Chapter 8: Companions
Using mana enchantments to strengthen his body Subaru did a backflip to avoid the small fireball that was headed his way. Landing on his feet, he wasted no time and swung his left dagger sideways, managing to destroy an incoming ice crystal.
Breaking into a sprint, he ran forward as fast as possible, trying to make some distance between him and his attackers. Jumping on top of a tree branch he tried traveling through them. Unfortunately for him, he was barely able to travel through three of them before a wind blade cut the one he was standing on, making him fall to the ground.
Quickly shifting his body in the air, he was able to redirect it and land on his feet. Quickly he cast 'Murak' and jumped multiple meters in the air dodging the dulled earth spikes that erupted from the group, with the intent of hitting him.
"Fula" hearing the quiet chat, the boy was able to block the wind blade fired in his direction using his daggers.
Knowing that he was at a disadvantage in the air, he canceled 'Murak' and cast 'vita' while also reinforcing his legs with as much mana as he could. Seconds later, he crashed into the ground, a small crack in the earth appearing in his wake. He ignored his stinging legs and rolled to his left, dodging an incoming purple crystal. Seeing a silhouette from afar he knew they were preparing for an attack
"El huma!"
"Minya!"
A rain of ice crystals were fired from his left to which Subaru responded by firing a rain of Minya crystals to intercept them.
Most of the attacks canceled each other while Subaru, with some difficulty, was able to destroy or dodge the few remaining projectiles.
Knowing that staying in one place was just asking to get attacked, he forced his tired body to continue moving. [I need to get behind one of the big trees] thought the boy. Even if it was only for a few seconds, he needed to rest.
But, before he could even turn towards the trees an earth wall erupted in front of him, blocking his path. He tried to backtrack only to find another earth wall already there. [Fuck, at this rate i'll be corne'd!"] Knowing that he was surrounded, Subaru hurriedly thought of a way out of his predicament.
"Shamac!" A huge cloud of smoke erupted from Subaru's position, managing to hide him from his attacker's views. As soon as the spell was cast, he jumped over the earth wall with his mana reinforced strength and ran straight into the forest in front of him in hopes of finding a hiding spot.
While in the smoke he dodged multiple projectiles that had threatened to hit him but fortunately were too off course to do so. It seems the shamac was doing its job.
Managing to get behind a large three he breathed a sigh of relief at being able to rest for a moment. That moment was cut short when he felt two earth tentacles grabbing at his feet and keeping him locked in place.
"Shit! Vita!" Thinking fast, he increased the weight of the earth, making it lose its form which allowed him to free his legs and move positions.
"Vita!" Feeling his body weight increasing he knew he had been caught.
"Shamac!" In one last attempt he tried to hide once more from their view.
"Fula" A storm of wind instantly destroyed his 'shamac' and left a bewildered Subaru, who was not expecting that. It seems the same trick would not work again.
[Fuck! I'm surrounded. I need to-] His train of thought interrupted a burning sensation in his arm.
"I got you!" A smiling Lucy appeared out of the shadows and boasted.
Subaru, who was exhausted from having to dodge the entire time, just gave her a tired smile. That was all he could muster at the moment.
The girl, Lucy, had bright emerald eyes and emerald-colored hair with tinges of white which were braided in two ponytails, one on each side. She wore a plain light green dress with tinges of white reaching to her feet and was bare footed.
"No fair, I almost had him!" Kazu complained as she was sure she got him. Lucy took her win! She was so close.
"Well, that was a fun warm-up." Halibel, who had been watching the whole affair from afar, made his presence known.
Subaru was unable to stay quiet at that.
"Warm-up my ass, that was torture!" He had almost been skinned alive, burned alive, and turned into mincemeat! How was that a warm-up?!
"Stop exaggerating Su-san. You know they turned down their magic; at most, it would have been a hit to the face or a minor burn."
Okay, so maybe he was exaggerating a tiny bit... But his point remained! That had been hard as hell!
It had been two weeks ever since Aqua had first evolved and as you might have expected all of his spirits had evolved either that same day or the next. All of them choose a similar form one way or another. And as he said before, Subaru had no problem with that.
Still, he had to admit, it was weird to have six children around him, in his home or while training all the same.
It was something he would definitely need to get used to.
Contrary to his thoughts, Halibel had not been surprised in the slightest. Instead, he was bullied on the fact that he came back with five more children than the day before and hadn't seen it coming earlier.
What a prick.
After the bullying session ended, he quickly got to work, and he had to say it was difficult.
While the aspects of mana such as mana pool, mana absorption, mana control, and power had increased dramatically, their fighting style had changed completely.
Before, when his spirits had been flying orbs, his vision had never really been affected. Now however, if they did not coordinate well, then he was stuck with a flying child blocking his vision.
