of people present had decreased drastically even though it was barely noon.

When the stallholders and the few remaining passers-by noticed the appearance of the male duo, both were riddled with looks of suspicion and fear. Most likely, the word had spread regarding the combat between them and the hostile entity; although, considering the strident sounds of battle, that would not have been necessary to cause nervousness among those present.

Did they see them as the instigators? Did they think they were the attackers? Neither Subaru nor Halibel had time to search for the answer, so they both ignored the stares and continued on their way to the upper-class district. Subaru could not help but notice how several of the passers-by turned to look at Mimi in his arms with horror in their gazes. They probably thought that the whole thing was an attempted kidnapping of some kind.

Even so, when alarmed people seemed ready to try something, they always stopped when they noticed the look of the tall demi-human walking behind him. Whether because of his intimidating appearance, or because they recognized him as the legendary Shinobi warrior Halibel, none dared to get in the way of the limping Subaru.

With a gesture of bitterness on his face, Subaru struggled not to look at the landscapes that had previously been nostalgic, and now only reminded him of the tragedy that began right there on that avenue. Before, he had ignored the sights that reminded him of home, due to the overwhelming memories of his parents, and now he was doing so because of the overwhelming memories of his beheading, and subsequent death bathed in the remains of the corpses of dozens of people and Mimi.

"Subaru Onii-san!" Subaru was about to set foot outside the main avenue of the metropolitan area, when he heard someone call him. Subaru stopped in his tracks and turned around, then he saw a little orange-haired boy galloping desperately in his direction. "Subaru Onii-san! Mimi told me about the attack, what happened with-! Sister?!" Noticing Mimi unconscious in his arms, the startled Tivey jumped off the liger he was mounting and approached him. "What happened, Subaru Onii-san?"

The liger, an animal of that world that could well be considered a relative of the wolves, but larger in size, remained in the same place where Tivey left its back, waiting for new orders. The liger could be considered the official mount of the Fang of Iron, and is highly renowned in Kararagi, where it outperforms the earth dragons in use. That Mimi did not use hers to get to Subaru, was a sign of how hastily she had left the mansion; or perhaps it was because she had considered that she would have better mobility travelling from roof to roof, than going through the streets with her liger.

Subaru, with the look of bitterness etched on his face, gave Tivey a summarized explanation of what happened. The little boy, having heard the story, simply thanked Subaru sincerely for taking care of his sister and urged him to resume the journey to the mansion together immediately. "Don't you think it would be better if you took her, and I came later?" Subaru had replied, but Tivey assured that his sister would prefer that he not leave Subaru alone after being attacked.

Subaru had tried to argue, claiming that Halibel was with him, but Tivey insisted that he and his sister were in charge of guarding him, and that now he would take care of them. With the countenance of bitterness becoming more evident on his face, Subaru embraced Mimi even more tightly and went on his way with a hasty step, ignoring the pain in her ankle.

"I'll accompany you to the mansion... But why don't you give me Mimi? You look tired and beaten, havin' a weight less would be better. Don't ya think, Subaru Onii-san?" From the back of his liger, Tivey pointed out that Subaru did not need to carry Mimi any longer.

"If not to take your sister and leave us behind, then no." Again, with a shake of his head, Subaru refused to relinquish responsibility for carrying Mimi. He was willing to do so if it ensured that she would be taken to the mansion sooner, but would not budge if that condition were not met. Blinking a couple of times, Tivey shifted his gaze from Subaru to Halibel and back again.

"The kid insists that it's his responsibility…" Replied the black werewolf, shrugging his shoulders.

"Hmm… You know, I'm quite surprised to see that the great warrior Halibel ended up joining Subaru Onii-san." Deciding it was best to drop the subject, Tivey commented on the duo's particularity.

"He mentioned that someone dangerous was about to show up, and I was curious… That's it." Breathing out a plume of smoke, Halibel replied casually while looking at the little demi-human.

"Oh! Onii-san, you really don't stop surprising me." Looking at Subaru with admiring eyes, Tivey praised him. Mimi had done the same, which was a sign that the siblings were definitely looking at him more and more favorably. "By the way, Subaru Onii-san. Who was the attacker you mentioned? Were you able to beat him?"

"Her…" Corrected Subaru. "About her identity, the truth's that I've no idea. And unfortunately we couldn't defeat her, she escaped…" Dejected, Subaru answered Tivey's question.

"Hmm… In that case, you might be interested in the information I have." Instantly, Halibel's remark caught the attention of Anastasia Hoshin's two subordinates.

"Do you know who that nasty entity was?" Subaru asked, staring at Halibel.

"I ain't entirely sure… However, her magic, looks and power definitely fit what I know of the legend of Zarestia."

"Zarestia?" Subaru questioned again, confused.

"She's one of the Great Spirits. Zarestia, the Great Spirit of the wind. There're many legends in Kararagi about her, but the best known describes her as an entity of death and destruction; the Most Beautiful Shinigami, so they call her." The answer was not given by Halibel, but by Tivey, who seemingly knew quite a bit about that spirit called Zarestia.

"Exactly. What the child says."

"I'm not a child, I'm Tivey." Ignoring the complaint with a mocking smile, Halibel continued.

"A few weeks ago an expedition was carried out to the Zarestia's Bed, a place in Kararagi where Zarestia herself is presumed to rest. Even so, that expedition was originally scheduled to take place several months from now. Interestingly enough, a noble of Lugunica paid a large amount of money to advance the date... I doubt there's no connection between that, so I think I should investigate about it right after dealin' with the so-called entity."

"Do you plan to fight her again?" Subaru asked him, slightly shocked.

"I've to. I'd have followed her, were it not for the fact that I couldn't leave you and the child on your own." With shame and bitterness overshadowing his surprise, Subaru looked straight ahead, looking away from Halibel. It was then that he realized that they had finally arrived at the mansion. "It seems that here I take my leave, Subaru. It was a pleasure meetin' you. Take care of the little one and try not to meet any more dangerous entities. Heh heh..." With his usual carefree attitude, Halibel gave Subaru a pat on the back and, after patting Tivey's head, set out to return to the metropolitan area.

"Halibel…" But before he did, Subaru's call stopped him.

"What's up, kid?" Without turning around, Halibel motioned for him to speak.

"Thank you..." With those words, Subaru started to follow Tivey, who had gotten the guards at the entrance to the mansion to open the gate.

"You're welcome... Subaru... When I find out what's behind all this Zarestia stuff, I'll be back. I'm interested in makin' you a proposal." And with those words, Halibel finally vanished into thin air.

Feeling useless and pathetic, Subaru followed Tivey in complete silence. He, sensing Subaru's altered state, accepted the uncomfortable silence without protest. Subaru, who could not stop thinking about his failures during the previous loops, realized that though he had managed to gather some valuable information, he had done almost nothing with it. Getting information was his only use, and he had only used it to get Halibel's help.

In the end, his uselessness had caused the entity to escape and Mimi to push herself to her limit for him… So sunk was Subaru in his self-loathing, that it took him too long to notice the chills that ran through his entire body. Something was wrong… Before Subaru could say anything about it, he felt a breeze approaching the back of her neck.

"Die…!" And with those words, his whole world was engulfed by the shadows.