Wrath Management

Zero Days since the Last Death (Seventeen Deaths)

"Koff! F-Fuck! Koff!" That was the third time he had undergone that agonizing awakening. The feeling was as if he had been about to drown in the violent waters of death and had managed to pull his head out of the water only an instant before perishing. Nevertheless, he had indeed drowned in the waters of death. That was his second chance. No, it was his third chance. Or was it his eighteenth chance?

"Su-san! I'm glad you finally woke up. I was 'bout to wake ya up myself, but-" Before Halibel's booming voice could further drill into his eardrums, Subaru silenced him by grabbing him tightly by the wrist.

He felt as if his skull was on the verge of bursting, showering his surroundings with remnants of his gray matter. An excruciating headache was splitting his head, much of his face ached, and the light and sounds were terrible external stimuli that threatened to melt his brain. Nausea was making it extremely difficult for him to keep the null contents of his stomach in place.

Suppressing the fruitless retching with sheer force of will, Subaru took a deep breath. He took in plenty of air and filled his lungs, and after a few seconds he let the air out through his mouth and nose. This time he did not feel as disoriented as during the previous Return by Death. Still, the faint glow of Ricardo's sonic attack remained etched with fire in his retinas; or, perhaps more correctly, in his memory.

Once again he had failed to confront Sirius. He had lacked the time needed to come up with a plan and this had led to another failure. How many lives were lost due to his ineptitude? It was difficult for Subaru to decide whether the right answer was the number of deaths that had occurred during the previous loop, or the number of deaths caused directly or indirectly by his arrival in that world.

Subaru was not responsible for those lives, and by this point he was desensitized enough not to feel pity or sadness for the deaths caused by the decisions and actions that had brought him to where he was. But he could not say the same for those deaths that had occurred during the harrowing scenario of a literal dead end.

The path he walked would be one carpeted in corpses; and Subaru would accept it as long as he could reach his goals. But how many had died because of his inefficiency? He died and died without achieving anything, and with him many more died. He did not feel responsible, nor did he feel guilty, this was not the case. Nevertheless, it did make him feel frustrated that all those corpses served as a reminder that he was still too weak.

Once again he had been unable to make use of the information he had gathered, and Sirius, who did not possess the ability to return to life, had again completely overpowered him. The glow of Ricardo's attack was his last memory of the world that had been left behind. The glow that cruelly highlighted his failure. How would he defeat the Archbishop of Wrath?

The endless cycle repeated itself, and once again his save point had been set, by the cruel entity that enjoyed watching him suffer, at a time when he did not have enough time to think carefully about his next steps. On top of that, it was difficult to even think or ponder when such a sharp pain ravaged his head.

"H-Hal-san, we need to get out of here right now." He declared without letting go of Halibel's arm, his eyelids still unopened. He had to make the best use of the little time he had left. "Kitzu, inform Ricardo about it. Tell him it's an emergency."

Having picked up on the alarm in Subaru's tone of voice, the demi-human healer did not refuse Subaru's request, even though he considered that applying more healing magic on him would serve to lessen his pain. "Yessir." He was already about to do as he had been instructed, when Subaru's voice made him stop in his tracks.

"Kitzu," Subaru called out to him, wincing. The healer contemplated for a moment returning to Subaru's side and employing healing magic on him regardless of the possible claims this might bring, he refrained from it as he witnessed Subaru's eyes being revealed by the opening of his eyelids. A searing, determined gaze met Kitzu's. "tell Ricardo to give Utada the location of the square or open place closest to our current location: if it's somewhere away from the houses and alleys of the city, all the better."

The fox healer nodded vehemently and disappeared from Subaru's field of vision, who was striving to recover as quickly as possible without the aid of healing magic. Was it even worth it to be so stupidly bent on preventing Kitzu from finishing healing him with his magic? If it saved him enough time, then yes.

"Sometimes ya can become so proud and stubborn, Su-san..." Halibel murmured, a carefree smile on his face.

