Re:Strengthened By Death

by AiriMage

With endless regrets and wishes, all of which go unheard, Natsuki Subaru finds himself betrayed and in a cell, tortured by those he once called friends, the world having forgotten him. As he calls out for friends and family, and even the witch, none answer his call. Feeling more betrayed than ever, he steels his resolve to save himself. Strengthened by his will, can he escape?

9. Danger

Chapter 8: Danger.

Authors Note!

Hello again, I haven't really started writing the chapter yet, so I don't have much to say here apart from that I think I've made my favorite spell for Future Subaru so far, and some extra little notes on Subaru's status from last chapter. So, the little notes next to strength, speed, and Subaru's HP are all the bonuses he gets from his skill set, with 282S being the strength/skill boost he gets from using a sword, 450W being the whip, and 538P being his parkour. Further on in the story, Subaru will have a decent amount of modifiers that add onto his stats, and so they'll have their own area once they cross a certain point.

Last thing for now, since I figured it'd be best to get this out of the way at some point, I will be continuing this story a decent while past when Subaru rejoins the camp and may take long Hiatuses here and there to let Tappei finish up arc's so I have a general idea over where to go next. That's all, hope you enjoy the chapter!

(Subaru POV, day of the mansion attack.)

Within the Elior forest, the sound of loud roars and crashes echo's throughout, scaring any weaker creatures away. However, if one were to listen more closely, they'd hear the whistling of wind accompanying those roads and crashes. The whistling of the wind was caused by none other than Natsuki Subaru, who's currently, learning to use a bow and arrow from his friend Ward.

At first, when Ward told Subaru to try practicing with a bow and arrow, Subaru was skeptical. A bow and arrow didn't seem like it'd have high enough firepower or speed compared to something like his magic, but Subaru was quickly proven wrong when Ward taught him how to pour mana into the arrows. Currently, the Yin attribute infused arrows are shredding through some monsters on the level of Wolgram's, freezing the space inside their bodies and turning them into nothing but shattered Minya crystals. Well, the ones that hit are at least, currently, Subaru misses 9 out of 10 of his shots, but considering he's only been at it for 3 days now, it's considered rather remarkable.

"Mhm, you're doing well so far, . Don't get flustered just because you're missing your shots, and calm your breathing, it's still uneven" behind Subaru stood Ward, gently yet strictly instructing him, quickly picking up on even the smallest of mistakes. 3 days ago, when Subaru first began learning the bow, he also learned that Ward can easily wield nearly every weapon imaginable, even unconventional ones like a Urimi, basically a whip sword, which is apparently what Ward's secondary sword on his backpack is. Subaru got to see this firsthand when Ward struck down a giant gorilla monster, exactly like the one Subaru faced previously and couldn't even cut into, in a single blow using his Urumi.

As to the reason Ward can be good with every weapon without exception, he's got a Divine Protection of Endless Growth that lets him get better at anything without meeting a rough limit or wall, making him quite the strong force, especially considering he's in his early 30's. If he continues to grow, he'll likely surpass Old Man Wil.

Releasing 3 more arrows quickly, Ward can't help but nod as 2 of them land on more demon beast in the distance, and says "Good, but spread your legs more, and raise your right arm slightly." While repositioning Subaru using his hand and foot. Like this, their training persist for hours, as Subaru improves with the bow at a slightly above average rate.

Returning to their little hollowed out tree, Ward goes to rest for the night while Subaru decides to stay up. He'll just have nightmares if he sleeps anyways, and his body and mind are strong enough that he doesn't really need it more than once a week now.

Holding out his hand while sitting on his bed, Subaru cast Fortress around his hands, looking to better hone his control over the spell. Currently, while changing the shape of the spell works, it puts a lot of strain on Subaru's mind or mana, as he either has to recast the spell, or imagine the space itself, something typically invisible, changing into the desired shape. Furthermore, he can only hold this spell for a short while since space itself tries to fix itself when distorted like this, taking either more mana to maintain or making Subaru simply give up on the spell.