It wasn't only him either, the same applied to his spirits themselves. Before they could just fly around and not interfere with each other while they did their own thing. Now if they weren't paying attention they'd bump into each other and break their concentration on whatever spell they were trying to cast.
Subaru knew that it was partly because of the sudden change they were having. If they had time to adapt he was sure they would all do just fine.
He was proven correct as now, just two weeks later, they had already stopped bumping into each other and since that was mostly done with, they were now working on coordination.
Slow, sure, but it would eventually be worth it.
"I still can't fathom how you managed to convince them to make me go through that. I still feel sore all over."
"I'm just awesome like that."
Subaru had no idea how Halibel convinced them to bully him like that! He knew that it was supposed to be training and all, but he seriously felt like they were enjoying it more than they should've been.
"We should probably get to working on your coordination, the quicker you get that done with the better, you know why."
Subaru had to make a face at that. He knew exactly what Halibel was talking about. He couldn't help but still feel slightly bitter at him, but he quickly pushed back that feeling.
He knew Halibel was not at fault there.
(Flashback, a day after all of his spirits had evolved.)
"Ul huma" A giant crystal, courtesy of Ruby, erupted from the ground and impaled the spot where Halibel had just been, who jumped back to avoid the attack.
Subaru, who knew he had to keep pressing, quickly signaled Lucy and Luna to prepare to try and catch Halibel off guard.
Of course, Halibel wasn't just going to stand there and let Subaru plan. He threw a mana-infused kunai at blinding speeds towards Subaru's direction.
"Dona!" An earth wall erupted and barely blocked the thrown projectile. This was thanks to Gaia, who was now also a little girl with brown shoulder-length hair, a dark brown dress and a pair of brown shorts. She also wore sports shoes to which Subaru just had to wonder how in the world she got the mental image of them so accurately as to be able to make her own pair.
Her magic was another thing Subaru had noticed recently; Gaia's earth spells were stronger than normal. It wasn't just the fact that she was a great spirit either. No, it seemed the more mana she put in a spell the stronger they became, more specifically, the stronger the earth got. As of now, he had seen her create earth which was even stronger than metal!
Yes, that also meant that kunai Halibel just threw was almost capable of breaking metal. That wasn't even counting how strong it would be if he was serious. Terrifying.
Seeing the earth wall block the attack Subaru quickly used the time and sent mental orders to his spirits. He had a plan.
Subaru moved away from the protection of the earth wall and sent a rain of 'Minya' towards Halibel. As expected, Halibel blocked each one effortlessly. But that was part of the plan as it forced him back to the forest.
"El fula" hearing the blade of wind cutting through the air with his enhanced senses, he pulled a Kunai from his punch and threw it so fast it was able to neutralize the spell.
"Ul Goa!'' Multiple balls of fire were thrown in front of his view and blocked the path forward. Making it obvious to Halibel that Subaru was trying to force him to enter the forest.
"dona" Using earth magic he created a pillar—jumping over the fire, getting away from the forest, and closer to Subaru.
But this is exactly what Subaru expected. He knew Halibel would notice his "plan." Unfortunately for him, that plan had just been a decoy.
[Now!] Subaru mentally screamed through his connection
Luna, who had followed Subaru's plan, materialized right as Halibel touched the ground, giving him no time to react to the 'shamac' she cast.
Being caught unaware due to the increase in skill this 'shamac' had, and how suddent the attack was, he had been unable to avoid it.
"Do it now," Subaru called out. It was now or never.
"Ul Jiwald" Around one hundred heat rays were fired from Lucy's position. Each of them being just as strong as basic Jiward and harder to predict because of their spontaneous movements and their amount.
This was it, Halibel would shake out of the shamac in a second but it would be too late for him to fully counter. Knowing him, he would probably find a way to negate most of the damage, but that was fine. They would finally be able to land a hit on him.
The shadows of the shamac dispel, the wolfman who looking surprised at the incoming attack, and then-
BOOM*! A giant smoke cloud was created from the impact. Blocking his view, Subaru reacted by using Kazu's gate to cast a gust of wind to clear the smoke cloud. He could not allow Halibel to use it to his advantage.
Who knew what kind of tricks that wolf could pull!
When the wind dispersed the smoke, Subaru was able to see-
"...A tree trunk?" Subaru sounded out in a confused tone.
Instead of partially burned Halibel, Subaru saw a mutilated tree trunk. That's if you could even call it a tree trunk anymore; the amount of damage it received made it look like a pile of ash.
"Substitution!" He quickly understood what had happened. Knowing this he turned and looked around. Where could Halibel be? He could be anywhere! He needed to figure out his position quickly before-
"Eeep!" He heard a surprised yelp from behind. He knew that voice, and it was because of knowing whose voice it was that he looked back with a bit of panic in his stance.