"It has nothing to do with my pride." Subaru countered, turning his gaze to Halibel.

"No? It seems to me that in the strangest moments ya always display this pride of yours that prevents ya from acceptin' help from others. It doesn't matter that you know ya can't make it on your own, that pride of yours forces ya to keep tryin' again and again, until ya've no choice but to give in and accept their aid." Halibel stated, with a know-it-all look. This annoyed Subaru, however, he refrained from replying to him.

Was Halibel right? If that were the case, he would not have accepted that what happened on the first day of his arrival in that world was beyond him in the first place. Right? He had left the fate of Emilia, Felt and Old Man Rom in Reinhard's capable hands and had run away. He had acted with humility instead of letting his unfounded pride blind him, hadn't he?

Or had he only further hurt his wounded pride and had he unconsciously resolved to find ways to heal it? His desire to stand out as an artifact inventor, his quick assent to Anastasia's proposal, his initial desire to protect those around him and subsequent frustration at failing to do so - was it all related to his unfounded pride?

Had he refused to be cured simply out of foolish pride? Subaru believed that this was not the case, after all, it was true that the healing would take valuable time that they did not have. However, Halibel was someone highly perceptive and he could not simply claim that he had misread his psyche, he could not simply chalk it up to a mistake. It was undeniable that his unfounded pride had been haunting him for years...

"Anyway, this isn't the time to argue about nonsense like that, Hal-san." Said Subaru after several seconds in silence.

"My intention wasn't to argue, Su-san." The demi-human added casually.

"Tch!" Annoyed, Subaru clicked his tongue. Sensing that Subaru would not speak further regarding the matter, Halibel determined that it was the right time to question him about something that had piqued his curiosity.

"By the way, Su-san, why did ya order that to Kitzu-san?" This question caught the attention of Subaru, who had begun to rub his temples, seeking to relieve the pain that afflicted him.

"That?"

"That he'd to tell Ricardo-san to give Utada-san the nearby locations of open places away from houses or alleys." Halibel specified.

"Oh, that..." Subaru said, nodding. "It's simple. Because we'll split into two groups." Hearing this, Halibel opened his snout slightly due to astonishment, and as a result, the kiseru between his teeth almost fell out. However, Subaru paid zero attention to this and continued with what he was saying. "You'll do as we had agreed in case the situation got too messy; you'll go ahead and head to the castle with the goal of rescuing Anastasia before it's too late, followed by Ricardo and the others, while Utada, a couple of clones of yours and I will head to the nearest open place to confront Sirius. I'd a vision and so-"

"W-Wait, Su-san, wait a sec!" Abnormally agitated, Halibel stopped Subaru's flow of words. "Split into groups? Rescue the lady? You, Utada-san and a couple of my clones? Give me a second to process all that information!" Exclaimed Halibel, stretching his arms out in front of Subaru. "I don't get it, Su-san. We're only supposed to split up in case of emergency. Besides, you and Utada-san? He threatened to kill ya, didja forget? And how come ya're gonna confront Sirius? Didn't ya say she was capable of mind control? Su-san, I think Kitzu-san was right, ya'd better rest, Sloth's hit affected ya more than I thought."

"Don't talk nonsense, Hal-san. I'm completely lucid, and you'd know it if you'd let me finish talking." Halibel eyed him carefully, and sighing, motioned with his head for him to continue. "I had a vision while I was unconscious. And I don't wanna go into details because the last thing we're counting on is time, but I can tell you for sure that we won't beat Sirius with the strength of numbers, quite the opposite."

"Is she that much trouble?"

"Yes, she is. And that's not all, it's likely that at this point she's on her way here, so we don't have enough time to discuss our options. So our best bet is to go with my intuition, Hal-san."

In complete silence, Halibel scrutinized Subaru with his gaze, and after a brief moment his typical carefree smile returned to his face. "Alright, Su-san, I'll do as ya say; right now ya look like the Su-san I resolved to follow. I can feel it, today will be the beginnin' of a new era for this world."

