Chapter 10: Mutual Destruction
Author Notes!
Hello! Airi here, with a few things to say. First off, if you haven't yet, read the chapter titled "Dragon" first, as it, and this one, are both rewrite. If you don't read it, then this chapter won't make sense at all. Second, this one took absolutely forever to make, I have 5 whole, 3-7k word, scrapped chapters, and it's always the ending that I have issues with, so apologies if it's a little bit weak, I tried really hard to give it a good ending. Finally, I'm gonna take a small break to focus on Trials of the Od as I've really gotta get a chapter for that one out. Anyways, enjoy!
"HAAA!" Subaru lets out a war cry as he rushes at Capella, his chains swinging through the air towards her head, only for Capella to duck beneath the chains at the last second, both her speed and physical movements inhuman. Next comes Subaru's sword, stabbing forward at the Archbishops chest and plunging into her heart, only for Capella's muscles to harden around the sword, keeping it in place and trapping Subaru for a brief moment.
"Kyahaha! Got you ya piece of shit!" Capella shouts as her hand slams down into Subaru's left arm, twisting it slightly unnaturally. Yet, Capella's face twist into one of confusion, as upon activating her authority, she fails to change Subaru, instead, she only finds an invisible force just barely blocking her.
Staring right into Capella's eyes, Subaru says two words, "Invisible Providence." Followed by the sound of Capella's body getting pummeled by several fist, each aiming for her joints, to keep her from retaliating. Pulling on his sword, Subaru realizes he isn't getting it out without issue, so he decides to reveal one of the things he's kept hidden in their fight until now, a incomplete technique he learned from watching Ward's Sun Sword during their sparring matches.
"Weapon Art: Yin Coating." With a low hum as the air around Subaru's sword seems to tremble, Capella finds her chest suddenly shredded as Subaru's sword vibrates, as an ethereal glow of purple coming off of the blade. 'Ugh, the mana cost is insane. I could've made 200 Minya's with this much mana!' Pulling his sword out, Subaru raises his sword high into the air in preparation to slash Capella, only to—
BOOM
—have a punch fast enough to break the sound barrier hit him directly in the face, breaking his nose. A fist the size of a dragon arm has emerged from the hole he made in Capella's chest, sending Subaru flying down off the wishing tree and plummeting towards the ground. Pulling his 8 Unseen Hands underneath himself, Subaru just barely creates a platform to stop himself from turning into a puddle of blood.
BOOM
Another boom range out as the air itself fails to keep up with Capella, who's transformed into a half dragon and hurls herself off the tree so fast she's simply a blur in Subaru's eyes. Gritting his teeth, Subaru glares up at her as he activates Cor Logium. Time begins to slow around Subaru, but doesn't stop completely as he feels a semblance of control compared to the last loop, when he first activated it right before death. If it's now…
Kicking off the ground, Subaru's body takes on a new speed as he sustains less injuries. Although he's not so fast he stops time completely anymore, if only in burst of 0.5 seconds, Subaru feels as though he could speed himself up anywhere from twice as much to nine times as much, showing off just how strong Greed can be. Tilting his head slightly as Capella's dragon arm swings at his head, Subaru disables Cor Logium as his Unseen Hands combine into one giant hand, and hit Capella right in the stomach, sending her flying in the opposite direction with a loud boom as her whole body surpasses the speed of sound.
Falling back down to the ground, Subaru holds still as his dragons blood begins to heal the hundreds of small cuts across his body that make him look like a giant piece of paper attacked him. From the distance, a loud ROAR rings out as Capella transforms into a Colossal black dragon, breathing flames in the direction of Subaru, destroying everything in the area around him as he barely defends himself my casting Fortress, though even that's not maintained for long as Capella's flames burn space itself, falling to the ground and burning the ice after, shattering it rather than outright melting it.
"A piece of human waste like you is actually putting up a decent fight against this wonderful lady, aren't you? Too bad it's useless, much like your life! BWAHAHA!" Capella's voice rings out from her dragon body. Just as Subaru's about to run at her and engage in combat once more, a massive shadow appears overhead.