What he saw was...infuriating? Confusing? Unexpected? He wasn't sure of what to call it. But, he did know one thing: he hated the sight.
Halibel had Aqua at knifepoint.
"I give up." That was the only thing he could do.
While magic attacks (especially their same element) were pretty ineffective on them, physical attacks were a different story.
They were very effective to say the least.
Subaru knew that Halibel wouldn't actually attack her. But even so, just the fact that a knife was near her neck was enough to make him feel fear and anger at the situation.
To his utter relief, the moment Halibel heard his words he stepped away from Aqua and took the knife away from her.
This made Aqua sight in relief, even if she knew Halibel wouldn't do it, it felt uncomfortable for him to do that, especially with the stare Subaru was giving him.
When he confirmed her safety, Subaru quickly called Aqua to his side. When she was in range he hugged her tight, getting a yelp from her. Subaru ignored that.
Just the thought of something happening to her terrified him.
No, not just her. The thought of any of his spirits receiving any harm infuriated him. But it didn't just infuriate him either, it also scared him. Terrified him even. He did not want to lose any of them.
He wouldn't allow that to happen. He would make sure of it.
Instinctively he threw a heated glare at Halibel. He knew that he shouldn't. He knew it was unfair. But even if that was true he couldn't help but feel this way.
Halibel didn't seem affected by it in the slightest. He knew that Subaru would get mad. However, he also knew this was something he should be made aware of now rather than later.
The fact that he wasn't the only one that could be targeted.
"I told you that you should prepare for something like this Su-san." Halibel said straightforwardly.
He continued by saying "We should probably stop for today and continue tomorrow, it's for the best." He turned around and began walking away.
Before Subaru could even say a thing Halibel disappeared from view, almost as if he was never there.
"Baru-" Not allowing Aqua to finish whatever she was going to say. Subaru put her on his shoulder and began to walk in the direction of his apartment, where knew Halibel wouldn't be.
He had no desire to do anything right now. He did not want his spirits to leave his side either. Was this overprotectiveness? If so then he didn't care.
The only other time he had felt fear similar to this was his first day in Kararagi and he did not want anything from that day to repeat itself.
He spent the rest of that day reflecting on his reaction and how he treated Halibel, feeling a deep sense of guilt and embarrassment from his actions.
He cursed himself for allowing his emotions to take control. He should know better than that!
He also resolved himself to train even harder! If he could get better, then there would be no need for anything like that to happen again.
But, it wasn't just himself who would strive to get stronger.
All seven of them would get better and watch each other's backs, they would take care of each other.
That was one of the things he said when he made the contract wasn't it? Well, he would die before he even thought of breaking that.
Of that he was sure.
(Back to the present)
Subaru felt regret for the anger he felt back then, but that didn't mean he thought it was wrong. In fact, he felt it was justified.
What he felt guilty about was the way he treated Halibel. It was unfair and unjust as he had just been trying to help him. In his own way of course, but still, the point stands.
He already tried apologizing but Halibel just brushed it off and said it was nothing. He knew he held no ill feelings and that just made him feel worse.
Halibel was his first friend. He helped him out when he had nowhere to go. Even now, he was helping him get stronger.
Subaru remembered something Halibel had said on the first day they met: "I can't let potential like that go to waste." It was only now that Subaru realised the demihuman was just telling half the story; that in reality Halibel had just been making sure the teen could defend himself.
Subaru sometimes seriously struggled to remember that Halibel was an assassin, one of the most dangerous in the world, because of acts of kindness like those.
Well, there wasn't much that he could do now. He knew Halibel would just say his apologies were 'unnecessary' and such. But what was the harm in trying, right?
"Yeah, yeah I know I should. Still sorry about that time, I was wrong."
"I already told you there's no need to apologize. I would be more disappointed if you didn't react like that." Just as he expected, Halibel brushed away his apologies. "Instead of just sitting there, why don't you tell Aqua to heal your injuries? We should get going. Oh! Also, did I mention that this is how we're starting every morning now?"
Subaru gasped in horror, forgetting his previous gilt at that.
Having to go through that spartan training every day? Worst of all, Knowing Halibel he would eventually up the difficulty and tell him to 'deal with it and he would have no choice but to deal with it.
Suddenly he stopped the horror and instead smiled. He had something that could stop that.
"You say that but, my cute little spirits would never do that to me, right?"
Hearing no answer and seeing Halibel's unwavering smile made his sudden arrogance go stale. With nervousness in his voice, he repeated.
"R-right girls?"
From that day on, mornings were not kind to Natsuki Subaru.
"Let me go," Lucy exclaimed half-heartedly, to a Subaru who was carrying her in his arms.