At Halibel's hyperbolic statement, Subaru could do nothing but sigh heavily. "Let's just hope it's an era of bonanza, I've had enough of dealing with life and death situations..."

"Boy! I already did as ya asked, but may I know what this is all 'bout?"

"Just in time." Subaru whispered, turning his head to the side. "Ricardo, I need you to let everyone know about the change of plans. Oh, and I need my weapon back..."

The idea popped into his head as he fought the hordes of enemies in the middle of the narrow alley. At the time it proved impossible to carry it out, especially considering that shortly thereafter his body was engulfed by the dense concentration of mana spewed out by Ricardo. Initially he had considered that it would be too risky a plan, but under the pressure of time, he had no choice but to employ such an idea.

"Are ya sure about this, Su-san?" He was questioned by the clone carrying him on his back. Halibel was considerably tall, so none of his clones had any problem carrying Subaru on their backs as they raced across the rooftops of the luxurious houses of the nobility district.

"Yeah, so you keep running." Subaru replied curtly. That wasn't the first time he heard that same question. "I can sense it... That heavy murderous aura can't belong to anyone but Sirius, it's as if death itself is beckoning me." Subaru muttered. Perhaps his senses were not as sharp as the Shinobi's, but his mind had grown accustomed to sensing the nearness of death, and there was no doubt that Sirius' bloodlust entailed mortal danger. "How much further to go, Utada?"

"A-Accordin' to what the cap'n told me, we shouldn't be too far from there." Replied the slightly breathless mercenary, who was barely keeping up with Halibel's two clones.

No one in the group was faster than Halibel, and therefore Subaru's orders could not be otherwise; go to the castle and meet with Anastasia, in case it is under attack, rescue her and escape from there, and if you should come across Emilia, rescue her as well. Ricardo had been asked to assist Halibel, however, he and his mercenaries would move at their own pace.

In the end, only Subaru, Utada and the two clones that Subaru had requested from Halibel had remained. The group of four quickly began to move across the rooftops of the houses towards the location provided by Ricardo. Subaru could not remember the name of the place they were headed to, but in Ricardo's words, it was ideal for what Subaru claimed he needed. It was not too far away and was slightly removed from the houses of the nobles.

According to Utada, Ricardo had told him that the place was a recreational area where different sports that were popular in the city were practiced, such as earth dragon racing, and therefore there were several earth dragon stables nearby; with luck Sirius' ability would not affect animals. Keeping Sirius away from possible victims of her authority was the reason they had separated from the others and detoured to that location away from the urban area of the capital.

"It's not as close as Ricardo led me to believe..." Subaru muttered in annoyance. However, the silhouette of the castle was steadily approaching them instead of receding, so they were not getting further away from their final destination. "I trust you Halibel..."

He would have preferred not to part from Halibel so soon after their reunion, but by that point only he might be able to reach the castle before the catastrophe he witnessed in his second loop of that death cycle took place. He was not entirely sure how much time elapsed from the time they left Leith's house to his arrival at the citadel that preceded the castle, but Subaru was convinced that there was at least half an hour left before the disaster occurred.

"My pleasure, Su-san." Replied the clone carrying him on his back.

"I wasn't talking to you." He really hoped he was not making a mistake, neither with the choice of that plan, nor with the measurement of the time elapsed during that death cycle.

Ten Minutes since the Last Death (Seventeen Deaths)

They had finally arrived at the place indicated by Ricardo, and as expected, Sirius had pursued them following the trail of the witch's miasma. She was about to catch up with them. Subaru looked around. He was in the middle of a patch of grass, surrounded by a dirt road; it was the racetrack mentioned by Utada.

The stables were visible from where he was, but they did not appear to be close enough that, should Sirius' authority influence the earth dragons, the range of her ability would reach them; though of course, Subaru was only assuming based on the information he had gathered. Utada was in hiding, as were Halibel's clones; which had an expiration time, but from what the Shinobi had mentioned, that would not be a problem. Apparently the limit was over the hour.