'Shit, I forgot about that!' Shouts Subaru as he notices the other colossal black dragon now falling from the top of the tree, mouth wide open as flames gather in its mouth, it deciding it's best to either eat him or burn him, or perhaps even both at once. A chill assaults Subaru's spine just thinking about the pain such a thing would bring on.
"AHHH CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP! EL MURAK!" Half of Subaru's mana drains in an instant as he cast advanced weight reduction magic, forcing the Dragon to fall at a far slower rate. "Ugh… next up is!"
Subaru jumps and gets lifted high into the air as an Unseen Hand carry's him straight towards the Dragon. Seeing this, black flames spew from the dragons mouth, which are countered by Subaru using Fortress with a slight twist this time, as he uses most of his concentration to forcefully change the shape once the Black Flames land atop his invisible shield, shaking them off of him as he goes up. Now next to the mostly floating Dragon, Subaru jumps once more as he yet again combines the Unseen Hands into a giant one, wrapping it around his own hand and taking a breath in… "Weapon Art: Yin Coating!" Another massive dip in mana as Subaru's Unseen Hands, outlined to all by a small purple glow, slams right through the dragons head while vibrating, spreading the brain matter and black blood contained within its veins across the tree and ground.
"I see! So you're the one who has sloth now! You really will make a fine addition to my children~ KYAHAHA!"
BOOM
Another loud boom rings out as Subaru finds himself sent flying back to the ground in less than a second, with several ribs broken, his right arm missing along with his sword, and his left leg twisted at an odd angle, all from a single punch of Capella catching him off guard.
"Hmm~ should I graciously wait for you to heal? You're a good enough clown to entertain my adorable self after all, but… it'd be too boring to nothing while you sit on the ground over right?" A shit eating grin spreads across Capella's face as she continues speaking, "Why don't I go mess with that blond boy over there and see if he's just as fun as you?"
Checking on Ward with Cor Leonis, Subaru can see he's still fighting with the assassins. Though Ward's killed most of them by now, if a absolute monster like Capella joins in on that fight… what'll happen likely doesn't even need to be said. Placing his remaining arm onto the ground, Subaru forces himself to stand as he readies his chains and manifest 40 Minya, aiming them all at Capella. "I'm sure I can keep you entertained while I heal up, Capella, or maybe, your loves so weak you can't stay devoted for even a few minutes?"
"Ohhh? BWAHAHA! What a weak taunt! As should be expected from a pathetic meatbag even lower than dragon dung! Well, whatever, if you wanna play with this lovely lady a while longer, why don't we?" Capella disappears in a blur, her speed suddenly several times fast than a moment ago, making even sound delay as a boom only rings after she's already arrived next to Subaru.
Gritting his teeth, Subaru activates Cor Logium at 9X speed, and forces his body to duck beneath Capella's hand, though judging by the large slash that's formed across his chest, it may've been a better idea to simply get hit while using an Unseen Hand to stop Capella's Authority. 'Ugh, this drawback might be worse than Invisible Providence used to be… it feels like my skins getting scraped off every time I move even a little. If I'm going to use this I need to change up how I do it, I can't keep dodging with large movements… make every move as small as possible, like Ultra in- WOAH!'
As Subaru ducks under Capella's fist, a small earth dragon's face emerges from her foot, nearly biting Subaru's head off, only stopped by an Unseen Hand forcing its mouth open and a Minya to its chest, breaking out off of Capella's body. "Ugh!" Groaning as he feels his remaining arm begin to split straight down the middle, Subaru twist his body and uses his Weapon Coating yet again, lowering Subaru's mana down to only 1/10th of what he usually has as his fist collides with Capella's face, launching her forward instead of shredding her this time. 'Crap, I really won't survive much longer if you don't hurry Ward!…'
(Ward POV)
Cutting through the last of the assassins with his Sun Sword, Ward quickly decides he can't leave Subaru waiting any more than this and turns to jump off the branch he's on—
FWOOOSH
—only for a massive ball of fire to slam into his body, sending him flying as burns cover his left arm. Skidding on the ice, Ward uses his blade to stop himself from falling off the tree while in this state, as he surely wouldn't be able to catch his balance. Tap, Tap, Tap. Glancing up, Ward can see a woman dressed in black and red, a hood with a metal plating containing a single red dragons eye covering her face, and two blood red gloves covering her hands, the fingers sharpened and a unique magic circle covering each. What stands out most of all, however, is the magic stone kept inside a locked on her chest, glowing a rainbow color and radiating enough power to send chills down his spine.
