Chapter 23
Itsuki
Staring up at the three Whales, Itsuki's eyes widened in fear. After everything they threw at the first one, it was still alive, seeming to have shrugged off most of the attacks, how were they supposed to deal with an additional two?
Rising to his feet, Itsuki clenched his fists.
"We don't have the manpower to deal with this..." Crusch stated.
"If we fall back, we may never get a chance like this again." Itsuki told her.
"I wasn't suggesting we retreat."
"Then, what should we do?"
"I... I'm not sure..." Crusch replied.
"Tch!"
Clicking his tongue in frustration, Itsuki glared up at the trio of whales.
"Where'd the other two come from?!" A soldier asked, his voice shaky and uneasy.
Staring up at them, one of the whales began to quickly descend upon the group, mouth wide open and ready to eat any unlucky soldiers. Quickly scattering out of the path of the Whale, Itsuki hopped back onto his ground dragon, hurrying away from the creature.
"Attack!" Crusch shouted, however, no one did as commanded. Looking back at her troops, Crusch grit her teeth before using her wind magic to slash deep gashes into the whale.
As for Itsuki, he was lost in the thick mist.
Hearing shouts and screams from everywhere around him, Itsuki couldn't figure out which way to go to get back to the main group. He was dead smack in the center of the mist, his ground dragon having never stopped running from the whale.
"Damnit!" Itsuki growled as he pulled the reins, getting the ground dragon to skid to a halt. "Stop running!"
With the battle echoing around him, Itsuki couldn't see his any of the soldiers, or the other two whales that engaged with them. The only thing he could see was the third whale that hung back, high in the sky and safe from harm.
Staring at the mabeast, Itsuki narrowed his eyes, feeling as though he was awaiting his own demise.
But it never came down from where it was. Didn't even show a sign of joining the battle.
"The hell're you waitin' for?!" Itsuki shouted.
Staring at the damned monster, Itsuki glanced away as he thought.
When the battle began, there was one, yet now it somehow duplicated as if the other two spawned from nothing. It was unrealistic. The other two never made any noise until the mist shrouded everyone's sight. They didn't even make an appearance.
Itsuki knew mabeasts held a bit of magic, seeing as how he, Rem and Subaru were all cursed by the same Wolgarm. If that were the case, then maybe different mabeasts held more magic than others. And if this one-
"There you are!" Rem said as she burst through the mist.
"Damn, thought you might've died, Itsuki." Subaru said with a chuckle of relief. "Glad to see you're okay."
Itsuki ignored them, still lost in his train of thought.
"Itsuki?" Rem said softly.
"What if there's only one?" Itsuki asked.
"Huh?" Rem stared at him in silence.
As for Subaru, a smile began to form across his lips.
"You figured it out too, huh?"
Itsuki looked to his friend to explain himself.
"I'm pretty sure the White Whale duplicated itself." Subaru stated. "With how one is hanging back and letting the other two do all the fighting, I found it a bit suspicious. That, and a message from that dog man. He said that these two whales are weaker than the first one we faced."
"Huh..." Itsuki looked up at the whale high in the sky. "That would make a bit of sense."
"If we take out that one, it might end the battle entirely." Subaru said.
"Any ideas?"
Subaru smirked in reply.
A few minutes later
Standing beside Rem as Subaru told Crusch the plan, Itsuki stared at the whale, mentally preparing himself for the stunt he was about to pull.
"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Rem asked.
"Nope." Itsuki took a deep breath. "But we gotta at least try."
Rem nodded before looking passed Itsuki to see Subaru emerge from the mist.
"Everything's ready!" He told the two.
"Alright." Itsuki rubbed the back of his neck. "Guess I'm up then."
"You don't have to do this, man." Subaru said. "I could-"
"I got this." Itsuki nodded his head, firm on his decision. "You need to stay here."
Subaru sighed as he took a step back.
"Remember, lure the fucker down here. And, uh, don't die."