Still, despite those few problems with it, Fortress is sure to become an invaluable spell for Subaru, especially considering one of his major weaknesses is his defense. His skin and muscle currently are like paper in front of a monsters claws, no resistance whatsoever, and while he heal's with the dragons blood, that can be overwhelmed by a strong enough enemy, causing him to die. Worse, if he goes up against someone like Capella again, she can just remove the dragon blood from him, then do whatever she likes with him. Seriously, he doesn't want to go up against her again for a long while.

Finding himself beginning to drift off to sleep, Subaru can't help but think 'oh… guess I was more tired than I thought…' as he finally drifts completely to sleep.

(Subaru POV, 1 day since the mansion attack, Monday.)

Waking up, Subaru can't help but notice how oddly refreshed he is. For the first time in a long, long time, he had no nightmares, no sudden middle of the night awakening, no sudden feelings of inadequacy making him want to self harm. No, instead, he got peace, something he's dearly missed, though he used to think he despised it. Looking around, Subaru quickly finds Ward, cooking a Demon Beast over some fire.

"Oh, finally up, ? Training must've been quite exhausting yesterday, considering you've slept half the day away already." Says Ward, a slight smile on his face from the happiness of seeing Subaru sleep peacefully for the first time. He likes to believe he's made some progress in helping this poor yet incredibly strong boy recuperate from his mental scars, though he knows, he has a long, long way to go.

Jumping out of bed, Subaru can't help but to exclaim while making weird poses "half the day? Did I go into some form of hibernation or something!? Ah wait wait, maybe I'm having some form of Hatsumaki(magical release period) from my strengthened gate? I didn't think the darkness inside of me would really be released!"

"Pfft, isn't a Hatsumaki something only Spirits or really powerful mages who haven't used their mana recently do, ? While you are strong, I don't think you're at that level yet" says Ward, with a slightly playful smile.

"Haaa, guess not. Guess my Chunni dreams will have to wait til I'm even stronger. Moving on from that! Thanks for getting food" says Subaru, sitting down in front of it and placing his hands together, thanking a long list of gods and some of the nicer witches in his head… and decided to thank Daphne just a little too. She made demon beast for this purpose after all.

"Hmm, I've been meaning to ask, but you say some really odd things . Is it some other nations dialogue? While I heard your… story, I didn't happen to hear where you come from." Asks Ward during their meal.

Freezing up momentarily, Subaru thinks about what he should say here, 'Should I tell him? There's no real reason to not tell him I'm from another world, the only reason I didn't bring it up until now was because I was never asked by anyone before, but I'm also not sure how to best explain it… whatever, no harm in trying.' Subaru takes a deep breath and begins explaining "this will be a bit difficult to wrap your head around but… I'm from another world, a place called earth where we have no magic and the only sentient species is humans. No Divine Protections or Authorities either."

His eyebrow raised and apparent confusion in his voice, Ward asks "Another world? As in… beyond the great waterfall? But it doesn't really sound like you're talking about beyond the great waterfall…"

Subaru in response shakes his head, continuing with his previous explanation "I'm not really sure what the great waterfall is besides the edge of the world, but I come from… hmm, maybe somewhere up in the stars is the best way to explain it? The planet I come from is round and entirely separate from here. While I was getting back from shopping, I blinked, and found myself suddenly standing in the middle of Lugnica."

Ward blinks his eyes a few times, confusing apparent in them, before he shakes his head and with a chuckle says "forget I ever asked, my mind can't keep up with all of that."

With a small chuckle, Subaru nods and finishes up his food, then stands up, "so, training time?"

"Yeah, let's head towards the Thorny Woods area, there's stronger Demon Beast that way. All the ones in this area are easily taken care of by you alrea-" suddenly, Subaru and Ward find themselves flying sideways at nearly the speed of sound, along with the entire tree they're living in. With a harsh shattering sound similar to glass, the tree breaks apart as it smashes into other nearby tree's, sending Ward and Subaru flying outside of it and in opposite directions.

Slowly pulling himself up and dusting the snow and ice shards off of him, Subaru looks around while shouting "Ward, are you ok?!" Receiving a thumbs up from a nearby pile of snow, he can't help but to let out a sigh of relief. Shifting his gaze slightly, Subaru looks at the enemy that blew his and Ward's little house away… an enemy he didn't want to face again for a long while.