Yawn "I wanted to sleep a little longer, but you finished up a little faster here than mother would like. Since I still don't want to fight though, if you stay still I won't hurt you, mother wants you alive anyways, though…" a sudden bloodlust emanates from the girls body "…don't think that means I won't kill you if you disobey me."
Staring at where he believes her eyes would be, Ward slowly stands and bows slightly, and says "I apologize, I promised a friend I would assist him in his fight… so I cannot comply with you." Ward levels both weapons at the woman, despite his arms injuries, "but since you showed me some courtesy, I shall return it with my own. On my name as Ward Alessandra, if you simply move aside and allow me to assist my friend, I shall not harm you."
The woman sighs and raises her hand, "Ul—"
"I won't let you!" Ward swings his Urumi, creating a small sonic boom as it's enchantment activates, a type of wind magic that causes objects to accelerate.
"—Fura" Within an instant, hundreds of small, marble sized, balls of wind begin to assault Ward's position, creating a cloud of dust and snow as the ice on the tree breaks apart…
"Goa." Ward's voice rings from within the dust, as a blue fireball shoots out at the girl, nearly hitting her, only to be blocked by an ice wall she creates by controlling the surrounding terrain. The flames cause the dust and snow to clear, revealing Ward with a transparent, blue shield wrapped around himself, and a blue magic stone in his left hand that quickly crumples away due to losing the mana inside. "I'll admit, if I was any slower I would've died… you're quite strong."
"…aren't you just really weak?" Asks the girl as several light spears appear in the air around her, without even a chant.
"Perhaps." Responds Ward, "even if I am truly weak, however, I will still beat you here. I made a promise after all." With that statement, a deafening explosion rings out right below the girls feet, sending her flying through the air as burns adorn her body. Ward quickly reaches into his backpack, pulling out several beads of various colors, magic stones that've been refined to be the size of small marbles, a item he's made after hearing of a Shinobi within Vollachia who uses similar weaponry. Throwing each of those beads with as much force as he can right at the girl, Ward jumps from the tree branch just as the explosions go off, using his swords to slow his momentum as he makes his way down the tree.
(Subaru POV)
'My mana's run dry…' Gasping for breath, Subaru raises his chain, carried in both hands now that he's recovered, and prepares to yet again face Capella's onslaught. Since Capella can't change Subaru due to his Unseen Hands acting as a shield against her by fusing with his body, she's instead begun turning into people Subaru knows, flaunting the knowledge she got from gluttony.
"S-Subaru, what do you think you're doing, I wonder!?" Shouts Capella, taking the form of Beatrice as Subaru yet again swings his whip at her, taking off her head, only for it to regenerate. 'This is tiring…' Subaru can't help but think to himself. Her speech patterns, little movements, even the fear, Capella's perfectly replicated it. After testing it a little, the only thing that seems to be missing is memory of actual events, probably because Gluttony couldn't eat Subaru's memories, only his name.
"Felis k~new it, you really were pride… otherwise you'd never hurt the great spirit like nyat." A chill runs down Subaru's spine, as the voice doesn't come from Capella, but behind Subaru. Twisting his body and activating Cor Logium at X2 speed, Subaru strikes with his whip towards Felix chest, splitting him in half in an instant, only for Felix corpse to dissolve within seconds.
Bang, feeling an impact hit his back, followed by the Unseen Hand protecting him breaking apart, realization sets in, 'She cloned herself!?' Only slightly too late. Bang, Bang, Bang over and over, Capella's fist impact Subaru arms and legs, each impact changing Subaru just slightly, as new limbs form in some place, with some other parts being replaced by fur or scales, turning Subaru into an abomination. Feeling how slowly it's spreading, Subaru can tell Capella is just playing with him now, making sure he suffers as much as possible from her authority…
'She's toying with me… I'm being made someone's toy again… so weak… why am I weak?… I don't want to be weak… I hate being weak…. Why am I so pathetic?… I always fail over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over… I want to die. I want to give up. I tried hard so why can't I give up? If I give up I'll go back and do better, if I give up I won't have to experience this, so—'
"SUBARUUUUUU" BOOM, Capella's sent flying as pure white lightning strikes her, sending her crashing into the Tree of Prayers trunk, as a Ward lands protectively in front of Subaru, both swords point at Capella.
