After a few hours on the discussion on our plan to retake the City Hall, I sat on the roof of a building, gazing into the quiet yet chaotic Water Gate City of Priestella.
We'll leave in about half an hour, since we don't have much time. If we don't fulfill the Witch Cult's demands, they'll flood the city.
Kiritaka, the guy who owned the Muse Company visited earlier. Upon hearing the Witch's bones, he stiffened and explained that if the bones were moved, the city would collapse and Priestella would drown even without the water gates opening.
Also, I've figured something out.
The Witch Cult does not, and definitely does not have the power to drown the City of Priestella. It was an empty threat.
Considering that Roy and Capella are in the City Hall, Regulus in his mansion, Sirius and Lye roaming the streets, nobody was there to guard and open the gates if they wanted to. I went around the walls and checked, and there wasn't a single cultist in the tower. The only ones I found were two standing in the city, and I disposed of them quickly. So technically, the only heavily armed place is the City Hall.
With that in mind, I assigned Elsa, Meili, Colette, Palmyra, and Yae to take care of any evacuation procedures while also defending the water gates just in case anyone attacks. Omega and Sphinx would go around the city to stop any corpse soldiers by releasing the soul in their bodies. Sphinx had some knowledge on the spell Immortal King's Sacrement, and now coupled with Omega's knowledge, they should be able to pull it off.
I'm accompanying Subaru and the others to the City Hall. There are two simple reasons for that.
First, to allow others to realize the danger of Kurgan, the Eight-Arms Hero of Vollachia. The second... is to defeat the Sin Archbishop of Lust.
Capella would cause immense damage to both Subaru and Crusch in the real timeline, including infecting Crusch with a deadly disease that even Felix can't heal. Avoiding that would place the entire Crusch Camp in my debt, further strengthening my relations with a camp.
To be honest, if there was one camp that was not interested in me, that would be Priscilla's.
Then again, Arc 7 is deliberately set for them, so I don't need to rush. For now, I just need to focus on my current goal.
I jumped back down into the Muse Company, and watched my comrades gather as I saw Crusch tying her hair up in a bun. "Crusch, you're going too?"
"Y/N-dono, you needn't worry." Wilhelm said suddenly. "Although Crusch-sama has lost her memories, it seems her skill with the sword is still intact. I have verified that myself."
"And you, Subaru?" I turned towards Subaru, who limped slightly on his leg. Although the damage was repaired by myself, the pain still existed.
"I'm fine, Y/N, and thanks. Without you, Beatrice and I would be so crippled right now."
That's exactly what my purpose in this world is, Subaru. I wanted to say that, but it's better off for them to not know about it now.
We set out towards the city hall, where the two undead warriors await.
"Bleah..." I looked at the piles of pink flesh in disgust and shock, turning my head away from them to not look at the monstrosities. I know they're supposed to be humans or something, but it's just too...
When we arrived at the City Hall, piles of flesh were left in the yard, scattered around as if leftover food from a beast's dinner.
It seems to be the work of Capella. I do remember her intentionally making people like this. However, it seems that the only Authority I have problem countering is Capella's.
I never fought Petelgeuse myself, and since he's dead now, I don't need to worry. Regulus' authority can be bypassed to a certain point using Absolute Zero and Imperceptible Extensions. I'm immune to Sirius' authority. Gluttony's does not work on me for some reason, and even if he wanted to fight, I could avoid him and deal blows with my swords of power and the Akra series.
This leaves the Authority of Lust, Capella's power.
Variation and Change, is a power that is derived from its name. The ability to shift anything and anyone into another type of object or a variant of their former selves. The thing is, even if I do turn them back, there's a chance that their soul might not automatically fit with their new body.
This means that if I ever wanted to undo Capella's work, I need her to undo it herself.
Ugh...
Well, this just got a lot more complicated. I would have to make her join the Battalion. Although the most important question is how. There was this line I remembered when I looked up her information page on the wiki. It went a little something like this, I believe...
Q: For some reason, I can't help but think that Capella-chan is cute! For some reason, her words and actions are attractive! And so, what can I do to become just another person to her?
A: Share her sense of values, love her, wipe away the great trauma she bears. Then she'll be yours~
I don't have a single idea who wrote this, but the answer seems genuine from the author. Everything else might be fine, with exception of her values. The only possibility that rules this one out is to change her values. And how to do that, I have no idea.
However, before I could continue thinking further, Garfiel let out a warning. "They're here!"
I heard a loud thud as I saw Kurgan and Theresia, in their Witch Cult uniforms, descend from the sky as they took out their respective weapons. Kurgan carried his Demon Cleavers, while I suddenly noticed something about Theresia's rapier.
Isn't that the sword... she went to fight Pandora with?
Ignoring that fact, I readied my blades, but Crusch was already on the move. "Here I go!" She yelled.
The large green blade of wind that manifested from her sword was flung towards her attackers, so lethal that it should've sliced them in half. Unfortunately, they blocked it through unknown means.