At last he could catch the sound of chains being dragged, an indication that Sirius was ready to attack. He looked towards the place where the sound came from. Subaru smiled in satisfaction. Ricardo had sent them to the perfect spot, given that the nearest cluster of houses was hundreds of yards away.

"Excuse me, but may I know why you have brought me to this forlorn, secluded wasteland of decay?" Sirius' voice echoed with false calm; a couple of dozen yards separated them.

"Me? Quite the contrary, it seemed to me that you're chasing me."

"Heh! You're a rather conceited young man, don't you think? Sorry for asking, but you wouldn't by any chance be the one bearing the sin of Pride?" Subaru grimaced in disgust upon hearing that recurring question once again.

"You believe that your stupid self-righteous and unjustified wrath is above the feelings of pain and anguish brought on by your presence alone. You constantly claim that others don't know what it's like to harbor burning rage such as yours, and likewise hypocritically claim that your emotions are the ones being underestimated. Wouldn't YOU be Pride?" Using every word uttered by Sirius throughout that cycle of death against her, Subaru retorted.

"Tch! You damned insect, it is evident that you think you know it all, understand it all, grasp it all, comprehend it all, even everything and everyone you meet for the first time. You're definitely Pride." Sirius said, focusing her one visible eye on the face of the unfazed Subaru.

"Ah, that's not pride! It just so happens that I know the equivalent of more than fifteen lifetimes!" Subaru replied sardonically.

"No doubt about it, if you aren't Pride, you are somehow related to them." Sirius concluded, as she tightened her grip on the gold chains in her hands. "Then it was Pride, wasn't it? Pride severed two of my darling's fingers, among them his main finger, and left him with only one finger remaining. Their pride blinded them and that led them to attack, murder, defile, desecrate my darling. Was their rotten pride hurt by my darling's magnanimous figure?"

"I wouldn't call Petelgeuse's figure magnanimous... But to each their own." Subaru commented mockingly, causing the incinerating glare in Sirius' gaze to increase.

"So it was you? You attacked my darling." Sirius accused, pointing at Subaru with murderous vehemence, her indulgent tone and apologetic words completely vanished from her tongue from long ago. "Did you do it under your master's orders?"

"I did it so I could get to the damn castle!" Subaru shouted, raising his voice for the first time since Sirius had shown himself to him. That corrupted fragment of himself had overflowed with a torrent of dark emotions.

"So you do admit guilt, you despicable, disgusting, filthy, vulgar insect! In that case, I'm afraid I'll have to cremate you with the full blaze of my wrath!" She exclaimed, spinning her chains in the air and using centrifugal force to launch the red-hot hooks shooting through the air in Subaru's direction.

"Hearing that I'm that anomaly with whom you've been ordered not to interfere, won't serve to appease your anger by any chance?!" Subaru questioned as he was swiftly lifted up by one of Halibel's clones.

Enraged at having missed her attack, Sirius quickly retracted her chains and once again began spinning them in the air. Throwing one of the hooks towards Subaru and the clone that now carried him under one of his arms, Sirius exclaimed. "I'd never forgive the insect that dared to attack my beloved! I don't care who you are or what your title is, you'll never cease to be the senseless and despicable worm that provoked the full extent of my wrath! Wrath, wrath, wrath, wrath, wrath, wrath! I will reduce your pathetic pride to ashes and then I will hunt down your master!"

Subaru figured that would be Sirius' response; so far almost everything had happened according to what he had predicted. The corpse of Petelgeuse, or his main finger, and the terrible stench of miasma that Subaru gave off, would be enough for Sirius to try to murder him no matter what he might say to defend himself; his scent also made him the perfect bait to keep Sirius from pursuing Halibel, Ricardo, and the others.

Sirius, who had watched indifferently as Utada murdered the "anomaly" the cult supposedly favored, would not forgive Subaru, who had taken an active role in the fight against Petelgeuse. Wrath can be an extremely dangerous emotion, with the potential to blind even the most rational man. Out of wrath, Utada had executed Subaru on two occasions without even giving him a chance to plead his case, going against the orders of his boss and his captain, whom he ordinarily obeyed without the slightest sign of insubordination.