"No, we've been over this already." Subaru wasn't going to do that. She would definitely try to threaten the next person who says even slightly badmouthed her attire, and although Subaru knew she wouldn't follow up with those threats, it wouldn't do his image any good.
On top of that, the second-hand embarrassment was hard to handle.
"Besides, if you wanted out, you could do it yourself. It's not like I'm putting much effort into my hold." Subaru added, Lucy just looked down with her cheeks red. She had been caught.
"Maybe I will!"
"Alright then, do it," and just like he expected, she "ignored him" and didn't do it.
"Don't scream, you're attracting a lot of attention," Luna, who clearly didn't like attention, spoke out. Not unlike the rest of his spirits, she had taken the form of a small little child, and had light purple back-length hair, just like Ruby's. She wore a plain shirt, not unlike Aqua's, a knee-length skirt, and had a pair of flats for shoes.
Hearing her words, Subaru quickly noticed her point and felt his face get red from embarrassment. Here he was, thinking about the embarrassment Lucy's words gave him but he was causing a scene himself.
In all honesty between him and his spirits everyone's relationship was close. They were all close enough to call each other family, and yet, somehow Subaru felt like she was a bit more distant than the rest. It was almost as if she had something to say but never said it. Subaru never approached her on it, he wanted her to tell him himself, so he would wait.
For now, he would say nothing.
"*Cough, Right, sorry, we should probably finish what we came here to do." He tried to change the topic and save some of his dignity.
Subaru was looking for a whip. Why may you ask? Well, it was simple.
Since his spirits now had physical bodies of their own, movement has become sort of a problem. To solve that to some extent he'd started carrying one or two of them on his shoulders or body.
While that itself wasn't a problem because of how light they were, using one arm to carry one of them was
Since his weapon style consisted of two knives that would be a big detriment.
He had no plans to become a close-range fighter. It wasn't that he was being a coward or anything like that, It was more of the fact that this was the better option. If he could win and minimize the chances of taking damage, who was he to say no to that?
Having weapons was more of a final option for him. He wasn't going to fight a losing battle with someone who was clearly better than him and lose, Halibel was a clear example of that.
If an opponent was better at magic than him but was weak physically, then he would have no choice but to attack him like that.
Still, he didn't mean to brag but he was sure there weren't many people who could compare to him in terms of magical power.
The whip was meant to help him make turns and gain some distance. Although Lucy's buffs and his own enchantments gave him plenty of speed and power, he wasn't accustomed to dealing with such high speeds yet. The only reason he could even keep up with the speed and have the reflexes to react was because of the spell that sped up his brain's processing. That thing was a godsend.
If he had a whip he could use objects such as trees to suddenly change directions and have better mobility. That could help him greatly. At least, until he could gain more fighting experience.
Of course, the first step to that was actually obtaining one. After that came the real problem.
Becoming competent with the whip was something he would need to solve. He didn't have much time to train with it since he had other things to prioritize.
It wasn't like he was trying to make it his main weapon or anything like that either.
Well it didn't matter much. He had time, for now he would take it slow and see if he actually had any talent with it. If not, he might consider just abandoning the idea altogether.
So that's what he did. He went into a store and looked over for some whips.
This time he made sure to not make the same mistake as when he bought his daggers and bought the first one he saw. He took his time looking and getting a feel for them. He ended up deciding on a black leather whip. It seemed good for a beginner such as him.
Once that was over, he went over to the counter and paid up. He didn't even bother trying to check if he was getting ripped off or not. Without mentioning the fact that he had more money than he knew what to do with, he knew no one would be stupid enough to try and rip him off. In just a month it had already become pretty common for people to be aware of his contract with six great spirits.
Of course, no one had believed it at first. It was impossible in their eyes. Without mentioning the fact that it would normally take centuries for a spirit to evolve into a great spirit and there were few known to exist, the amount of mana he would need to supply them with would be immense.
Normally Subaru wouldn't care about this. He knew there was no point in trying to hide that fact with the number of eyes that would be on him. He would just let it be found out naturally like his bounty hunting job.
That would be normal, but hearing the name "Lolimacer" started to drive him insane! He made extra sure that people knew the little girls that were accompanying him were spirits and not children he picked up on the streets used in fights.
Unfortunately for him, his attempts were a failure. Not that he was aware of it yet. In his mind it had worked perfectly.
Well yeah, Someone would have to be desperate or not aware of him to do that. It honestly made him a bit uncomfortable to have so much attention to himself but there wasn't much he could do about it now.
Exiting the store he pulled out his brand new whip. Giving it a test try shouldn't hurt right?
He pulled his arm back and swu-
"You should be more careful" Ruby chastised Subaru's recklessness as the bright red mark on his face was being healed by Aqua.
"Yeah I know, but I really didn't expect the whip to come back and hit my face!" That whip had something against him! There was no way that was just a coincidence.
