"Fine. I shall do it again."
Echoed screams erupted throughout a vast series of chambers, caused by sudden exhibition of pain. Where these chambers were was unknown to the person being kept inside, only bound to chains within a singular room.
He had been there for quite some time, never once looking past the walls of his prison.
A hand was in front of his face, just barely out of reach from touching. The hand belonged to a girl with silky, platinum hair, and a body which glowed like a star in the sky. Though those traits could signify beauty and purity, he could now only attribute it with evil.
Her hand moved away from his face, fluidly falling back to her side. His screams stopped momentarily after, prompting him to catch his breath. His head, which had previously been leaning back, fell forward as he reaffirmed his senses.
"I do not understand why you are being so … difficult," the girl said, looking at him frustratingly. "Follow me, Natsuki Subaru. You have accepted all of your sins; you are the only one truly worthy of my love and affection."
He scoffed. Glancing up, he could see her frustration; it was something that he enjoyed. With bated breaths, he spoke, "Follow you … Love you? Ha! You're sick … twisted if you think … I could ever love someone like … you. Go to hell."
He could see the disappointment as it crawled onto her face. She thrusted her hand toward him again, her palm resting just out of reach of his head, as she dug into his mind. Subaru threw his head back, feeling the force of her mentally invasive attack. He tried to fight it, but it was of no use.
He screamed out again, the pain clear in his voice. She paid it no mind as she kept going, feeling his despair as she did so. Though, not even close to soon enough, she stopped.
She let out a puff of air, looking at him with more emotion than any of her followers had ever seen from her. "You are quite resilient," she commented.
Subaru let out another scoff, leaning his head down again so that he could look her in the eye. "I've been through worse," he spat. "And I don't need any of your twisted compliments, Pandora."
She hummed, quirking a brow questioningly. "I am aware of all that you have gone through."
"Yet you thought you could break me with pain?" Subaru was tempted to laugh at that.
"There are consequences to your denial, my love," Pandora responded, her expression undeterminable. "Your injuries are a mere plight of that."
He didn't respond, only narrowing his eyes with hatred and defiance. Pandora saw this, but chose not to comment on it, as she eerily began to approach him.
"The only reason you are still alive is because of me. Your injuries would have killed you long ago," she gestured to his body, scarred and burned beyond traditional healing and repair. Any and all hair was gone, with only the burns and scars visible on his formerly healthy skin. "You should thank me."
"Thank you?" Subaru asked, his voice carrying his disbelief at the prospect. Between bated breaths, he continued, "Why would I … ever thank you?! You're the one … who gave me these scars! I would take death any day then be in a room … with you!"
Her reaction was immediate, her face morphing into one of relative disappointment. In fact, she actually seemed a bit saddened by his response.
"If you had agreed to join me when I had first asked, you would never have gotten those injuries. You would never have felt this pain," she told him, her expression shifting back into something more neutral and static. "Do you think that I have enjoyed this?"
Subaru narrowed his eyes again, looking at her with unrelinquished contempt. "Yes."
Again, her expression actually seemed to falter for a moment, but it quickly reassembled itself into something more indefinable. She sighed, choosing not to speak again, only looking at him in silent contemplation.
"Just get someone else," he said, presenting an option that seemed so blatantly obvious.
"No, never," she immediately shot back. "There is nobody else for me. You are the only one worthy. You have killed all of my Bishops, after all, and have accepted all of your sins."
"So you keep saying." Subaru suddenly began to cough with blood flying from his mouth and onto Pandora's cloth. When he stopped coughing, he'd expected her to freak out, though, to his surprise, it seemed as though she didn't care.
"Of course," she stated, looking at him firmly. "I will repeat it as many times as necessary for you to understand."
"Even if I do understand, I will never go with you."
"Do you keep refusing in hopes that you will someday perish? That, perhaps, you will be granted the mercy of death and escape the pain?" she asked, her expression returning to its chillingly serene state.
He didn't respond, only keeping his eyes on her as she stepped around him. From the way that she moved and looked back at him, he could only guess that she was admiring him. Not for his physical looks, no, but for his mentality, his soul. From that alone he felt uncomfortable.
"I will tell you this now," she spoke, leaning her head in closer as she did so. Then, without missing a beat, she whispered, "You cannot die. I will not allow it. For as long as I exist, Natsuki Subaru will never perish."
