Dragon's Blood Bubble
Y/N POV
I heard sniffles as I regained consciousness, as well as the sensation that my clone returned, fulfilling its mission perfectly.
"Capella?" I turned towards the Sin Archbishop of Lust, suddenly noticing her erratic behaviour. The once cruel and disrespectful outside shell of the one I knew was gone, and was replaced by a sniffling girl in distress.
"Why... why did they have to kill him?"
"Do you mean Solace, perhaps?"
"-!" Capella looked at me in surprise, shocked to know that I possess such information.
"Don't worry, his soul is safe. I made sure of that. One day, I might even be able to let you talk to him. Now, why are you crying, Emerada?"
"You would never understand."
"But I do, I want to. I'm not the type of person to abandon anyone I see in distress. I might not be a hero, but at least I have the ability to understand ones that require help. And that includes you, Capella."
Within moments, Capella opened up, and told me a more detailed version of her story. After her explanation ended, I looked at her teary face, not knowing what to say. Noticing this, I sighed, and laid my hand on her shoulder.
"So... do you still miss Solace?"
"I don't know anymore. He's been away so long, and I've been doing so many things... that are unlike me. It was like my inner devil. However, I guess the part where I wanted everyone to love me is still there."
"If you want people to respect you, you have to respect them first. Same goes with popularity. So, do you really want to pursue that goal?"
"I don't know if I can anymore, to be honest. I mean, people already hate me for being the Sin Archbishop of Lust, so what can I do about it now?"
"Don't think about it like that, Capella." I said as I held out my hand to her. "As long as you are alive, the goal you want to pursue can be achieved. So how about you join me, and I'll help you achieve it. Let me help you walk the path of liberation, the one that erases the cruel fate that bounds you."
"Why are you helping me, anyways? I-" Capella suddenly shook a little, and her broken personality suddenly disappeared. Within the next moment, the former one was back, but with a slightly different approach when she looked at me.
"Smart piece of meat, why are my hands being held by you right now?"
A familiar tone struck back, same as the one she used when she was the Sin Archbishop of Lust. This shocked me greatly, as I thought her original personality returned, but it only seemed to emerge as a facade of its former self, unfortunately. After having this train of thought, did I just realize what Capella just said, and looked down to my arms as I saw Capella's hands in them.
EH? When did that happen?
"Uh, sorry!" I immediately wanted to chuck my hands back, but her grip suddenly tightened, to my surprise.
"Hey, smart meat, I never said that I don't want your attention, did I now?" Capella smirked as she pinned me down, and I squeaked in surprise. "You have given me the love that no one else has, so I believe it's my duty to repay that favour."
"Eh... what now?"
"Okay, okay, before you jump to any conclusions, I will not do anything 'lovey' in your opinion until I confirm your intentions."
"This lady's intentions are quite simple. I just want to be loved by everyone. All of their love, should go to me!"
"You know that's not possible, right?"
"But that's this lady's goal, who are you to say that it's not possible? Besides, this lady has already achieved parts of it."
"No, the thing is... you need to do things to make people 'love' you, not just sit around and expect everyone to have their love come to you. The closest thing I could think of that would be beneficial to your goal, is being something that is equivalent to an idol."
"Idol?" Capella looked at me, confused at the unfamiliar word.
"You said you wanted to be loved by everyone, right? So an idol is the easy route."
"How will you help me to make people love me, if by your words, everyone in the city already hates me?"
"Now your authority comes into play. Heal and return all the people you transformed to normal, and do a formal apology in front of all the citizens of Priestella later. It might take them a while to forgive you, but that's where I come in and vouch for you."
"So, it's a simple deal. I'll make you a person loved by all, while also giving you my love. In return, you simply help all the people that are injured in Priestella. So how about it?"
"Fine, I'll agree to your proposal. I don't care what happens to the meatbags anyways, so it doesn't matter what state they end up in."
"You... might want to fix your language, you know? People might not like getting called meatbags-"
"Hush, Y/N dear. The only one who is above them is you. Now, since I agreed to the deal, how about you give this lady a lovely nickname?"
"Eh... kawaii Cappy-chan?"
"Kawaii?"
"It means cute back in my hometown."
"Cute..."
has temporarily halted in function. Diagnosis: extreme embarrassment.
"Okay, Capella, should we get out now?" I asked my newly acquired teammate, who gave me a smile after our long talk within the bubble.
"Sure, darling~" Capella immediately latched onto my back, which reminded me of a certain Ryuzu clone out there.
"I don't think you latching to me here would do the both of us any good. The fact that everyone out there waiting for you will treat you like an enemy would attack you the moment they see you."
"Well, my darling will protect me, right?"
"You really like making things complicated for me, huh, Cappy?"
"It's what makes life thrilling, after all."
With that, the blood barrier began to disperse, finally revealing us to the outside world after two hours.
3rd Person POV
Subaru had just arrived at the collapsed city hall along with Emilia, after hearing about the victory declared by Kiritaka in the meteor broadcast. However, a different sight awaited him at the site, with the Water Gate City of Priestella being in shambles.