"Weren't you just saying you have no practice with that? What made you think it was a good idea to swing it full force?" Gaia looked genuinely curious when she said that. Kazu too looked at him expectantly.
Subaru wasn't sure why that felt like the most embarrassing thing that had happened today.
"I don't know! Can we go now, I don't like all the attention we're attracting!" Without waiting for their reply he stood up and began walking away. He knew they would follow him and they knew that as well.
Subaru began to head to the usual training grounds he used along with Halibel, he needed to train with his new whip.
Or at least that's what should have happened. Instead, he stayed a little longer as something caught his eye.
Two ground dragons.
[What are ground dragons doing here?] While Ligers were rare in other parts of the world, they weren't in Kararagi. So it was a surprise to see an earth dragon here, especially because this was the first one he had seen ever since he arrived in this world.
The only reason he could even identify them was because he recognized their descriptions in some of the books he read when he was trying to learn the language and history of this world.
While he wasn't perfect with writing and reading the language of this world because of spending most of his time training and studying, he knew enough to get by. Sure he might not know a word or two, but it wasn't really harmful.
But even if it had taken the back seat, he still studied here and there during the weekends so he should be fine.
At the sight of the two ground dragon's curiosity got the better of him. He approached the earth dragons to check what they were doing here. His spirits dematerialized since they weren't needed at the moment but still followed him. Who knew what the boy could get himself into?
When he got close, he realized what was happening. It was some sort of trade or maybe a delivery.
[I probably shouldn't get involved.] If someone who uses a ground dragon had traveled so far for only a trade, then it was probably important.
But before leaving he wanted to see the ground dragons, so he got closer to them. This was probably the last time he'd get to see one in a while so it was better to make the most of it.
He just hoped they didn't bite.
"Garrrr" Hearing sounds coming from the first one, he approached it. It was a black earth dragon with a pale brown in its stomach section and orange eyes.
Subaru wasn't sure if petting it was a good idea, but he decided to do it anyway. Aqua, who already knew Subaru's intentions, was preparing to materialize and heal Subaru since his carelessness would probably get him a bite injury.
To their surprise, the earth dragon did no such thing. Instead, it leaned into Subaru's hand and enjoyed the caressing.
"I'm surprised it didn't bite you" Lucy helpfully commented.
"Don't say that, it's not like it's that surprising right?" He noticed the other ground dragon looking in surprise. Why? It wasn't that surprising...right?
"Wow, that's a first." hearing a voice behind him, Subaru quickly turned around to see who was there. He saw a young man that was dressed in traveling clothes. He suspected he was the owner of the ground dragons.
"A-are you the master of these dragons? If that's the case then sorry for messing with them haha…" Feeling embarrassed, he quickly formulated an apology to which the young man just answered with a smile.
"There's no need for that. It's not like you were trying to steal them or something. You weren't right?"
"Of course not!!"
The man heartily laughed at Subaru's reaction.
"Well anyhow, I was just impressed. It's hard to get along with this earth dragon because of her being so proud. Guess it's just part of her considering she's from the Diana species. She doesn't even like me!"
[Ah, so it's a she.] "She doesn't like you?" Subaru was confused by that. How did he travel to Kararagi with an earth dragon that didn't like him? "How did you get here then? It must have been a hard ride with an earth dragon that doesn't like you."
"...Honestly. I don't even know myself. That's why I'm impressed you were able to get so close to her without getting harassed." He genuinely meant that. Subaru could see it in his eyes. Was it really that bad?
"She couldn't have been that bad right? I mean not many ligers like me, if anything they bully me! Unlike them she doesn't seem to be bothered by my presence."
When he tried to get a liger after that whole running back and forth from a forest experience, he got bullied by them. He knew it was because they were very territorial and hard to tame once they had already grown up. Yet he couldn't help but feel it was partly because they just didn't like him.
In response to his words, the man just shrugged. It seems he had no idea either
"All I know is that I can't continue to take care of it. I'm thinking of returning it to the city of Flanders since I'm not sure what else I should do with her."
[So he's from Lugnica huh.] Subaru was aware of the city of Flanders. According to the books he read, it is said that it's the place where the three heroes that defeated the Witch of Envy met. It was also the place where earth dragons had originated from.
After he heard that he should have said his goodbyes and left. There wasn't much else to be gained from that conversation after all.
Yet for some reason he just kept thinking about that ground dragon. He felt some strange connection to it, almost as if they had already met before.
While thinking about this, he got an idea. An idea that would solve this strange feeling he had and also the problem of transportation he was having.
"So do you need her to carry anything back? Or are you just going to go straight into Flanders?"
"Not really, it was more of a one-trip job. I think I might go straight to it. I don't want to leave the poor thing alone. She might get lost and wander into a malbeast forest... although, knowing her, maybe the malbeasts are the ones who should be afraid."