She backed away from him, her lips moving themselves into a small smile. Subaru merely kept his defiant look, knowing full well why she was smiling. He took a shaky breath, parting his lips, "Do you really think that'll change my mind?" With a momentary pause, he finished, "Like I already said: go to hell."
Then, her smile fell, and the process continued. She would prompt the same question over and over and over again. He would always refuse, causing her to torture him both mentally and physically.
The endless torture never helped him keep track of the time. For how much time had passed, he had no idea. Days, weeks, months … he never knew. Pandora wouldn't tell him, either. All he knew, though, was that it had been a long, long time.
Sometimes, his mind would wander back to when this all happened. She'd approached him so suddenly while he was alone. At the time, he'd thought that she was just an ordinary girl.
She then introduced herself as Pandora, the Witch of Vainglory … and began to get creepy.
She came uncomfortably close, looking at him in a way that sent chills down his spine. The way she moved her eyelashes at him seemed so luscious, overwhelmingly so. He was able to resist its seemingly unnatural pull and gain composure in her terrifyingly captivating aura.
Then she'd asked him to go with her. She'd professed a deep love and admiration for him, claiming that he was the only one worthy of being with her. He immediately refused; he was Emilia-tan's, after all. Still, he watched as a momentary sadness crept onto her face before vanishing in an instant.
After that, she did something to him. He didn't know what it was, but it knocked him out cold, and, next thing he knew, he was strung up in some secret place in who knows where. Then it became a routine of her asking the same question again and again before she chose torture in order to make him submit instead.
If he had a single breath, he would always use it to convey his ired refusal. The torture was different every time. It ranged from physical to mental and pivoted randomly based on Pandora's mood.
There were times where she'd be more merciful, only giving him minor lacerations and cuts which she promptly healed afterward. Other times, she'd cut off limbs, freeze him in his entirety, or just burn him alive. His current scars were majorly from his burns, and as time progressed she'd stopped giving his limbs back.
Now, he existed only as a scarred, limbless shell of his former self.
The mental torture, however, was always the worst. She would get into his head, his memories, and make him relive his foregone nightmares. She'd often reapply pain from the past for him to experience anew, even mixing old injuries with ones she inflicted herself at times.
It wasn't only that, though. There would be times where she'd show him what was; images of the past where he was happy with the people he loved and cared for. She made it a point to repeat that he could no longer have that again, that he wouldn't, couldn't, return to them.
Subaru's mind held itself together in mere tethers. He was surprised that his grip on sanity remained despite all of the pain he suffered through, but he supposed that Pandora had something to do with that.
Now, his only desire is to embrace death. He'd come to terms with his decrepit state, both in mind and body, and wished that death would grant him mercy from it all. Maybe, if he was lucky, he would stay dead and move on peacefully to the afterlife.
But Pandora would never let that happen.
"Perhaps it is time I show you the truth."
Subaru snapped out of his inner thoughts, looking at her with undetermined eyes. He took in deep breaths, struggling to get air into his lungs, something which his many different injuries contributed toward. "What … truth?"
She hummed, looking at him with a sense of smugness and superiority. If he still had hands, he would've clenched them into fists. He hated that look; he hated her. "Perhaps it is time that I show you … your friends."
Subaru's expression immediately shifted. It was something that she noticed, taking a few steps around him while his eyes followed her. His dried lips parted, "What … are you … talking about?
She didn't answer him, only proceeding to show him what he'd yearned for and wished to see for so long. His friends.
"They are living their best lives," she remarked, slowly beginning to circle him in strided steps. She raised a hand, conjuring a projection before his very eyes. "Without you, they have grown happier. They smile and laugh, all without you by their side."
Subaru's eyes seemed unfocused, shifting from one person to another. When he came to see everything within, he could hardly believe it.
The projection didn't show him bits and pieces of their lives, it showed him a live feed of what they were doing now. Everyone just seemed to be having so much fun.
Emilia laughed with the maids, presumably over some kind of joke. Beatrice was spending some time with Petra and Meili, the three girls smiling whilst they spent time together. Then there was Otto and Garfiel, who smiled and laughed while their arms wrapped around one another like brothers. Even Roswaal, who took a background position within, seemed to be plenty satisfied with the events around him.