"Bwa-ha-ha-ha, that expression on your face is just priceless! Tell me, we've met before, right? Just the shock and anger on your face tells me all I need to know. Well, that and the information I got from Lye" says the Archbishop of Lust herself, Capella Esmeralda Lugnica, who's half transformed into what looks to be a beast person transformation, similar to garfiel's but instead of a orange and white Tiger striped arm, a large, white, bear-like one is in its place.

Gritting his teeth in anger, while feeling a sense of dread in his chest, Subaru spits out her name with spite "Capella!…" looking at the lecherous smirk that appears on her face, Subaru has to resist the urge to run at her and slash at her with his… sword… looking around and quickly realizing both him and Ward are without their weapons, Subaru raises his hand and then shouts "Ward, get our weapons! El SHAMAK!" A large black smokescreen envelops Capella, who loses all control over her body due to the effects of El Shamak.

Ward, jumping out from the snow moves at a speed Subaru has a hard time following. Quickly grabbing onto his backpack and grabbing Subaru's sword and chains, Ward returns to Subaru's side just as Capella blast away the black smoke, revealing her slightly amused expression.

"Oh? You don't encounter the yin attribute often… I love it! This is going to be interesting Bwa-ha-ha-ha!" Exclaims Capella as she transforms once again, taking on a black dragons characteristics while still keeping her petite form.

" , judging by that ability and your earlier comment, is it right of me to assume this is the Archbishop of Lust you mentioned previously?" Asks Ward, unsheathing his Urumi.

With a nod, Subaru says "keep your distance… it's over if she touches you. Watch out for her blood and black flames too." As he talks, Subaru is unsheathing his sword, and his chains take on a purple hue. Along with that, Four invisible hands begin to protrude from his body, and a minimap in his mind manifest from Cor Leonis. With a deep breathe, Subaru prepares himself for a tough fight as he says "Ward, we can't beat her. Escape is going to be our best option, but we need to tie her down first, otherwise she'll catch up quicker than we can outrun her."

Ward nods in response, and says "Understood. You have more experience with her than me, so I'll trust your judgement." And with a slash of Ward's Urumi, the battle begins.

As Ward's Urumi aims towards Capella's neck, black scales manifest, causing it to bounce off, only to whip around her body and attack from the opposite side at twice the speed. Once again, black scales manifest, yet the Urumi keeps getting faster and faster, targeting a new part of the body every time Capella manifest scales, annoying her slightly.

Meanwhile Subaru isn't sitting still either, as 30 Minya crystals form in the air, he shouts "Take this!" Firing them all at Capella. With small spikes manifesting across her body, Capella counters every crystal by firing them off like a cartoon porcupine. Then, with a smirk, her legs suddenly turn into that of a ground dragons as she charges straight at Ward while wickedly laughing.

"Bwa-ha-ha-ha! Like I thought, it'll be a lot of fun playing with meatbags you! Let's see just how long you can last against my beauty!" Capella leaps off the ground, hand outstretched towards Ward as he pulls his second sword from his backpack, barely blocking her with the flat of the blade and twisting his body, sending her flying past him deep into the snow.

With a sudden explosion of snow, Capella's full black dragon form comes into view as her mouth, wide opened, is targeted right at Ward, only a few feet away. Just as black flames are about to form, a shout is heard in the form of-

"MURAK!" Subaru, who forces Capella's mouth shut. Seeing his chance, Ward says "thank you for the save." And sheathes both swords within the backpack, tossing it high into the air. With a deep breath, Ward's mana begins to stir as the air begins to heat, creating a spiral of flames around Ward's fist. As his backpack flys back down, just before it hits the ground, Ward grabs the blade, and gently says "Ul Kasa."

In response, the flames wrap around Ward's sword, still in mid swing, and suddenly turn into lightning, caused by the superheating of the air. With a horizontal slash and a small flash of blue that last less than a second, a deafening BOOM rings out as Capella's upper dragon half is blow away, reduced to even less than ash.

With a grown, Ward kneels down as he feels his gate break down just slightly from the use of a spell he's still not prepared to use, especially when it had previous damage done to it.