"It hit!" Subaru cheered.
"No! They defended it! It didn't even touch them!" Crusch said as she had a sour look on her face before Garfiel, Wilhelm, and Ricardo charged at the giant man and the swordswoman.
Julius readied up a spell at the side, and his six spirits shone like a rainbow as they began to concentrate mana into a beam of light.
Garfiel sent a punch towards Theresia, while Wilhelm unleashed a flurry of slashes. Theresia countered them by swiping her sword at their feet, which they both dodged. At this moment, she used the momentum as she hooked onto one of Garfiel's arms, broke his nose, and forced him to pull her out of the field of magic that Julius shot at her.
Wilhelm rushed back with another one of his techniques, only to be deflected by Garfiel's shield as Theresia pulled his arm up. She then threw Garfiel away and sent a kick to Wilhelm's stomach, which made him bend in a C shape as he was sent flying backwards.
As I was about to rush in, I realized that the situation on the other side wasn't looking too good either.
Ricardo was getting plummeted by Kurgan as he unleashed more and more arms. The Eight-Arms Kurgan has now revealed himself, while I struggled on who to help.
It was at this moment that Subaru pitched in. His Guiltywhip, made a crackling sound as it swished through the air, sending the enemies just a little out of range for out close ranged attackers.
I should do what I do best. I pointed my palms towards Wilhelm, Garfiel, and Ricardo. "EL Akra!"
Suddenly receiving the buffs from my Yang Magic, they lightened up and dashed to our opponents with incredible speed. Julius launched an improvised Ul Gora, which sent a fire tornado towards the duo. As they hastily avoided it, I managed to snipe one of Kurgan's arms with Minya. However, Theresia dodged the spike that I shot at her.
"Damn it!" I said as I stumbled back, and launched several Ul Goas at the duo, distracting them while Crusch sent another invisible wind blade. Julius shot another rainbow strike at them, and finally, the battlefield seemed to be evening out at last.
That is, until she came.
"Bwah-hahaha! You guys actually came, huh?" A voice came over from above as I turned my head towards the city hall's roof, where a dragon perched on top of it, cackling at us.
"Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! What's with that face?! Such a stupid face! Did you practice it just for me? If you did, I want to reward you! How about my spit? Would my saliva make you overjoyed? That should literally be mouthwatering for meatbag scum like you!"
"That's..." Subaru took notice of the dragon, and widened his eyes in surprise.
"Let me reintroduce myself! I'm the Witch Cult's Sin Archbishop of Lust!" With a cackling grin in her dragon form, Capella laughed.
"Capella Emerada Lugunica—that's meee! Now die, you rotten sacks of meat!"
Capella took flight and circled around us in the sky, her large wings flapping overhead. Kurgan and Theresia suddenly kneeled down as if greeting their master, and I stared at the sheer size of her body in amazement. I did not expect the dragon form to be this large.
"Gawking at me with those passionate gazes means you're all turned on, aren't you? What, are you animals in heat the whole year? Are you enjoying this chance to ogle me? Oh noooo, whatever shall I do?!" Capella unleashed another bunch of unnecessarily expressive words, and I sighed. Seriously, she just seems so wrong in many ways all at once.
"When fighting a dragon, the important thing is to break its wings as soon as possible, bringing it crashing to the ground. If we permit it to fly in the sky as it pleases, it will rain dragon breath upon us unopposed. We must avoid this at all costs."
With all of them unsettled by the appearance of the dragon, Wilhelm delivered that bold pronouncement at the centre of their formation. His words, filled with such certainty, made Subaru and I glance over toward the Sword Devil.
"From how you said that just now, it kinda sounds like you have experience fighting dragons."
"Once, nearly four decades ago, I crossed swords with Valgren the Black Dragon, who appeared in the south of the kingdom. Compared with that one, this dragon is far too small. Should we lop off her head once, she will surely perish."
"Huh? Was once not in enough for this Valgren?" Subaru asked.
"He had three heads which all needed to be removed."
"Ah, so a Hydra." I remarked.
Capella then continued to fly about until Garfiel threw some declaration of war against Capella, and she laughed it off by saying he's a disgusting demi-human. I'm calling racist for that. She's getting cancelled.
Subaru also joined in and complained about how Capella's war strategy is shit. Subaru argues that big shots of a war need to bide their time and let their troops take care of the enemies first and the boss only appears after those have been taken down. Showing the head of the troops immediately just defeats the whole purpose. Then again, this is exactly why the Witch Cult won every time. Take a look at how Regulus destroyed Garkla.
"Okay, I'm done stalling. Nail her, Julius!" Subaru yelled to the Finest of Knights, and Julius smiled as he gathered his six spirits into his blade.
"Burn under the light of the rainbow! Al Clauzeria!"
The beam of light made by the six spirits struck the dragon in the sky, and Capella let out a high-pitched screech before she crashed into the city hall.