[He's exaggerating] is what Subaru thought. There was no way a ground dragon was awesome enough to do something like that.
"Well! What do you say to letting me buy her off you!" Subaru dished out his offer.
"Buy her off me? Why would you do that?" he said with a confused tone.
"Simple. The ligers seem to hate me, and somehow I just know this earth dragon and I will be best friends! Also I need transportation."
"...I mean I don't have a problem with it. It's a good thing for me, I guess."
"Great!" Now for the final part of the plan. Subaru knew he shouldn't be so confident. But somehow, he just knew it would be a success.
"Well? What do you think? Want to be my partner?" Subaru asked the earth dragon with a smile.
The earth dragon responded with a huff.
"Well, I think that's a yes?" The young man was confused about the situation. All he'd wanted to do was to send some stuff to his uncle's store. Now he was faced with this situation.
"Perfect!" Subaru said as he began to pull out his pouch. That is until he remembered something important. "Right, I need to give you a name."
"How about…" He thought for a good moment. Until he finally thought of the perfect name.
"Patrasche!"
"Can you believe it, Patrasche! ¡Lolimancer! What kind of stupid name is that?!" Subaru complained to his ground dragon.
It was a dream come true for someone like him to have a title he was known for throughout the city, but did it really have to be something stupid like "The Lolimacer?"
"If that title spreads any further I will be condemned to a lifetime of embarrassment! Can you imagine how stupid something like 'the Lolimacer versus the Sword Saint' would sound? Agh!! Just thinking about it makes me depressed."
In response to his rant all Patrasche did was blow steam through her nose. Subaru knew she was trying to look like she didn't care but deep down she did. She was just another tsundere, like Lucy.
"Now, now you don't need to be a tsud- ouch! Alright, fine I'll stop!" He put his hands up to signal surrender, but also to protect himself in case she decided to strike him again.
She was ruthless!
It also made him wonder why he knew so well what she was thinking. It was as if they had known each other for a while now.
Funny, that was one of the reasons they were together at this moment.
"Patrasche really is fun!" Said Aqua as she was hanging from Patrasches neck. Patrasche didn't seem to mind, in fact, it almost seemed like she was following Aqua's game.
She truly was smart.
"Yeah, yeah she sure is." That was a lie. Getting hit in the face was not fun!
"Alright, are we ready?" The boy called out to the rest of his spirits, deciding that he had wasted enough time messing with Patrasche.
"Yes." Luna answered as he felt the 'vita' spell being cast in his body, but lowered enough to not crush his bones. Just enough to keep him in place.
"Right," said Lucy as she focused on increasing his defense instead of speed and strength.
A wall of earth was created in front of him solidified with as much mana as possible.
"You should back up Patrasche, what I'm going to do is going to be very stupid."
As if to attest to her intelligence, Patrasche was already backing away before Subaru even told her. He wasn't sure if he should praise her intelligence or be depressed that in only a few days, she already knew him well enough to tell if his intentions were smart or not.
[Well no time for that now.] He thought.
"Alright Ruby, Kazu do it on my signal." He wasn't too worried about them, he knew their own magic didn't have too much of an effect on them. So they should be fine.
"Alright then, this will either be a great success or a huge fuck up… don't look at me like that Luna! It might still work!"
What was Subaru trying to do you might wonder. Well simple. He was trying to make a combination spell!
Since making a new spell was already difficult, creating a combination of two or more elements would be even harder. While he already had a few spells work in progress, he wanted to try something a bit different.
Instead of a spell that had two or more elements combined with each other coming from a single gate. He wanted to try the same thing, but with two different gates!
So that was the current situation. He wanted to try and make a more potent fireball by combining it with wind magic.
However, there was another reason. Today marked the sixth month of his arrival in this world! He wanted to celebrate it by trying something new, so he figured this was up to the task.
Well, back to the spell, the problem in this situation would be leveling the power of it. If Kazu cast a wind so strong that it put out the fire then it would be worthless. Same with Ruby, if she made too potent of a fireball then it would overcome the wind.
He would need them to be in sync with each other for the spell to work without coming from one gate only.
It wasn't a matter of it being possible or not because; in theory, it should be. The real question was, how hard would it be?
Well, there was only one way to find out.
"Ready, on the count of three! One, two, three, and fire!" Subaru braced himself for the very possible incoming explosion.
"¡Al goa!"
!¡Al fula!
A massive fireball was created and flew forward. Not even a second later a torrent of sharp winds followed. It took no more than a moment for the storm of wind to catch up to the fiery inferno. And then-
"Whoa!" Subaru screamed as the wall that was supposed to protect him was destroyed in seconds. Fortunately, it took the brunt of the impact and all that was left was a great amount of heat that expanded through the air.