Subaru, sensing Ward's vulnerability, as well as an opportunity, dashes to Ward, lifting him into his shoulder and glances at Capella, seeing her began to regenerate. With a deep Breath, Subaru shouts "El Shamak!" Casting the spell for a second time this battle. Quickly turning away, Subaru begins to run at full speed with Ward overtop his shoulder, using his parkour abilities to their fullest.

For what felt like hours, Subaru ran with Ward having gotten off his shoulder eventually, managing to keep pace with Subaru. Nearly the entire time, Subaru could feel and hear the heavy wing flaps of Capella as she chased after them through the air in her dragon form, black flames occasionally spewing from her mouth. As they get more and more tired, Ward seemingly has an idea as he grabs Subaru and bolts in a new direction. It only takes an hour for the two of them to arrive at a small cave, that Ward quickly rushes Subaru into.

Breathing heavily, both plop down onto the frozen floor, absolutely exhausted from the chase. With a small chuckle, Ward starts up a conversation "I didn't think you'd be the some saving me, . I thought it'd be the other way around."

With a chuckle of his own, Subaru says "me too. Also, what was that attack? It totally blew her away!" Excitement was in the boys voice as he asked. The attack was strong and cool enough that it left nearly as big of an impression on him as Beatrice and Emilia's Cocyutus spell that was used against the Rabbits.

"Oh, that?" For once, Pride was showing on Ward's face as he began to explain, "It's the one and only spell I've made, Kasa. It's fire magic that makes the air so hot it forms lightning, then I slash the air and send the lightning streaking forward. I got the idea one day during a rainstorm when I watched a lightning bolt split a tree and did some research of my own on how the sky makes lightning."

The explanation alone had Subaru's eyes shining as he was thinking of all the ways he could use an attack like that with the Yin attribute. His Chunni nature itself quickly shined through as he imagined himself cutting down huge armies with a single slash of his sword. Seeing his face, Ward couldn't help but burst into laughter, only to be met with another persons laugher.

"Bwa-ha-ha-ha, that's quite the face you're making there. It really might just charm a girl like me." Says a short haired blond loli with a morphed dragon appendage, who'd appeared behind ward after transforming into a creature small enough neither of them could detect it.

Reaching his hand out towards Ward, Subaru's still a good 3 feet away as Capella's hand is about to touch the top of Ward's head, and with a playful voice, she says "time for some payback~"

With a blood curdling scream of "NOOOOOO!" from Subaru's mouth, everything seems to suddenly stop and fade into a pitch blackness with only faint outlines of everything seen by Subaru, who couldn't even move his eyes.

'What… is this?' Subaru thinks as he tries to tug on his magic, yet the mana itself has frozen too. Next, Subaru tries his authorities, yet none of them function either. All except…

'Greed? Why?' Feeling deeper, Subaru could feel something he hadn't felt a moment ago. A change, and a feeling of completion from his authority of Greed, as though a puzzle piece he didn't know was missing had snapped into place. 'So this is why everything's stopped? But, I can't do anything… how does this help me… if only I could move!' And suddenly, Subaru feels his hand twitch, only for it to have a large gash form across it.

'Ugh!' Only able to groan in his mind, Subaru tries to focus on the sensation he just felt, but notices something else. 'The dragon blood isn't moving… why is nothing working? Actually, why am I even able to think?' As he focuses on the feeling from before, as well as on his authority, Subaru quickly realizes two things. One, his authority isn't actually stopping time, it's speeding his own time to a point far behind others. Two, the reason he can't move and was injured is pushback from the space around him. This, he figured out from the abundance of Yin mana flooding his surroundings, something his somehow still functioning mana sense helped him to figure out. Maybe it still works because unlike everything else, it's a direct part of him instead of something absorbed like his mana, dragon blood or authorities? Subaru will go with that for now.

With these things figured out, Subaru understands what he needs to do. Raising one leg and pushing forward, a large gash forms on Subaru's leg, enough to nearly cut it off. With it accompanies tremendous pain, but by now, Subaru's more than used to pain of this magnitude. In fact, he finds it rather calming. So, each step, Subaru continues moving forward as slash after slash continues to disfigure him, letting him reach Ward by his 10th step. By then, Subaru's body looks worse than during one of Felix torture sessions, but he doesn't care.

