Chapter V

"Gahhh!" He grasped at the spears desperately. The sage felt his body contort and twitch in pain as blood flowed seamlessly from his wounds. Slowly, his body floated towards the witch and her two companions. His bloodshot eyes glared at Pandora with pure hatred in his eyes.

Subaru-kun….

He heard her voice again. Her sweet bell-like voice covered in shadows paralyzed time itself. In front of him was a dark shadow covered in a beautiful black gown. The veil of shadows over her head slowly melted and revealed a silver-haired half-elf girl who was maddingly in love with him.

"S-Satella…"

Subaru-kun…

She sounded so sorry. Tears dripped from her eyes. "W-what the hell is going on, Satella?! Tell me!" Desperately, he tried to cling to her, but his hands were too short to reach her.

The seal…has started to break…I'm sorry.

Light entered the world again. Pain once again dug its putrid nails into his skin. "S-son of a bitch-"

"That's enough," A powerful voice filled with authority flowed into the battlefield. An angered red-haired knight stepped into the chaos, and took a sword from a fallen knight, leaving his own still in his holster. Without hesitation, he swung, throwing a blade of energy right to Pandora, tearing her body in half. Blood smeared on the floor.

Hector and the witch cult member just narrowly dodged. "Stand down, both of you. You will be charged for assault, murder, and attempted murder agai-" His eyes narrowed as he saw Pandora stretch her neck. There was no trace of blood anywhere. It was as if Reinhard never attacked at all.

"If it isn't the might hero, Reinhard Van Astrea!" The cloaked man let out a sardonic laugh. "I've been wanting to see you again, Sword Saint!" His words were like a madman's.

"Have I met you somewhere before?" Reinhard said, cautiously.

"Oh we have. Lots of times. You don't know the countless times I've tried to kill you. I first tried poison, but look at you, having a blessing against poison! Then I tried sniping you, but then you had some stupid blessing against arrows! I can't believe it'd work against a fucking bullet! I tried so much more, but EVERY! DAMN! TIME! You always survived!"

"Let go of Subaru-kun!" A Morningstar cut through the conversation, hurling straight to the witch and her crew. The young boy next to the cloaked man snapped his finger, and the Morningstar fell straight to the ground, breaking through the wooden floor.

"What a paaaaaaainnnnn," He said, cracking his neck.

"Let go of my friend!" A purple-haired knight drew his sword and called forth several minor spirits, but Pandora stepped forward and raised an all-too similar green gem. A single glimpse of it made Emilia's eyes widen. Forcefully manipulating the gem, Pandora released a torrent of ice, tearing through the floor and headed straight to Julius.

Without hesitation, Reinhard stepped in and took the blow directly.

There was not a single scratch on him.

"So we're not going to get anywhere by fighting right here and now, are we?" Pandora said nonchalantly as she pressed the gem to her cheek, like a prized possession.

"W-where did you get that?!" Emilia started to scream, "Where did you get Puck?!"

"She's forcing nii-chan to do her bidding…" A wide-eyed Beatrice watched helplessly as the situation unfolded.

"I said…LET GO OF SUBARU-KUN!"

"Let go of Natsuki-san!"

Both Rem and Otto screamed as Rem jumped forward, her fists aimed straight at Hector when Otto raised his hands and flung explosive gems to the witch.

"The young sage and I go way back, so we need some time to catch up. We'll be going now."

Pandora waved, and her crew along with the hostage disappeared.

[]

"Did any of you notice anything or anyone suspicious before the incident?" A figure of authority, similar to a police officer, questioned Emilia, Rem, Otto, and Beatrice. The loli spirit was crying her eyes out, while the blue-haired maid gritted her teeth in frustration and anger.

"I understand, that you, Rem-san, was not in the vicinity until the attack actually happened. Can you please explain where you were?"

"Yes," She bowed her head, her expression neutral with a slight tint of unforgivable fury, "When Subaru-kun left the Roswaal mansion to go with Emilia-sama, I followed him via his scent so that I can be at his side and protect him at any time. Roswaal-sama and Onee-sama both gave me their blessings, and I stayed behind him so I wouldn't inconvenience him in any way."

An awkward smile crossed the officer's face. She basically confessed to stalking the sage-knight.

"R-right. Was there anything suspicious about Natsuki-sama's behavior? Was he worried or troubled by something?"

"Now that you mention it, he has been a little depressed lately," Emilia's eyes drooped, "He told me he was homesick."

"It probably wasn't the whole truth," Otto interrupted, "He never once mentioned his home or his origins up until then. There's also the witch's last statement, with how she needed to 'catch up with him'. As much as I dislike doubting Natsuki-san, it's possible he was acquainted with very dangerous people. Remember how Scarf Echidna-san talked about how Natsuki-san's past was completely obscured? There might be something to it now more than ever."

"…" Beatrice shifted around nervously, as if she was hiding something. She clutched the edges of her dress, her adorable cheeks stiffened with frustration. Raising her hand, everyone turned to her. "I know of his origins, and I'm telling you now, my contractor has nothing to do with that filth."