Subaru should've been happy for them; he knew that. But, as much as he tried, he could never find the feeling inside of him. All that he felt was contempt, frustration, and sadness.
He wondered if it was because of his pain, that made him feel that way. Perhaps it was his fear of being forgotten, left alone, abandoned that overrode his mind. Whatever the case, he found himself becoming anything but happy.
"This isn't real."
His mind immediately jumped into denial, but even he began to doubt that. The projection, though conjured, looked and felt so real. The colors, the scene, the movement … the laughter. Everything screamed reality, and with his mind as broken as it was he failed to consider any alternative.
He watched as Beatrice made some snarky comment, causing others to laugh and Emilia to pout. The half-elf walked over to the little spirit and rubbed her head in both a show of frustration and affection. Beatrice pouted, too, which caused Emilia to laugh in amusement.
Truly, a one, big happy family.
"It is very real, I assure you," Pandora answered back. Subaru barely noticed her walk back into the frame of his eyesight, standing in front of him once again. He found the strength to look at her, seeing her taunting, sly, and knowing smile. "As you can see, your friends never wanted you. They never cared for you; they never cared about you."
His eyes fell back to the projection, mindlessly watching as his friends continued to joyfully and peacefully live their lives without him. He paid little mind to the Witch as she drew closer to him, her breath notably icy and cold as it made contact with his face.
As her mouth came to his ear, she blew out a small gust of chilly air into it. Under normal circumstances, he would have shivered. He heard her take a small yet sharp breath in, before blowing yet another small gust of air into his ear.
"But I will," she sultrily whispered, drawing out her breath.
Her head backed away, moving and lowering herself down in front of him, taking the place of the projection, so that his eyes were forced to focus on her. She remained level to his head, her eyes and expression both softening as if to convey her empathy as she parted her lips once more.
"Join me, Subaru," she pleaded in a slightly louder whisper. She held up her hands, clenching them and holding them close to her chest as she called out to him. "I will give you what they did not. Care, appreciation … love."
He could only continue to stay silent, his emotions sporadically bouncing within himself. He felt sad, angry, and betrayed. As much as he tried, those feelings couldn't be suppressed; rather, they started to fuel him.
After everything he did for them, they just cast him aside as if he were nothing? Not even one of them cared about his disappearance, or what was happening to him?
His hatred grew. Not just for himself, but for everyone.
The Witch smiled, feeling his anger surge. She inwardly cheered it on, embracing Natsuki Subaru's new aura. The raw power, the raw potential … it was all so staggering to her.
She could feel the ground shake around her, yet she didn't flinch. Instead her excitement grew, watching on as Subaru tensed in his restraints. The walls cracked around them as the lit flames around the room rapidly flickered and danced under the pressure of his wrath.
Pandora was loving every second of it. She would make great use of this power; this innate potential held within her beloved, whom she so desperately sought.
She extended a hand, holding Subaru's body in place with her unseen power. Natsuki Subaru could no longer live on his own. The injuries he sustained were far too life-threatening, and, while he wouldn't die, they would severely inhibit him if left alone.
From thin air, armor materialized. Fabricated limbs locked themselves into place on his stumps, afterward being quickly covered by hard, black metal plating.
It continued to envelop his body, with his chest reviving its own boxed compartment of stored mana and air. With it, he would always steadily absorb mana from the atmosphere, preventing him from suffering from mana poisoning, and consistently get air into his lungs in order to breathe.
Connected to that was the final piece: a mask, one which fitted around his head, connecting itself to the box on his chest in order to function. A filter was provided for him in front of his mouth, allowing him to breath.
When all of the pieces sealed themselves into place, Subaru could only feel one thing: pain.
The Witch granted him a cursed gift, one that fixed his body with the price of pain. With all of the prices combined, it looked intimidating, scary even. It was just as Pandora intended.
Yes, she could've just repaired his body … but she wouldn't. His injuries and pain would be a reminder for him. Now, he would always remember these events and this very moment.
He will always love her; he will always be hers.
As she admired his new, intimidating look, the last part of his mask sealed into place. After that, Pandora lowered her hand and just … listened.
Mere seconds after, the sounds of his breathing were made apparent in long, menacing, foreboding whooshes. The first carried a short glass-fogging burst as an intake, and the second was noticeably longer than the first, having carried out the burst in an exhale.