"So it turns out that they still did a lot of damage to the city, right? I hope at least no one was hurt..." Before Subaru could think further, his spirit, Beatrice, appeared behind a wall as Subaru took notice.
"Beako!" Subaru said as he immediately rushed up and hugged his spirit happily before turning around to face the group of people that sat near the ruins, staring at something.
"Uh, Beako, what's happening over there?"
"You should come and see."
Beatrice led Subaru over to the crowd of people, while explaining to him the battles that happened. Apparently, Y/N had helped in the subjugation against one of the Gluttonies, but he got away due to some unforeseen circumstances. Within seconds, they arrived at the other side of the ruins of the city hall, where an ominous crimson ball sat.
"What is... that?"
"The current battle Y/N's fighting, I suppose." Beatrice answered, and Anastasia walked over to Subaru.
"Hello, Natsuki-san. I assume things have gone well on your end as well?"
"Yes, we successfully defeated Regulus of Greed. How did it go with Wrath and Lust?"
"Wrath has been successfully detained thanks to Priscilla and the Songstress, while Lust has been fighting with Al before... this happened."
"Before I ask about what 'this' is, why is Al over here? Wasn't he supposed to go subjugate Wrath with Priscilla?"
"Don't worry, as they returned quite safely. Al was a major help here during the Lust subjugation, but due to her immortal nature, she was unable to die. She declared that she was going to flee, and set a few of her wretched beasts on us before doing so. However, Y/N suddenly caught her in the sky and duelled her. Before he could finish her off, though, she trapped both her and himself in that bubble."
"So Y/N's in there right now? Why aren't you guys trying to get him out?"
"Believe me, we tried everything we could, but the bubble is impossible to break. Y/N's floating mage even shot several Al Jiwalds at the bubble, but there was not even a dent. It seems that we have to wait."
"Wait until what, he dies?" Subaru snapped.
"You don't have to worry, Subaru." A shrill voice said as the white-haired girl walked over along with her staff and robe, and her golden eyes watched Subaru with interest. "Y/N will not die here, nor will he suffer much in there."
"Echidna..." Subaru muttered in anger, still not really able to forgive the manipulating witch.
"Call me Omega. We don't want to raise suspicion now, do we? As I said, Y/N-"
Before she could finish her sentence, a crack sounded through the air, and the blood bubble suddenly began crumbling. Sphinx, who was waiting for this moment, readied her staff. Every single member of the Liberator's Battalion tensed up as the blood bubble completely deformed itself, revealing Y/N.
"Well, that wasn't a lot of dust. Oh hi, everyone, have y'all been doing well?"
Y/N said cheerfully, and everyone sighed in relief. However, that short-termed relief was immediately shattered as a voice popped up from Y/N's back, and only then did they realized the arms latching around Y/N's shoulders.
"YAHOO! Have you meatbags rested well?"
Subaru's anger immediately flared at the sight of Capella, and many swords can be heard unsheathing as well. However, the first to act was Sphinx and Beatrice, who each shot a Jiwald and a Minya at the duo, only to be completely cancelled out a few inches in front of the pair as Y/N crossed his fingers.
"Woah, woah, everyone, please calm down now." Y/N waved his hands in surrender and panic. "Give me a moment to explain, please. And Capella, please get off."
"No~I don't want to~"
"..."
Seeing the unnatural interaction between the Sin Archbishop of Lust and Y/N, everyone froze for a second. The most despicable person that threatened their city's survival, is now acting ever so intimately along with the person who arguably has contributed the most to the prevention of that destruction.
"Y/N, you mind explaining what is going on here?" Subaru asked, voicing the thoughts of the others.
"Eto... let's say I helped her solve a problem of hers, and promised her some great things, and that's how I reformed her and recruited her."
"Y/N~you will fulfill those promises, right~?" Capella said as she tightened her hold on the Liberator, and he nodded hastily but surely, and she loosened her grip again.
Subaru, however, is still flabbergasted that something like this happened. "A reformed archbishop? Those guys...? With those rotten personalities?" Then again, he remembered that Y/N was a boy that is the same as him, who makes the impossible possible.
"By the way, Cappy, mind holding up your end of the deal now?" Y/N said to his newly acquired teammate, and she finally stopped latching onto the boy before nodding. She walked towards the piles of meat that still laid in the front of the city hall, unfazed through the battle. With a wave of her hands, the meat piles disappeared as they transformed back into humans.
All of them let out a little eep~! as they got transformed back, and looked at Capella in fear. However, the former Sin Archbishop of Lust paid no heed except for giving the victims a slight wink before heading back to Y/N.
"Is that good enough? Now, let's go and eat something. I'm hungry~"
"Cappy, I said everyone."
"EHH?! Everyone? How long will that take?"
"When you finish...? I'll bring food. Honestly, did you seriously not think about the consequences when you turned too many people into insects and beasts and meatpiles? Honestly, if you were just a little bit more prudent..."
Everyone looked onto the bizarre sight that concluded the battle of the Water Gate City, with the Archbishop whining as she cleaned up her messes (reformed the citizens) as the Liberator watched her do her job. Pulling himself back to a calmer state, Subaru sighed.
"Well, I guess this is not a bad ending...is it?"