"I'll do my best." Itsuki replied.
Once they were done talking, Rem opened her hand, aiming her palm towards the Whale.
"El Huma!"
Creating a large icicle, Itsuki quickly grabbed hold, pulling out the blade he borrowed and driving it through the ice for a better hold. Rem proceeded to launch the large piece of ice towards the Whale.
Passing by the mabeast, Itsuki ripped his blade free, falling atop the Whale.
With wind blowing passed him, threatening to send him to the ground below, Itsuki had to move fast and carefully. Placing his hands on the Whale's back, Itsuki slowly moved to its head, his vision beginning to spin as an overwhelming amount of vertigo began to set in when he got a glimpse of the ground far, far below him.
Swallowing, Itsuki pressed forward, his whole body shaking uncontrollably.
Reaching the monster's head, Itsuki pushed himself to his feet, only to lose his footing. Quickly grabbing the thing's horn, Ituski kept himself from falling to his death.
Taking a few breaths to try and calm himself, Itsuki made his way up the horn, slowly standing atop the tip as the wind continued to push against him.
"Hey!" Itsuki shouted, his voice shaky.
Seeing the Whale's eyes look up at him, Itsuki glanced down at the ground below him.
"I hope this works, otherwise Subaru'll have to Return by Dea-" Itsuki's sentence was cut short as the dark fog surrounded him once more. Time stopped as a pair of purple arms wrapped around him with one entering his body, wrapping its fingers around his ribcage.
With a forceful squeeze, Itsuki's breath was ripped from his lungs as his eyes rolled back from the pain.
Falling backwards, off the Whale, Itsuki's unconscious body quickly approached the ground, and with the scent of the Witch covering him head to toe, the Whale followed.
Before he hit the ground, Rem used her chain to wrap around his torso, pulling him out of the way of the Whale and towards her. Jumping off her ground dragon and wrapping her arms around him, Rem protected Itsuki from the impact of the fall, taking most of it as the two rolled across the ground.
Once they came to a stop, Rem quickly made sure Itsuki was alright as a deafening boom echoed throughout the planes.
Looking to the source, Rem saw the Whale, having crashed into the ground, was crushed beneath Flugel's tree. The boom was from the explosives used to bring the tree down atop the mabeast, finally causing it to cease all movement.
As Rem smiled at a battle finally won, she looked down as Itsuki groaned, sitting up from her hold.
"Damn..." he said as he rubbed his head. "I really don't wanna do that again."
Rem gave a gentle laugh as she moved to his side.
"Are you okay?"
Itsuki nodded as he pushed himself to his feet, only for his dizziness to quickly return and drag him back down to the dirt.
"Still a bit dizzy though."
Without another word, Rem grabbed his arm and helped him stand.
Walking over to everyone else, Ituski and Rem were approached by Subaru, Crusch and Wilhelm.
Upon seeing the old man, Itsuki stood confused.
Noticing the look on his friend's face, Subaru decided to explain how Wilhelm was currently standing with them.
"Wilhelm carved his way out of the Whale." Subaru explained before Itsuki could ask.
Itsuki replied with a stare of disbelief.
"I'm happy to see you are unhurt." Crusch said.
"Yeah, same about all of you guys." Itsuki said as he held his side. "Although, I don't think I'm entirely unhurt."
"I can have Felix-"
"Nah, I'm fine." Itsuki waved his hand back and forth. "He should focus on the others who need the healing."
"Well, I will be leaving for the capital to get proper treatment for the wounded. And present the White Whale's carcass. As promised, some of my men will help you with your trouble."
"I wouldn't mind helping." Al said as he approached the four. "Whatchya need help with, kid?"
Subaru was about to reply when Itsuki fell over, groaning as a sharp pain rushed through his right leg and up his side.
"Itsuki?!" Rem said, clearly worried.