Breath in. Breath out. Breath in. Breath out.
The pattern repeated, the same every time.
To any normal person, it would've been intimidating. To Pandora, it was enthralling.
"Can you hear me?" she asked, calling out to her new, beloved, black-armored knight.
His newly acquired fists clenched at the sound of her voice, flinging themselves forward and breaking out of the restraints with little effort. Then, his leg's followed suit. Pandora merely kept a static smile, her question having been answered, and allowed him to break free.
Subaru, clad in new black metal armor, arose. He struggled to stay steady on his feet, not used to his new limbs at all. A heavy, low clank followed his steps until he finally stood before her.
Subaru now stood much taller than the Witch in front of him, his new limbs giving him a new, staggering height. Pandora had been about his height before all of this; now he stood over her by several inches.
He only continued to stand there, his echoes of his heavy breathing being the only thing heard within the chamber the stood within. His head tilted downward, his eyes looking at her from behind the mask.
Pandora's expression remained unchanging, extending out her left arm. Within her palm, a sword materialized itself within. She lightly held the hilt, moving her right palm underneath the blade so that she may properly hold it out to him.
She raised it, presenting the sword to him. "Let your anger and hatred blight the world."
He merely looked at the blade for a few seconds, his head unmoving. It was nigh impossible to determine what he was thinking anymore. But, before long, he extended his right hand and took hold of the hilt.
Pandora let go of the sword, letting her new black-knighted warrior wield it on his own. His head tilted as he raised the blade up, only ever keeping one hand on the hilt, holding it out in front of him.
He examined its features, the long, thick blade holding an almost mesmerizing bright red shine. The hilt was just black, but it had red streaks which ran horizontally along the grip and alternated in intensity as they got closer to the bottom.
As he held the sword out in front of him, Subaru could feel it eat away at him. It drew on his rage, his anger, and turned it into raw power. It made him stronger.
The Blight Sword fed on his anger, his hate, his suffering. The red of the sword represented those feelings.
He condensed it; he focused it.
Then, with one fast, swift, and powerful strike, he drew his arm back and swung the sword to decapitate the Witch standing before him.
His head never moved, only ever having moved his arm. Even then, he could still hear as her head hit the ground, still undoubtedly holding the same static smile. He could hear as it rolled away, with her body falling to the ground with an audible thump soon after.
The red of the sword now also represented blood.
He slowly lowered the sword to his side, his head only marginally tilting itself downward to gaze upon her fallen body.
Only … it wasn't there anymore.
"How disappointing."
He was suddenly thrust into the wall. Hard.
The patterns of breathing finally became disrupted, the shock of both the attack and impact leaving him momentarily staggered. Seconds after his pattern regulated itself once more and his head turned itself back to gaze upon his attacker.
There, behind him, stood Pandora, the Witch who he had just beheaded seconds ago. She held the back of his neck, keeping him pinned against the wall. It was a show of both her strength and superiority over him, something which fueled his hate, his blight, even more.
"How rude of you, my love," she said, her voice almost emotionless, yet feigning exasperation. "I thought we were getting so close."
She let go. He could hear her patted footsteps as she walked a bit further away, giving him the needed moment to back away from the wall and slowly turn to fully face her.
She looked at him, her expression no longer carrying the smile she held before. Rather, now, it was more … disappointed.
He didn't let her speak, stepping forward and coming to a stop directly in front of her. She looked up at him, and he looked down at her. Her eyes looked at him critically, as if trying to discern his intentions.
Then, he kneeled, bowing his head.
Pandora let her smile resurface, along with her excitement. She could hardly contain herself, but she kept her thoughts to herself. Though, she became obsessed with one fact: she won. She finally had him. He was hers.
He needed a new name. Natsuki Subaru was no more, now existing as someone much darker and hateful. She knew that not just any name would do; no, he needed something that represented the new him. The title of Archbishop was far too beneath him.
With that, only one real title fit him, really.
She took in a breath, extending her arms out as if she were giving a grand gesture to him. "Hence forth, you will be known as … the Warlock of All Sins."
He rose his head, looking at her with indistinguishable eyes from behind the mask, speaking in a deep, low, and ominous voice, "What must be done?"
Pandora was tempted to smile wider. With just a little refinement of his abilities, he would be force to be reckoned with. He would be unstoppable.
He was perfect.