Death via Knowledge
Hey. Uh... friendly reminder that the review section exists.
Please tell me if this is hot garbage so I can make it normal garbage. Generally normal garbage is better than hot garbage.
Maybe I'm doing a decent job though.
Subaru opened his eyes wide, drawing in a sharp breath. He unconsciously squeezed his arms shut.
Meiss saw Subaru tighten his grip on Rem. He sprang over and pried him off when she made a sound of pain. Subaru fell to the ground, a blank look on his face.
"Subaru-kun?"
"I- I'm sorry, I just felt weird all of the sudden."
Meiss crossed his arms, they had already established Subaru had foresight. Was that information getting beamed into his skull? Meiss turned to Rem.
"Has he done something like that before?"
"Now that you mention it Meiss, he has."
Meiss turned back to Subaru, his gaze darkening.
"Got any new information?"
"Uh... Yeah a bit. Actually, you said you weren't 100 percent yet... Why don't you ride with Rem back to the Capital? It would suck if something happened to you."
"You're right that I don't feel the greatest. Are you sure? You kinda hinted that something might happen to me."
"Yes, I am absolutely certain. I'm confident we have enough people to take on Sloth without you."
Meiss stiffened.
"Sloth? Did you say Sloth? ... Well now I'm definitely coming along. Sorry, but I have some... personal things to discuss with it."
Subaru furrowed his brows, that same cold, hard as ice stare came across Meiss' face. It was unnerving.
"Man, I hope she doesn't attack us again..."
Subaru handed a large wooden sign to Ricardo and Wilhelm to hold up. They mounted their Ground Dragons and sped off into the forest.
Ram met up with the group. Subaru went with Wilhelm and Ram to convince Emilia to evacuate the villagers. He would wear Emilia's cloak to disguise himself.
The small party returned to Arlam to see the villagers boarding carriages in preparation to leave. Half of them would go to the capital, the other half would go to Sanctuary, a small village deep in the forest.
Ferris pulled Subaru aside.
"We negotiated to buy the goods the merchants have. So we need to look them over Subaru-kyun."
"What? Shouldn't this be someone else's job?"
"It is, but in order to get this done faster, we're helping them."
The owner of the carriage stepped into the bed.
"I trust everything is going smoothly?"
Ferris jumped up and wrapped himself around the merchant.
"Yup! Everything is well!"
Ferris snaked his hand around the merchant's neck and poked it. The merchant convulsed violently for a few seconds before a wicked smile warped his face. Subaru looked on in shock as the floor started to smoke.
"You're too late."
Meiss pinched his nose as he smelled something burning. He caught a glimpse of a woman with snow-white hair board the carriage with all the kids. Something was definitely burning now, and Meiss scanned the area looking for the fire. He saw one of the carriages smoking, then in a flash remembered that one of the carriages was full of flammable oil. He snapped around and set up his three Quiescence bubbles just as the carriage exploded.
Meiss felt the ground hot against his face. He shakily rose into a kneeling position. How much lamp oil was in there? Did lamp oil even explode? Rising to his feet, he swiped smoke from his eyes. When it returned he activated Dolorem and swiped the air once more, clearing a small area around him. The clear air was expanded as Meiss made his way to the carriage with the kids. He saw them all huddled around the white-haired woman. He limped over and stood outside the bubble he put up.
"Everyone ok? Nothing hurts?"
The kids shook their heads, and the woman stood up. She looked around.
"What kind of magic is this that shielded us?"
Meiss took a few steps back, rubbing his leg.
"It's a... Divine Blessing. Yeah, the Divine Blessing of Shielding."
The woman looked at him funny, as if she saw straight through his lie. She sat back down with the kids.
"How long does it last?"
"Forever, or at least as long as I want it to. Unfortunately I'm going to have to remove it, so can we all move somewhere safer?"
The kids and the woman all got up and followed Meiss through the smoke. They settled inside a partially destroyed building.