Itsuki yelped as he tried to stand, only to find he couldn't put any weight on his right foot. Looking at his foot, Itsuki raised his leg to see it dangle lifelessly. Any movement he tried to make sent a wave of fire through his leg.
Itsuki growled through clenched teeth.
"I... I don't think I can help with the next part, Subaru." Itsuki stated.
Subaru, realizing what Itsuki was talking about, waved his hand back and forth.
"You've done enough, man." Subaru gave one of his smiles. "Besides, I got plenty of help now."
"Oh, so now I'm useless, huh?" Itsuki asked.
"Absolutely!" Subaru said, trying not to chuckle.
As everyone watched, the duo began to laugh.
"You got this?" Itsuki asked.
"I got this." Subaru replied, giving a thumbs up.
An hour later
In the back of one of the carriages heading to the capital, Rem, Crusch and Itsuki sat, mainly, in silence.
As they stared out at the grass, Itsuki, sitting next to Rem, gently placed his hand over hers, catching her off guard and getting her to tense a bit. Looking down at his hand, Rem stared at Itsuki.
Seeing her gaze, Itsuki looked down at their hands. Pretending to realize his hand was over hers, Itsuki pulled away.
"Sorry."
Rem gave a tiny smile before placing her hand over his.
"It's fine." Rem said, leaning over and resting her head on his shoulder.
Looking over at Crusch, Itsuki saw she was staring directly at the two. Instead of saying anything, Crusch gave a soft chuckle before looking ahead at the road.
However, a loud explosion ruined the moment as the carriage in the lead was suddenly, and violently, destroyed.
"Enemy attack!" Crusch shouted, getting to her feet. "To arms, now!"
Everyone in the carriage stood up, brandishing their weapon, including Rem, however Itsuki, with his still broken foot, did his best to stand, putting most of his weight on his left.
Looking ahead at the road, a single man, dressed in all white, stood in the center of their path.
"Run him over!" Crusch ordered.
Just as she said that, Rem quickly pushed Itsuki out the back of the carriage before grabbing Crusch and jumping high into the air as the carriage they were in, and the one behind them, was blown to bits with wind magic.
Rolling across the ground, Itsuki growled through his teeth as the pain in his foot quickly flared up once more.
Trying to stand, Itsuki looked down the road to see Crusch and Rem standing before the man, weapons at the ready.
Unable to hear what was being said, Itsuki pushed himself up, fighting the pain in his foot as he stumbled forward. Before he was able to take a third step, Crusch's left arm was violently ripped off her body and flung into the air.
Rem quickly attended to the wound, using water magic to heal it.
"Haaaah!"
Hearing the sound of someone sighing, Itsuki looked back to see another man, wearing a brown cloak and brandishing two blades, approach them. Behind the man, however, was nothing but destruction and death, with the remaining carriages having been destroyed and the soldiers inside either dead or on the verge of death.
"These guys aren't fuckin' around..." Itsuki thought to himself. "This isn't good!"
"I keep eating and eating but it's never enough!" The new man said as he stalked towards them, his long brown hair hiding half of his face from view. "I eat! I devour! I chew! I bite! I gorge! I gnaw! I munch! I crunch! I savour! Pure Gluttony! Aaaah, thank you for the feast!"
Itsuki, reaching behind himself for his blade, moved between this man and Rem.
Stopping in his tracks, the man laughed as he raised his blades.
"It's been so long since our hunger has been so sated!"
"Who the hell are you?!" Itsuki shouted.
"Sin Archbishop of the Witch's Cult! Representing Gluttony! Lye Batenkaitos!"
Hearing this, Itsuki drew his dagger while taking a defensive stance.
His actions made Gluttony laugh, however.
Walking up to Itsuki, Gluttony swung his blade, which was blocked by Itsuki's dagger, only for the man to simply slit Itsuki's throat with his other blade before moving on to Rem and Crusch.
Falling to the ground, Itsuki held his throat as Rem screamed his name.
End of chapter 23