Clearing her throat, Beatrice spoke again. "He came from another world."

[]

He opened his eyes tiredly. His body felt numb and cold. Too cold. Subaru's arms felt like lead, too heavy to move. "D-damn…I'm in one hell of a pinch…" Trying to see the area around his dull, clouded eyes, he noticed a cloaked man next to him, with the platinum-haired witch behind him.

"I'm going to be rough with him, just don't let him die, will you?"

"Huhhh…" She sighed, "You should really watch your tone, but I know, I know. Stop looking at me like that," Pandora grew annoyed. She hovered her hand over the dying Subaru's wounds, and in an instant, the spears and wounds disappeared without a trace.

However, Subaru's strength hadn't come back. He still felt exhausted and pained.

"I didn't bring his strength back, you're free to do what you want with him until I come back," She said, leaving the room and locking the massive steel door behind her.

Hearing the sound of heavy metal clinking, the cloaked man smiled. Removing his cloak, a very familiar face glared at Subaru. "Hello, self."

The sage's eyes widened, before suddenly snarling, "You'll have to do better than that if you want to mess with my head, Lust."

"Hah?!" The ex-cloaked man was astonished by the stupid conclusion that he was Lust. "You idiot, I am not that whore. I killed that woman. Or well, we did. I'm sure you killed her in this alterna-" A sharp pain thrashed inside Pride. It was so intense he vomited blood out. "Gah…guess we can't even tell it…to each other…"

"Y-you…are me?" The sage recognized that expression. He recognized the fear and pain that came with it.

"Yep. It looks like our ability glitched out or something or other, and I was brought here. I took a look around and I gotta say, I do not like how you work," He slipped out a knife from his back pocket and smiled.

"Ah shi-"

A very distinguished sharp pain ran down his left shoulder blade. Pride twisted the knife, making it hit bone. "Ahhh!" The sage howled.

"If you let the competition live, how in the hell is Emilia going to win the Royal Selection, huh?! Don't you care about her dreams?! You are living life so leisurely. It's pissing me off." He kicked a downed Subaru straight in the stomach, "I really do NOT like that, you hear me?!"

"Man, you sure are twisted," Subaru smiled as something wormed out of his back. As this black slithery object crawled out of his back, Pride's eyes widened in shock. Without warning, Subaru unleashed Invisible Providence, aka Unseen Hands against Pride.

Taking it straight in the face, Pride was sent hurling through the air before majestically falling head-first on the rusty floor. "An unseen hand?! How the fuck did you get that?!" He frantically rushed up and dusted the dirt off his pants. "If I have access to that power I could do so mu-"

Smacked again, Pride's nose broke like a twisted twig. Holding onto his nose, he felt blood trickle down his hand. "Daammmiiiit!"

In pain, Subaru's head felt like it had a dozen claws piercing his skull from over-use of Invisible Providence. Pride screamed in anger, "I don't know how you managed to absorb Bete-san's Witch Genes, but I'm going to tear it out of you!"

As he drew closer, a figure stepped between them and flung its arm against Pride's chin, hurling him out of the room, breaking through the steel door. "Geeehhh!"

The figure was Hector, the Warlock of Acedia. "What a masssiiiiiveee paaaaiiiiin. This aain't a place to settle your gruuuuuudgeeeeees," Picking up the fallen Pride, Hector called Pandora over. "Ooooold laaaaady, get your shiiiiiit done."

"Manners, Hector," She flipped her hair and walked to the pained Sage. Drool and blood fell from his mouth. "Authority overuse? I've seen it with Betelguese-san. You're like his son."

"I…I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't call me that madman's son. We aren't related in any way."

"Good point, your eyes are far more sardonic. I don't like that," A force far surpassing Pandora's thin arms crushed Subaru's neck, lifting him upward. "You're going to relinquish your witch genes. I'm going to bring all the Archbishops back to life using you."

A surging pain spawned in his stomach, tearing him apart from the inside. Something was being forced upward out of his throat. An orb of shadows was vomited out of his mouth with a slight tint of green.

"W-what the hell did you just…"

"I removed the Gene of Greed from inside you, young sage. And with it, I'm going to revive Regulus-san. After that, I'm going to bring back Betelguese-san, and then the order goes down from there. All because you made it possible."

Chapter END

Author Notes

I'm getting the hang of this!

Anyways, I might've rushed it, but I'm not good at writing build up chapters. Never was. Hope you enjoyed it, cause Subaru's starting from scraaaaatch.

Also, I don't know if Subaru would ever reveal that he's from another world, but I made some research and found that he might not exactly be banned from telling people he's an otherworlder, just that he can't tell anyone about RbD.

I made fun of Rem, hahahah. Don't burn me alive. Satella best grill.

Satella's my favorite character. Subaru is second. Rem is third. Not a lot of people like Subaru…But I do. He's so tenacious and is a workaholic. I like that.

Anyways, enjoy the chapter.