Sirius was crazy, she was a lunatic who was unhealthily obsessed with that despicable man she called darling. Once the fight against Petelgeuse ended in favor of Subaru and Halibel, confronting Sirius had become an inescapable death event. Therefore, Subaru had opted to fan the flames of her burning anger. The more focused Wrath was on attacking Subaru, the less attention she would pay to her surroundings, and that would make her more vulnerable to sneak attacks.

At the speed of a blink of an eye and completely synchronized, the two demi-humans whose presence had not yet been noticed emerged from the shadows. Halibel held in his hands two kunais imbued with curses, while Utada wielded the huge axe he always carried around. If Sirius was cursed and died, then their efforts would probably prove futile yet again.

Grazing Sirius' skin without penetrating her flesh in the right areas of her body was vital for the curse to weaken Sirius constantly throughout the fight without killing her. That was the level of control the most powerful and skilled shinobi warrior in that world had over his curses. However, unlike the original Halibel, the clones would not be able to take a direct hit from Sirius without falling apart. Therefore, the distraction was required to ensure the placement of the curses needed to weaken Sirius.

It was the same plan that Subaru had instructed Halibel to execute during the previous loop, with the huge difference that this time there would not be a sea of "wrath zombies" interfering. Once again it would be a combat of attrition. The worst kind of combat to use only Utada and two of Halibel's ephemeral clones. Nevertheless, Subaru was confident that the four of them would be able to wear Sirius down enough to knock her out. His role in the fight?

"Fucking bitch, when we're done with you, you'll be the one reduced to ashes!" Being the decoy that would keep Sirius unfocused throughout the fight; hopefully with that he would elicit several openings in her fighting stance.

The ambush had been successful. Sirius, in anger, aggressively shook her chains around her, thus forcing the second Halibel clone and Utada to retreat. The woman had narrowly managed to dodge Utada's attack, but the same could not be said for the clone's attack. Holding up his thumb, a smirk on his face, Halibel gestured to Subaru, who was looking in his direction, that he had completed the first phase of their mission. The real combat had only just begun, and Subaru prayed that the clones would last most of it...

Five minutes passed, and the fight had not changed in the slightest since it began. Subaru, who was being carried on the back of a Halibel clone, kept uttering insults directed at Sirius. Meanwhile, Utada and the other clone maintained a safe distance from Sirius and every time they saw an opening they approached to strike her.

Only five minutes had passed, but the effect of the curses placed on Sirius was beginning to become apparent. Still, it was too early to proceed to the third stage of the fight. In fact, they did not decide to do so until the minute hand was about to mark ten minutes into the fight. It was then that the effects of the curses became all too evident, and Sirius began to get desperate.

"You bastards! You wretches! You scum! You despicable, fastidious insects! Using your pathetic curses on my body so as to corrupt it from within! It's useless, there is nothing purer, and therefore incorruptible, than wrath! Before you can accomplish what you want, I will see to it that you are reduced to ashes!" Bellowed the archbishop, as she hurled one end of her chain towards Utada.

"What're you doing? Why're you targeting them? Isn't it me you wish to murder, Sirius? I slaughtered your beloved husband, after all!" As he had been accustomed to doing for the past ten minutes, Subaru spewed provocative words towards Sirius. The latter, however, paid no heed to the taunts and remained focused on attacking Utada and the second clone.

"It's very simple, isn't it, damned maggot of pride?! In order to punish the main insect, I must first incinerate with the blaze of my wrath the flies and maggots that are his minions. Once only you, you, you, you… only you are left, I'll be sure to show you the full extent of my wrath. I will make every part of your body scream in agony as it is embraced by the flames of my wrath." After saying this, Sirius launched a frenzied attack in Utada's direction.