While it wasn't fatal or anything like that, it still made it difficult to breathe. Fortunately It took less than a minute more for the temperature to return to a manageable degree and allow Subaru to go check out the results.
"Well… that was a massive failure." Said Subaru as he observed the massive crater caused by the explosion. He felt Luna cut the 'vita' and Lucy cancel the buffs but paid them no mind.
"What did you expect?" Asked Lucy.
"I knew this wasn't gonna work," Luna mumbled under her breath.
"Aww, don't say that… At least let Ruby and Kazu tell me what they saw. Maybe it wasn't a total failure?" He looked in their direction, hoping to get some backup. The first one to speak was Ruby.
"I think it worked?" she said.
"That sounded like a question."
"Because it was. I'm not actually sure what was supposed to happen." She answered truthfully.
Subaru cursed under his breath. He forgot he was the one with the Idea and all he did was tell them what to do. He had been so excited with trying it out that he forgot to communicate with them. "Did you see the 'Al goa' being boosted in any way? Like, did it get any faster?"
"No, It just went *boom*" Answer Kazu with her precise explanation. She even used her hands to try to explain it better!
Subaru heard the "explanation." He only knew one thing.
[At the very least, right now it's probably impossible to do it. We probably need better mana control and more experimenting before we can actually succeed. I should probably stick to just creating new spells at the moment... that sucks.] At the moment it looks like creating a combination spell from two different gates wasn't possible. Maybe in the future, he could try again.
"Patrasche, how are you doing!" He called out to his ground dragon who seemed to judge it was safe to come out. Aqua coming with her, she'd been waiting on standby to heal Subaru, so it had been a welcome surprise when she realized he didn't need any healing.
"Well, I guess I should stick to creating new spells for now, huh."
"Unless you want to blow up, then yes," Said Gaia. Patrasche nodded in agreement.
"Alright enough! I get it. Wow, you girls really like to put me down don't you?
Subaru called out to Ruby and began using her gate to cast a spell, a new spell. This was currently the only spell he had been successful in creating.
Concentrating, he gave it a shape. Then when he opened his eyes, it was there.
It was a dagger of ice. Contrary to its materials, it was just as, if not stronger than an actual metal staff. The spell he created consisted of creating any type of weapons by shaping the ice into them.
Contrary to what you might think, it had been relatively easy to create the spell. It wasn't because creating spells was easy but because Ruby had great control over her magic.
She probably has the greatest control out of his six spirits. If she wanted to, she could make the already summoned ice crystals turn into fire almost instantly. It could be very useful for cornering enemies in the future, if he said so himself.
But, at the moment he could not create any weapons more complicated than a dagger. Even so, it was very useful to know that he could just summon a weapon of ice in an instant at any moment. The fact that, if he wanted to, it could be just as sharp as a sword or maybe even better.
A very effective spell in his opinion.
[Even if it's just one spell, this is proof that we are capable of creating new ones.] Having spells that no one knew about would be a massive advantage. He couldn't wait to get finished with some more: but for that, he needed to get practicing.
So he continued training, diligence and ambition swelling within him.
The Witch-Cult.
A group of lunatics who worship the Witch of Envy. The entity that caused the great calamity and is considered the enemy of the world.
It was extremely difficult to obtain any information about them, as every member captured had killed themselves before any information could be obtained and they were rarely seen.
Sin Archbishops were the upper leaders of the cult. As of now, only two Archbishops were widely known from that group, making the possibility of more existing extremely high.
The Sin Archbishop of Greed, who was known for single-handedly destroying the heavily fortified Vollachian city of Garkla and killing thousands of soldiers, including the Vollachian hero Kurgan.
And Sin Archbishop of Sloth, who was known for being the most active archbishop of the Witch Cult. He went on rampages across the world with seemingly no set path and is thought to be responsible for over half of the Witch-Cult attacks. He's massacred villages, towns and rarely leaves survivors. Those who do happen to survive are never the same, as the massacres they witnessed haunt them till their last days.
The Witch Cult was extremely difficult to find and anyone who came in contact with them had almost no chance of coming back alive. They stayed hidden and attacked when you least expected it.
"So why is the cult attacking now? Especially a Sin Archbishop?" Subaru wondered as he and Patrasche traveled at max speed to where the battle was supposedly taking place.
Halibel and himself had been training just like usual when suddenly a wounded shinobi appeared in front of Halibel to inform him of the situation and ask for backup. It seems that his group had been attacked by the cultists and was currently being reinforced by a group of mercenaries that were nearby. Unfortunately because of the presence of a Sin Archbishop, it was unlikely that they would survive.
Halibel, understanding the gravity of the situation, wasted no time and quickly departed towards the location.