Reaching his hand out, Subaru manages to grab wrap himself around Ward, almost as though hugging him. Then, feeling for his authority, Subaru's time returns to normal, which results in a scream of "INVISIBLE PROVIDENCE!" coming from his cut up throat. 4 shadow hands burst from him, slamming Capella back into the frozen caves wall and holding her there momentary.

As he leans into Ward, blood pooling down him, Subaru's dragon blood begins to revive him from the brink of death as his red eyes glare at Capella with a fierce hatred. Gripping onto Subaru, Ward quickly forces himself out of his momentary daze as he lifts him and pulls him away from Capella. Though, that results in the Unseen Hand's being pulled as well, freeing her.

As Capella falls to the ground, she can't help but to burst out laughing once again. This whole time these shitheads have managed to amuse her more than anything these last few weeks. Coming here, at first she was careful, since her gospel told her that the man in front of her would be the one to kill her, but just yesterday, after the capture of that Satella wanna-be's camp her gospel told her she could come kill this worm without repercussions. At first, she found the sudden change odd, but considering it's guidance hasn't failed her so far, she trusted it this time too.

"Ahh~ such a shame, I thought I finally finished our little game of tag! So sad. Oh well… you wouldn't want to run away from the lovely me much longer right? After all, you should be honored, I'm willing to touch you both with lots of my erotic love after all~ Bwa-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha!" Commented Capella, a lustful aura overtaking her entire being as she rubs her legs together and places a finger around her mouth while staring both of them down.

Gritting his teeth in anger, Subaru slowly raises his sword and slowly says "Back off… you hussy… I'm already taken."

Staring at his defiance, Capella couldn't help but want to keep toying with this boy in front of her. His expressions were just so fun! Oh well, all fun has to come to an end at some point, and her gospel told her she absolutely had to kill him or she'd be the one to die, so… Capella's body suddenly turns into a pool of blood, only for her to reappear behind Subaru. Turning pale at what's about to happen, Subaru only has a second to spin around as both him and Ward are ripped in half from the waist by Capella's giant Dragon Claw's. The last thing Subaru sees is a small yet long worm coming from the previous pile of blood where Capella exploded before, letting Subaru know just how she got behind him…

(Subaru POV, 1 day since the mansion attack, Monday.)

His back shooting up from the bed, Subaru's body is covered in cold sweat from the feeling of death he had slowly stopped getting used to. Looking around, Subaru found Ward staring at him in worry as he opened his mouth and asked,

"Are you alright, ?… you were sleeping well a moment ago." Getting up and walking over to him, Ward see's the sweat covering Subaru's face and places his hand on Subaru's head, and mumbles "…A fever?… no… did you just have a nightmare?"

Quickly snapping out of his momentary daze, Subaru takes a deep breath and says "Y-Yeah, something like that, a nightmare." Capella definitely was a nightmare, though it's not as bad as it could've been… he's still not sure why she killed him instead of showing him her 'love.' Especially when she was going to turn Ward into an abomination just a second prior. Now that he thinks about it… it wasn't long from now that the attack started. It'd be best to prepare quickly.

Activating Cor Leonis and Spreading his mana sense, Subaru's suddenly blinded by a flash of bright light as he's forced to cover his eyes. "Agh- Ward!?" Feeling a hand grab his shoulder, a hand he recognizes, Subaru slowly calms down, uncovering his eyes. In front of his eyes is… a glowing, transparent, misty greyish stream flowing through the air. No, not just one stream, but hundreds, some different colors such as blue, red, brown, white and gold. Deactivating his mana sense, the flowing misty rivers in the air disappear, leaving Subaru back with his normal sight. Subaru switches his mana sense on and off a few times just to grasp a basic understanding of what's going on with him, and quickly figures out the flowing rivers must be mana.

Checking his gate, Subaru can't help but gasp, much to Ward's confusion. With this doubling, Subaru's gate has undergone a change drastic enough for him to consider if it's possible not even his now. Although mana still flows through it and purifies like a normal person, simultaneously several transparent lines constantly emanate from Subaru, lines he feels as though he can control. Switching his mana sense back on, Subaru glances around in wonder while Ward watches, carefully looking into Subaru's eyes and catching the reflection of what's in them, letting him know what Subaru is seeing. The sight of Subaru's eyes being filled with transparent glowing mist caused some weird sense of excitement and wonder to fill Ward's chest, leading him to ask,

"Subaru, what is it you're seeing right now?" While poking Subaru to bring him back to reality.