"Shit!" The mercenary exclaimed, using his massive axe to block the steel hook, the chain to which it was attached wrapped around its handle. The chain then began to emit a reddish glow and burst into flames violently.

The axe handle began to grow hotter and hotter, thereby forcing Utada to drop his axe. That was Sirius' intention. The second hook flew in Utada's direction; this time there would be no way for him to escape the attack. Or so it would have been had it not been for the intervention of Halibel's second clone.

"I'll leave the rest to ya, Utada-san!" It exclaimed before being enveloped by the chains. Utada, who had been pushed away from their reach, watched in terror as the clone's body began to be engulfed by the flames.

Consequently, the clone that was carrying Subaru collapsed to the ground, as he writhed in pain. Subaru rolled on the ground, a whirlwind of thoughts forming in his mind. What had just happened? The answer was quick to come to him. He remembered, it had happened during one of the sporadic moments when he and Halibel bumped into each other in Kyo after their re-encounter. Cloning had a flaw, and this was that Halibel, and his clones shared sensations.

Similar to the triplets and their Divine Protection, if one of the clones took damage, the others and the original would feel it. Halibel, of course, had learned to cope with it, and if one of his clones died a quick death, like most deaths caused by the false Zarestia, then neither Halibel nor his clones would so much as wince. However, the same could not be said of being burned to death. Subaru knew it, Subaru remembered how painful it was.

I suppose you could empathize with my pain, Hal-san; Subaru thought self-centeredly as he got to his feet. There was nothing he could do for the remaining clone, he had probably passed out from the shock induced by the pain. As such, there was only Utada and him left; and he was already prepared for that. First he had to get Sirius to stop focusing on Utada.

The flaming chain bounced off the ground and soared back into the air, drawing a crimson arc. Utada jumped to the side and then to the back, dodging the hook that nearly sliced his abdomen. After checking that his entrails were indeed still inside him, Utada tried to get closer to Sirius to pounce on her, but to no avail.

"Why are you wasting your time obeying such a selfish, prideful, cowardly insect like that? Don't you think you'd be better off pursuing love elsewhere?"

"Shut it, ya fuckin' bitch!" Utada shouted at Sirius' bizarre query.

"I will not! I will not! I won't shut up! Don't you see? Love is the answer! True love is the answer! The answer! The answer! The answer! The answer! Love is the only path worth following! And my wrath the weapon with which I'll defend love! Your master reeks of the damned witch who stole my darling, so don't you think my wrath is just?! Isn't it righteous for my wrath to consume your prideful master with its flames?!" Sirius, who seemed pleased to have slain Halibel's clone, had begun to ramble.

"It looks like you've started to get too comfortable, Sirius! So I'll tell you! I murdered Petelgeuse thanks to the fact that I can return by-" Once again the process repeated itself. Time stood still and the cruel shadow before him... "Blergh! F-Fuck, I hate that I'm getting used to this shit." Subaru muttered after vomiting copious amounts of blood.

"The witch! That cursed bitch dwells in you, you despicable insect! That cursed bitch who dared to steal my beloved's love from me has left all her traces in you! I knew it! You are the answer to my prayers! I will use you to finally find that cursed bitch and then I will incinerate you both with my ENDLESS WRATH! The bitch and the filthy insect will perish by MY WRATH! I'll finally be able to defend my love! Love! Love! Love! Love! Love! Love! Love! Love! Love! Love! Love! Love! Love! I'll free you from her my darling!"

As Subaru had expected, breaking the shadow taboo increased the miasma emanating from his body and thereby regained Sirius' attention. What he had not anticipated was that with it the range of the Authority of Wrath's effect would increase. How did he know it had? By the terrible angry bellowing coming from the stables. Thus began the third stage of the combat.

"Utada, we must end this now!" Shouted Subaru as he started to run away from Sirius, who was now heading towards him.

"I know, Subaru-sama!" Utada charged at Sirius from behind. She tried to repel the attack using his chains, but the strength of her weakened body was insufficient. A deep cut on her left arm that tore an enraged shriek from her throat was the result. Even so, Utada was now exposed to an attack and so could not avoid being knocked away by the strike of one of the chains.