"W…Ward?" Subaru's hoarse voice asks.
"That's right, it's me, Subaru… I apologize for being late." Ward's Sun Sword glows a brilliant yellow as its enchantment activates, heating the nearby air from the Yang magic. In his other hand, a subtle glow of silver emits from Ward's Urumi, as the Meteor activates, creating a gentle wind around it. "Can you stand?"
Subaru nods, and with a flick of his whip, all the extra limbs he's been forced to grow are sent flying off as his dragon blood takes hold, quickly stopping the bleeding. Standing up, Subaru glances around, looking for his sword that he lost earlier—
"Looking for something?"
—only for Ward to hand it to him. Taking hold of it, Subaru weakly smiles and says "thanks." Then readies his sword at Capella, his face slowly morphing into expressionless.
Capella looks at them with a slightly deranged smile as she says "While it's certainly been entertaining to beat the shit out of you lower than low pathetic losers… I think it's about time for my Awe-Inspiring self to end this foolish little resistance of yours, don't you?"
"Yes, I believe it's about time we put an end to you." Responds Ward, as he smiles at Capella, though it doesn't quite reach his eyes.
Subaru simply nods, as 70 Minya crystals manifest around him, his mana replenishing slightly during Capella thrashing him earlier.
What signals the start of this final fight is Capella's figure blurring, appearing near instantaneously next to Subaru and punching out, aiming for his head. Raising the flat of his Sword while using Cor Logium at 5X speed, Subaru barely blocks Capella as he slides backwards a few feet. Ward, jumping up over Subaru, cuts downward with his glowing Sun Sword, only to have Capella back step out of the way. Suddenly, his sword grows twice its size, piercing her straight through the stomach as Ward slashes, splitting her in half.
"Ul Kasa." Just as Capella's split in half, lightning forms around Ward's foot as he slams his heel into the back of her head, sending her flying towards Subaru. Pointing his sword straight out, Subaru impales the regenerating Capella and flings her into the air, holding her in place as she's barraged by Minya crystals.
ROAAAAAAAAAR shaking the ground is Capella, who's transformed herself into her dragon form to deal with the barrage of attacks. Black flames form within her throat, as she attempts to burn Subaru to nothing. "Who said you could open your damn mouth!?" Shouts Ward, as his Urumi, with speed it shouldn't possibly have, comes crashing down onto Capella's snout, forcing her mouth close and her face to the ground, though a shattering sound rings out in the process…
As Capella's face hits the ground, Subaru combines all 8 Unseen Hands into one massive one, "Vita" and increases the effects of gravity, as the first slams straight into Calella's face and sends her flying, right back to Ward, who's now standing above a circle of carved out ice, his Sun Sword raised high as it crackles with lightning. "UL KASA—!"
BOOM-
As Ward's Sun Sword slams down onto Capella, sending her flying down into the ice beneath him, a beam of light pierces his forehead, fired from atop the tree. Time slows in Subaru's vision as he see's this, just as a rainbow light begins to emit from the hole… watching Ward begin to fall into the hole, Subaru moves his body through stopped time, regardless of injury. He knows that if Ward falls into that hole, there's a chance, however small, he may not be able to undo the effects even with Return By Death…
One step, A large gash on the chest.
Two steps. A missing left arm.
Three steps.. His throat is slit.
Four steps… His left leg falls off.
A single hop… his eyes are gone, and yet…
'I made it.' Time resumes as Blood spurts out of every hole of Subaru's body, his breathing stops as pain sets in. Yet, pushing through it all and summoning all 8 Unseen Hands, Subaru throws the corpse in his hands far into the distance… and is engulfed in rainbow light.