"You look like one of those sweet people that are scary strong. Can I trust you to protect these children?"
The woman nodded and watched Meiss limp into the smoke.
Subaru awoke with a start. He sat up and looked around. The smoke seemed to be clearing. Ferris was a few feet away, healing himself.
"Felix... Wha..."
"There was a bag of explosive stones in the carriage. Nyothing we can do about that nyow."
Subaru stood up and thanked the spirit for shielding him. Then he saw Meiss crash into the ground. A Witch Cult member was pinned underneath him. Meiss drove a Cult dagger into the Cultist's head.
"What are you doing using a blade! You have those super strong light snakes! Why don't you use those?"
"Do you know what Sloth's Authority is? Blunt force won't destroy them, and I try not to go all out."
It was Subaru's turn to yell.
"Not going all out?! Meiss we kind of need that right now!"
Meiss narrowed his eyes before conceding. He yanked the Cult dagger from the Finger and tossed it aside. Then he jumped away, orange and cyan marbled light pouring from him. He probably would have still held back if Subaru wasn't there.
Meiss landed in front of another Cultist. His Authority was in full swing now. Meiss sent a tendril out to burn a hole through the Cultist. He jumped away, spotting Wilhelm fighting another Finger. Meiss could just barely see the faint purple hands closing in on Wilhelm. They looked like after images, but he could see them and that's all that mattered.
Wilhelm looked around himself for disturbances in the smoke. He swiped his sword through what seemed to be a gust of wind, destroying it. He turned towards the Finger, preparing to impale him. Suddenly, he heard a war cry of "WRYY!" above. Three rivers of colored light moved to intercept the invisible hands as Meiss shot into the Finger. The Finger collapsed under the strike, dead. Meiss gripped his leg as pain shot up it, he staggered for a second before he was steady.
Meiss looked at Wilhelm.
"You were right, I did hold back considerably."
Wilhelm looked like he was about to respond, but then they both heard Subaru's scream cut through the air. Meiss dashed off, leaving Wilhelm behind.
Subaru clutched at a wall, hanging on for dear life as he was dragged off again. This time though, Julius was swamped with Cultists and couldn't save him. Ferris was too slow to catch him and was left running.
"SLOTH!"
Light shined from behind Subaru as the unseen hands let go of him. He turned around to see Meiss squaring off against a Finger.
"This makes the second Sin Archbishop I've met. If this goes on I might actually eradicate the Cult itself for being so fucking annoying!"
The finger spread its arms.
"Second you say? Who was the first Sin you encountered, One Who is Saturated in Love?"
Meiss narrowed his eyes, small pinpricks of shining blue hatred all that was visible.
"You can thank Gluttony for being the reason I have the Authority of Melancholy!"
Meiss launched himself at the Finger. With the cry of "WRAGH" an Acedia sprouted from his palm as he sliced at an unseen hand. Multiple unseen hands tried to attack him now, but he used Acedia to fend them off.
"You can see my Miezaru Te? My Authority, my proof of love is being seen by two people? Why, why, why, why, WHY!"
All ten of the unseen hands the Finger could muster were thrown at Meiss. He shot foreword to intercept them, the three Acedia tendrils putting in work to clear the way. Meiss dodged as an unseen hand shot past him, he grabbed it and used it to propel himself even closer to the Finger. The Finger raised his hand and pointed it in the direction of Subaru and Meiss.
"Taida!"
A wave of black light swept over the area.
Subaru doubled over, his head swimming, while Meiss pushed off the ground again. His fist collided with the Finger, raising the body into the air.
"Not gonna work on me, Sloth."
The Finger reached the top of its arc, and was punched even higher by Meiss before it could start falling again. Meiss jumped up again and grabbed the Finger, hurtling it into the ground. With another display of "WRYYYYYAGH!"Meiss shot out all three Acedia tendrils and they impaled the body, killing it.