Without even turning around to check on Utada's condition, Sirius went back to chasing Subaru. The speed difference was abysmal and in just seconds the bandaged woman was blocking Subaru's escape path. A terrifying smile broke through the bandages covering her face. "It must be very easy, very easy to order others around, while you do nothing. Right, you maggot?" She told him, rattling her chains lightly. "You underestimate my wrath by comparing it to yours, when you aren't even capable of facing me with that wrath of yours. You lack the passion and love to fight your battles; you don't know true wrath, and you don't know true love. You don't know it all! You know nothing! Ignorant! Ignorant! Ignorant! Ignorant! Ignorant! You're so ignorant! You're so pathetic! So I'm sorry, but I feel compelled to punish you for that unfounded pride of yours that leads you to spout idiocy devoid of sense and value."

Subaru attempted to reach for his weapon, but it was useless. Before he could do so, his arms were caught, wrapped around by the golden chains and the weapon fell to the floor. Their gazes met, Sirius and Subaru remained static, mute, for an eternal instant. And then Subaru's screams put an end to the silence that had settled between the two of them. That was the punishment of wrath.

Flames engulfed Subaru's arms, scorching the bandages that also wrapped them and the splinters of wood stuck deep into his skin and even his flesh. The fire began to consume everything, even the scars of his sins. For in the intense glow of the fire lay a punishment greater than all the previous ones; the death of all tissue. Subaru for a moment considered begging for forgiveness, pleading for his life; but the rage by then had already begun to consume his rationality.

"Arrghh! I'll… Gah! ¡Aaaarh! Kill y-you..." He shrieked in vain amidst screams of pain. In order for him to do anything, he had to escape from that hellish grip beforehand. There was nothing he could do on his own, Sirius was not wrong about that. His pathetic, eternal weakness frustrated him, frustrated him beyond measure. He wished he could punish her with his own wrath and prove her wrong, but he was incapable of doing so...

"Riiiiiiiggggggg!" It was at that moment of extreme weakness that a crazed bellow reached Subaru's ears. At first he paid no attention to it whatsoever, after all his mind was focused entirely on not switching off. But when he suddenly felt a painful wrenching in his arms, which was preceded by the fading of the flames that were punishing him, Subaru was finally able to realize what had produced such a sound.

"Wretched, despicable beast! How dare you interrupt in such a manner the punishment I was inflicting on that pitiful insect that knows nothing of true wrath and love!" It was a beautiful, svelte, bipedal earth dragon, whose golden eyes and black scales would amaze even the most inexperienced dragon enthusiast; however, fresh wound marks covered its beautiful body.

Subaru could see it, the wrath... Wrath completely directed towards the one who had planted such intense feeling in its heart. "Attack her, she's the reason you feel the way you do! You have my blessing, tear that fucking bitch apart with your fangs!" He exclaimed, pointing his burn-covered index finger at Sirius.

"You damned manipulator of minds, despicable controller of hearts... I won't forgive your lack of-" Sirius' hypocritical utterances were interrupted by a sudden blow to her arm injured by Utada; which was thoroughly severed and fell to the ground. "What...?"

"Ya go on and on 'bout bein' underestimated or whatever, but ya aren't even able to check if ya killed yer damn enemies!" Utada told her as he struck at her again with his huge axe.

"Damn you, damn you, damn you, damn you, damn you! You despicable insects!" Yelled Sirius, as she dodged the edge of the axe and attacked the mercenary with the end of the chain that remained attached to her remaining arm. But then she received a heavy blow to her back that nearly caused her to fall face-first to the ground. It was the enraged dragon thirsty for revenge, who had apparently heeded Subaru's words.