Subaru, who was left bewildered by how fast the situation had escalated, asked the shinobi for directions. He knew that while he wasn't as strong as Halibel, he was no pushover either and could probably help one way or another. The shinobi, who knew Subaru's reputation, gave him the location and as much information as he could. As soon as he got it he called Patrasche and quickly departed there.
Bringing them to the present.
"Damn it, I can't even see Halibel, just how fast is he?" Partsache who was being buffed by Lucy should be easily going faster than one hundred miles per hour. How fast did Halibel have to be to be so far already.
[Fuck! even at this speed, it will take over an hour to get there.] There was no doubt the battle would be over by then. He wasn't sure how fast the shinobi who informed them was, but the time it would have taken him to travel all the way back to Halibel would be considerable.
If the rumors of the Sin Archbishop, who the shinobi had identified as Sloth, were true, then the chance of everyone being dead by the time Halibel arrived was high.
"...FUCK!" Subaru clenched his fists in anger and frustration. He wanted to hit something. He felt so useless right now. There was nothing he could do! It made him feel as if all the effort he's put into his training was worthless.
What was the point of all this power if he could do nothing with it?
"Subaru," hearing a voice to his right he turned his head, all the frustration in his heart imbued in his stare. It must have been a terrifying look he must be sporting right now, and yet…
"Subaru, calm down." Luna hung by Subaru's shoulder, seemingly unaffected by his stare.
"You're feeling frustrated, but that won't help the situation." Said Gaia.
"But…" If he couldn't feel frustrated, what was he supposed to do then? What should he do with this feeling he had It wasn't like it would just disappear like that.
"Save the frustration for later, and direct it at the enemy. They are the ones making you feel this way in the first place aren't they?" Said Lucy, as she bumped heads with him.
[The enemy] But he wouldn't get there on time. There would be nothing left. Because he hasn't gotten better, because…
No, that was wrong, wasn't it? If he really hadn't advanced then what was he doing right now? If that was true whose spirits were those.
Did he truly have the right to look down on himself just because he was feeling frustrated? When so many people had helped him get to where he was.
The answer was no.
"Heh, I knew you were brutal Lucy, but thi- Ahg! Alright fine, I'll stop, just don't pull my hair!!!"
Gaia and Luna, knowing Subaru was feeling better, dematerialized and left Subaru and Lucy to their own devices. Subaru was grateful for them, he really was. [That's right, I'm better than before now. It wouldn't be fair to ignore all the improvement I've had up to now would it? All the training I've done?] That wouldn't be right. It would be like disrespecting all the effort he'd gone through.
It's true that it was thanks to his great spirit affinity and mana that this was all possible in the first place but, that didn't mean he did not work hard either.
Instead of putting himself down he would take pride in his achievements, everything he has achieved and will achieve.
After all, not everyone could get a title, could they?
Even if it was a demeaning one.
"Let's go, Patrasche. We might not get there in time to fight, but there might still be survivors, we need to help them." Patrasche gawked at Subaru for a moment before turning her head around and continued running.
Roughly an hour and a half later with Subaru fidgeting the entire ride, they finally arrived.
Subaru wasted no time telling Patrasche to stay still and try to stay out of danger. He then called out his spirits and boosting his own body with mana, he began to run towards the isolated village.
He stayed extremely alert of his surroundings the entire time and quickly made it to the outskirts of the village where he could see it from afar.
"It's...damn it!" Even from this distance, he could see houses were destroyed and paths into the small village were reduced into craters. But, even with all that destruction, there were no sounds of battle.
Breaking into a run he thought, [please tell me I'm not too late.]
He knew that was a futile wish, there was no way they could have held on for so long. It had been hours by now, and on the off chance they did, Halibel would either be battling the Sin Archbishop or would have taken him down and already been back on his way by now.
He didn't want to believe in the possibility that he had been defeated.
Arriving at the center of the village, he observed his surroundings for any sightings of the enemy. He didn't see any, instead he saw a sight that made him want to puke.
"I-it's" He fell to his knees unable to take in the sight. There was no other way to describe it other than a-
"Massacre."
Thank you "AnticMaster"for helping beta this chapter.
Yes, I wasn't going to write a story without best girl Patrasche. Im not actually sure how she got into Crusch camp (wiki sucks) but I think the reason I gave fits. I do have some plans for her, im not just bringing her in for no reason to either.
So I see some people want me to get to Lugnica already, I will get there, I promise. However, I prefer to have everything already laid down as this Subaru will obviously be a bit different than main baru. It would be weird to see a complete different chance in personality If I just skip there.
Also to the person who commented that I should make one choose a older sister look to have variety, I was unable to do that. Since the start I had already decided they would be loli's. Still thanks for the suggestion.
Well anyways, If you enjoyed the chapter leave a comment and any criticism you might have, They motivate me a lot.
See you next time.