Subaru stared in shock. He never realized how powerful Meiss was before. Was he still holding back? That was a scary thought.
"Haah... Haah... Subaru? You ok?"
"Y- Yeah, I think-"
Subaru doubled over, the spirit was flung from his body.
"NO! Not again..."
Meiss dived to catch Subaru as he fell over. Ferris caught up with them, breathing heavy. Meiss stood Suabru up as he started speaking gibberish.
"Subaru-kyun?"
"Subaru? No, my name is Petelgeuse Roman- Get out of my body!"
Subaru slapped himself before clutching his head again. Meiss stood rigid. Ferris slowly approached Subaru.
"Sloth can possess people? This is bad..."
"Felix! Do the thing- Wow! This body is such a good fit for me!- Stop speaking over me! Felix, do the paralyzing thing!"
Ferris hesitated, tears filling his eyes. Meiss widened his eyes in hopelessness as he stood unmoving. Ferris walked foreword and tapped Subaru on the shoulder. He fell to the ground, unmoving. Subaru turned to look at Meiss, pleading, unable to speak.
"Subaru, I- I can't."
"Do it! That is Subaru-kyun's wish! I didn't want to paralyze him, I despise myself for doing it but it had to be done!"
Meiss looked defeated, Subaru was wishing for death too easily. Or did he know this would happen through his foresight? Was he already content? No. He hadn't seen Emilia yet, or welcomed Rem back from her recovery. There must be some other reason.
"You're looping, right Subaru? The only way to activate it must be death, then. You'll return to the past, you will... Return by Death."
The paralyzed man widened his eyes. Meiss raised his hand, orange and cyan energy sprouting forth.
"If I'm right, then I'm ok with this. You'll get it next Groundhog Day."
Subaru nodded, it was barely more than a twitch, but Meiss saw it.
A blackness darker than anything ever felt before invaded the clearing. Meiss placed his hand on Subaru's temple. Black hands, colder than the coldest night, wrapped themselves around Ferris' and Meiss' hearts. The Witch could not let anyone know. Meiss burned a hole into the side of Subaru's face as the black hands closed themselves around his heart. Blood leaked into his chest cavity. Meiss saw Ferris fall to the ground next to him. He clutched his chest as he saw a red splotch under his skin run down from the middle of his sternum. His lungs refused to pull in air, his head grew foggy and his vision tunneled. Meiss activated Indiferentia on his chest as the woman from before ran over.
"Subaru!"
Emilia ran towards the pile of bodies. The man who saved her before was leaning over Subaru. He rolled onto his back as she approached. She saw a large red mark run down his chest. Life returned to his eyes for a second as she skidded on her knees in front of Subaru's body. She raised his smoking head, not caring about her scraped knees.
"Subaru..."
The man coughed, he felt cold as he was attacked throughout his body. The Witch destroying his organs one by one as he refused to die. Frothy blood leaked from his mouth.
"Rem's gonna kill my ghost."
He struggled to look over at the woman, but she was focused on Subaru. White hair, purple eyes... Is she...?"
"Why, why would you go so far for me..."
Meiss hacked up more blood. He mumbled before coughing again to clear his mouth.
"He... Loves you. You're Emilia, right?"
Emilia looked up in shock. The man used present tense when Subaru was clearly dead. He was also dying, so it was probably that which was clouding his mind.
"Well... he'll probably get it... next time."
The man's blue eyes dulled, his body relaxed as he stopped the use of his Authority.
Emilia picked Subaru's body up. Puck materialized and snuggled up to her neck.
"Lia..."
"We're going back to Elior Forest, Puck. Can you use some ice to carry this man and Felix?"
Puck looked at the scene before him. The area had the Witch's miasma heavy on it. It was densest around Subaru and the boy.
He floated away from Emilia, and encased both bodies in ice. They started to float after Emilia as she walked towards Arlam's center.