Now Sirius was being attacked from two flanks, and it was about to be three, since Subaru took the gun lying on the ground, ignoring the pain in his arms, and aimed it at Sirius. That was the perfect time, he had saved his ammunition for such a moment; he pulled the trigger. The ground near Sirius exploded, blasting her into the air. "Utada, keep your distance, remember we aren't completely immune to her authority!" Subaru exclaimed as he got as far away from Sirius as possible.

The bandaged woman fell to the ground, only to be immediately met by a violent ramming from the earth dragon. The Archbishop of Wrath had begun to be overwhelmed by numbers and the increasing weakness of her body. Uttering a cry of madness, Sirius frantically moved her one visible eye within her socket until she located Subaru, and then, at an unnatural speed she launched herself in his direction.

"Shit, I can't let her kill me!" He exclaimed, as he pointed his gun at her. One shot... The fire rock was ejected from the gun, flew through the air in Sirius' direction and then... Sirius dodged it by leaping out of its way. Utada was too far away, and there was nothing standing between her and Subaru anymore. "Am I gonna die?" He did not want to start from scratch. However, no such thing happened...

The next string of events happened so fast that Subaru could barely comprehend it. His body was pushed off before Sirius' chain could reach him, and then a shriek of pain reached his ears. Subaru looked back to where he had been moments before and could see the enraged black dragon wrapped in the burning chains.

Did you save me again? Subaru thought, but before he could turn his thoughts into words, the dragon thrashed its body, thus knocking Sirius off balance, who crashed to the ground. Sirius had started to get up, when she felt something sharp graze her calves; she tried to move away but it was too late, her legs were sliced off by the wind itself and a huge black wolf fell on her back.

"Die, ya bitch!" And before Sirius could get the Halibel clone off her back, Utada's heavy axe severed her remaining arm, thus freeing the dragon who did not hesitate to start running in order to break free from the chains.

"Su-san, the death of the other clone affected me quite a bit, I don't think I can keep existin' for much longer, especially considerin' that my original self is so far away. So we must get this over with at once."

"Do it, Utada, Hal-san, knock that bitch senseless! I'll take care of the rest."

"My wrath, my wrath, my wrath... cannot be... placated! I must... defend... my love... from that bitch witch!"

As much as he wanted to witness the cathartic beating, Subaru knew he had a role to play, so he made his way away from there until he was just over fifty yards from Sirius. Wrath's screams had been silenced by Utada's axe butt, so that was the signal. He surveyed the scene. Halibel and Utada had also moved away from the archbishop, and the earth dragon that had helped them was nowhere in sight. Now was his chance.

"Take this, bitch!"

Their plan was quite straightforward. They would weaken Sirius until they could pin her down in a fixed position and then Utada would snatch her consciousness with the non-lethal part of his axe; if it proved necessary, they would continue beating her until she was out cold. If anyone was knocked unconscious next to her, then they would leave her there and continue on their way to the castle. But if no one else was knocked unconscious besides Wrath, then Subaru would take the risk and... Bang! The explosion covered the area where Sirius was, and with it Subaru's wrath finally reduced the Archbishop of Wrath to ashes.

And so concludes the fight against Sirius. The character who would help Subaru was Patrasche, as you could read. No one mentioned her once, I guess everyone expected it to be a human. Regardless, how could you forget the best girl in Re: Zero? I noticed several interesting names that may or may not appear later on. Cecilus? He definitely will, but I can't say for sure that he will as an ally.

Regarding the last chapter, I can assure you that it was not "filler", what happened there will be important for the fic's plot and will remain canon, at least to a certain extent. That's where Halibel comes in, he set off on his own to the castle. At what point do you think he will arrive? Will he be able to stop Julius from being consumed by Gluttony? Will he be able to stop Mimi from dying? Will he be able to stop Anastasia from losing her name? Will he be able to stop Emilia from dying? Will he be able to stop Anastasia from dying? Well, two more chapters and you'll have the answer to this.

The next chapter will kick off the climax of the arc, and an important encounter will take place. Also, Subaru will get a very valuable piece of information. Anyway, as always, thanks for your support, Geisterivain bids you farewell, until next week.