At this moment, Theresa and Kurgan moves again. Garfiel crashed against Kurgan, who used his flowing battle style to counter the giant's brute strength. Meanwhile, Wilhelm and Theresia's duel became deathly silent as they started moving at inhuman speeds, to the point where sword slashes and hits were barely audible.
Suddenly, Crusch pushed me and Subaru out of the way as Ricardo stepped in front of us and let out a Howling Wave, the Pearlbaton Siblings' special move. His target was the roaring black and purple flames that appeared out of nowhere, and seems to be eating everything in its path.
I poured water towards the flames, but they didn't seem to be extinguished. Frustrated, I compressed carbon dioxide and liquid nitrogen and sprayed it towards the flames, which seemed to diminish its effects on the surroundings and stopped its spreading.
The Black Flames that Capella shot out... I can't analyze it's substances!
Even fire extinguisher liquids did not work on it! I also tried various other kinds, including KHNO3 and evaporating fluorocarbons.
This is bad. If I couldn't counter her moves, this means that if I somehow get into a fight with her, I might actually lose. How to fight... how to fight...
At this moment, Capella burst out from the city hall's roof, where she landed after being struck by Julius' Al Clauzeria. Flesh and blood dropped from her, but she looked fine for some reasons. The next thing I knew, the blood dripping stopped, and the flesh wriggled. They started reforming into the giant purple and black body. The scars healed, the wounds closed, the damaged organs reformed.
Capella's insane regeneration speed shocked all of us as we stood there, mouths agape at the situation as she gave out another cruel laugh.
"So are you satisfied now that you've caused even my beautiful viscera to be exposed for everyone to see? You're all perverts with such uncontrollable lust that you'd do anything to see even your beloved meatbag's rectum, aren't you? Hey, hey, are you satisfied? Hey, are you totally sweaty because you had your fill?"
"You're... What the hell...is that?" Subaru gasped in shock.
"Asking something you can figure out the answer to just by looking makes you a fool through and through, doesn't it? But I will reply because of the depths of my compassion. As you can see, I have conquered death! I am a complete being! I'm immortal, obviously!"
As soon as she said that, a bell rung from the tower, and Capella sighed as she rushed back into the city hall. "Ah, it seems that the time is up. I do have to broadcast my beautiful voice across the place."
As Capella disappeared, I turned towards Subaru and Crusch. "We should go in there right now. She won't have a lot of time to move around if she's in that confined space."
They nodded before rushing off towards the city hall with me. Along the way, I applied Titanium to Garfiel, Ricardo, and Wilhelm's blades, in hopes of making them more durable. Seeing that we were going to attack, Theresia moved towards us to try and intercept, but Julius' ray of light stopped her.
"Go, Y/N! I'll stall them here!" Julius shouted, and I nodded before running off. I grabbed Crusch and Subaru with my Extensions, and leapt off into the air as I activated the White Whale's flying seal. The two let out a surprised sound, seeing that I carried them easily. To be honest, they weren't that heavy anyways.
As we landed through the broken roof, there existed a single door towards a hall. Julius landed in here not too long after we did, and we rushed towards the door.
However, before we could reach it-
"Settle down now, onii-sans and onee-san."
The metal door was kicked wide open. A youth with scorched brown hair and green eyes entered the scene, in his long robe and bare feet. A sadistic smile attached to his young face.
"You're..."
"We're so happy. We're so glad. We're so delighted. We're so overjoyed. Happy thoughts help us feel happy! Drink! Gorge! The longer we have to wait, the emptier our belly becomes! And the more we savour the very first bite!"
His scorched-brown hair was tied up in a braid, and his small physique was wrapped in a long robe, with long hems, cuffs, and sleeves that hung about. There was a sadistic smile plastered onto his youthful face, and his smile showed that he had teeth like a shark's.
Subaru immediately gave the boy a death glare, since he fit many of the descriptions of his worst enemy.
"Hmm? Why do you look so annoyed, mister? Could it be that you have some kind of grudge against one of us guys? We're tryin' and tryin' to remember, but we're really bad at faces. Really, we're no good at remembering at all..."
"Hey, you shitty brat. If you just walked in here because you have no sense of direction, now's the time to surrender. That's pretty stupid, but it's forgivable. Still..." Subaru began, but he wasted no time to introduce himself.
"We are the Witch Cult's Archbishop of—" I can see Subaru trying to do everything he could to remain calm. "—Gluttony, Roy Alphard!"
"Gluttonyyy!"The instant the boy openly declared himself as Gluttony, Subaru unleashed the fastest and mightiest whip blow of his life. The tip of the whip tore through the air, mercilessly scoring the face of his greatest foe. A direct hit should have peeled the skin back and rent the flesh, leaving a scar so severe that anyone who saw it wouldn't dare look at it twice, and this blow—
"—Well, lots of people hold a grudge against us because of our feeding." Catching the tip of the whip with his teeth, Roy Alphard gave us a shameless grin.