Feeling Ward's pokes, Subaru quickly snaps to attention as he says "I'll need to explain later. For now, can you come with me? I can't explain it, but it's important for our safety."

Ward stares deeply into Subaru's eyes, then nods and says "I trust you."

Hearing that, Subaru can't help but to smile as he vows to protect Ward. These last few days have made Subaru incredibly attached to this man and look up to his even more than he did Wilhelm. Respond to Ward's trust, Subaru walks out the door and begins printing, his mana sense and minimap activated constantly as he searches for Capella. As for where Subaru's running to… glancing at the giant tree in the distance, a plan quickly comes to Subaru's mind.

Authors Notes!

Hello! Just finished the chapter. I like this one quite a bit, since I finally reached a part in the story I've been fantasizing about quite a lot. I also got to show off Ward's spell, it's the second favorite original spell I've made. Speaking of spells, did you know Tappei makes spell names by taking Japanese sound effects and shortening them to sound better? It's simple but is really fun to mess around with. Ward's spell name is actually just the shortened version of the Burn (as in sunburn) because of the way it's produced. Anyways, that's all, hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Q&A:

Q:Lucian Naruto: Just out of curiosity, I was reading his page on the wiki and wanted to ask you something to get your opinion.

Question: Do you think Felix is mentally unstable? I'm not saying this because I hate the character or anything, but reading about Felix's backstory and other information like the pride route, I think Felix feels something stronger than loyalty and friendship for Crusch and that's not a romantic feeling.

This is just my opinion, but with the traumas Felix has suffered through his parents' fault since his birth and with Crusch having been his savior, I believe Felix has an obsession and emotional dependence on Crusch to the point of fanaticism. Crusch treats Felix very well, but seeing his history and behavior, I feel like Felix is not a knight to her, Felix is Crusch's slave.

He's so devoted and focused on Crusch that in my opinion if she had been a bad person, Felix would have been able to kill innocents if she ordered.

I honestly wonder if Crusch ever realized this dependency Felix had on her, as I honestly don't think that's the case, as if she had, I believe she would have tried to find help for the hot boy.

Felix's life boils down to serving Crusch, being capable of extreme acts for her if necessary. In these variations of the fanfic 'Re:Forgotten' where Felix tortures Subaru with the help of Julius, is an example of this, as it was confirmed in canon the cat boy's desperation to find a cure for Crusch, with himself saying that he could torture an archbishop so if need be.

I keep wondering Felix's reaction in these scenarios when he remembers Subaru and realizes he tortured an innocent? I believe it would affect his mental state even more, especially if Crusch is involved.

In my opinion in a scenario like this, I believe that Felix would attempt suicide, because in addition to having used his power against an innocent, this would also have brought shame to his master's name, in which Felix could attempt suicide, but would be prevented by those around him. around him and Crusch would do what she should have done a long time ago.

Committing him to a sanatorium for Felix's own protection and thus he would receive help for his mental state, as at that point he would have gone insane.

But what do you think? This is just my question... do you think Felix is mentally unstable and has an emotional obsession/dependence on Crusch being basically her slave?

A:I do agree that he's mentally unstable, honestly since I first saw him in the anime I always knew something was a bit off, like he was being friendly just for the sake of it. I don't think he'd commit suicide though, even after having gone insane I feel like it'd be more him trying to justify himself, saying it was for Crusch's sake and just having little to no remorse, especially after seeing Subaru's current strength. Plus, he's a healer and detest methods like suicide, a mindset deeply ingrained into him at this point.

Suggestions:

S:Griffith Moses: Just a suggestion but considering the relationship at the time of arc 5 with Subaru gifting Meili dolls and often taking the time to talk to her unlike basically everyone else. When everybody gets there memories back I hope those 2 will be allowed to bond. Like say over Capella death. aka the main reason why Meili never tried to escape.

A:I honestly didn't give Meili enough thought, so thank you, I'll see about incorporating this. Though considering the stance I plan to have Subaru take, this might be difficult.