Chapter 2: Hellbent Determination
The sword never managed to reach it's target.
Before he could even touch the mabeast, his gut was slammed with an orb of fire the size of a basketball, sending him flying into the wall on the far side of the room, smashing his back side into the fresh rocks that had fallen from the ceiling.
"GHUUah"
Subaru slumped his shoulders backwards in agony, still attempting to push past the pain coursing through his body.
For a moment, he was filled completely with rage.
The situation before him was completely unfair. He had walked hours to reach this point, only to be faced with death once again. And even when he thought that he was dead, he was still left to face an excruciating demise.
"GrraAAAH"
Standing up, the boy let our a sneer full of hatred.
The thick miasma of the sand dunes had finally twisted his mind into a state of complete and utter anger.
"Let's see how you-"
Pushing past the horrific damage that had come to his abdomen, he attempted to pick up a rock from the pile with his right hand.
His right hand.
.
.
It was missing.
"auuugh"
The boy let out a faint whimper.
Despite the broken madness his mind had been transfigured into, he reverted to his usually terrified nature. Realizing just how hopeless his situation was, he insisted to wait for it to end. There was nothing he could do to stop the suffering that had afflicted him. He could only wait and hope for a swift death, before the state of shock his mind was in could diffuse and give way to the unimaginable pain and agony that was now replacing his severed arm.
The centaur looking creature, as if against it's own nature, merely directed it's eyeless gaze toward him, perhaps contemplating something.
Before Subaru could make out or understand what the beast was considering, a bright flash overtook his consciousness.
It burns
All he could do was accept it.
It burns
The walls of the cave flashed with each incoming volley of flames.
I burns It burns It burns
Before the heat engrossing his body could deteriorate, another heat took it's place.
Perpetual attacks fired off one after the other as his body became the semblance of ash.
Cold
Eventually, his senses could no longer distinguish what was hot, and what wasn't.
Every nerve ending on his body was enveloped by either the heat of flames of the sting of ice.
His eyes had dried up completely. He could no longer see any light coming from his surroundings.
His ears, or what remained of them, could only ring from the brutal impacts.
He became only consciousness in that instant.
Dry
Every iota of moisture that remained in his body was cast out in the drenching heat. What remained was nothing other than an empty husk of a person waiting for the end to take them.
The consciousness wondered how long it would last. How long would it wait? Perhaps it could no longer sense time. Maybe what lie in death, was simply an eternity of awaiting it? Perhaps the mind could only fill in the blanks with senseless entropy. It was entirely possible that he would spend an infinite amount of time here before he could pass on into the next exis-
Oh. There it is.
Subaru felt something familiar. As if his mind and body had been separated and pushed back into one another.
He had finally reset.
Despite the arduous process he had undergone in death, he could only feel relieved. He would grasp at every second he could possibly take hold of, if it meant avoiding such a reality.
He tried to open his eyes. Slowly, he began to make out a faint light.
Finally
He could only find himself at peace with such a development.
Soon, Ram would be here to wake him up, and they could find another solution to this predicament.
Subaru only wanted to rest until then. He close his eyes and tried let himself doze off into the welcoming embrace of sleep.
Only, it was hard to rest when you have such a painful feeling in your head.
A sharp pain continued to ring it's way through his body.
He could feel something warm dripping down his forehead.
Is that.. Blood?
He jerked himself out of his trance, forcing his eyes open to observe the situation.
.
.
.
.
no.
His thoughts ran wild.
A faint light illuminated the walls round him.
He was in a large room, with a pile of debris covering the wall next to the source of the light, and towards the center of the room-
An orange, pulsating glow resided.
no.
no.
nonononono
Despair.
Subaru could not make sense of the situation he had been placed in. No, what he had placed himself in.
He assaulted his brain, trying to find something to latch on to, cycling through all of the information that he had accumulated thus far.
His mind drew forth a quote from Echidna.
"Her hope is that you will never find yourself trapped in a death in that is true death."
No. None of this makes any sense!
Why would Satella allow him to be stuck in such a hopeless situation? If she wanted him to live, and continue without any obstacles, why wouldn't she intervene?
Then, he considered the nature of the Witch.
Satella, and the Witch of Envy were not one in the same.
The Witch of Envy.
He could feel a trembling voice, laced with anticipation playing through his head.
"I love you! I love you! I love you!"
Why?! If you loved me, wouldn't you be helping me?!
"Love you! Love you!"
I hate you! Your twisted love is something you should keep to yourself!
The two voices paused for a moment.
Subaru began to piece together exactly what had happened.
.
.
"Mine."
"Mine!Minemineminemineminemine!"
Get….Get out!
He forced her voice out of his head, bringing his hands to his face.
These sand dunes were extremely close to where she was sealed. Her miasma leaked through every crack and crevice, channeling the presence of the Witch.
The implication that Subaru had come to realize was nothing short of horrific.
She wanted him to stay.
To stay here.
Forever.
Subaru mentally spat on her twisted sense of love.
He had never been more terrified, or disgusted by something in his entire life.
Breaking out of his mindset, he began to brainstorm.
There is no way out of this room.
The frightened boy reached to the far edges of his mind, attempting to ring out any possibility of escape.
After sitting in the same spot for a while, he had wracked his head completely empty, analyzing and adjusting every potential idea he could come up with.
Damn it!
Subaru pressed his hands against his head, unable to come up with any reasonable plan of escape.
The only thing that remained for him was to pin down the exact factors in the room that he wasn't sure of.
Maybe… If I stay as quite as possible, I can dig my way out.
After his last scuffle with the creature, he was certain that engaging it was a fruitless effort. He would only be giving his life away, dying another meaningless death.
Subaru stared at the pile of debris that covered his only exit.
He contemplated for a moment just how long it might take to dig himself out.
There's no point in thinking about it. He forced himself out of his faltering mindset.
Bringing himself to his feet, he assumed the stealthy crouched position of a thief.
Slowly, the boy inched his way towards the pile of rocks.
He noted how dense the pile was, and many of the rocks were nearly the size of himself.
He gulped as he reached towards the first rock in the pile, grabbing it around the top, lifting it, and slowly lowering it into the sand.
After moving several of the rocks out of the way, he began to understand just how much of a monumental task this had become. If he didn't have to worry about noise, and could throw the rocks at his own pace, but it could still take hours for him to make his way through. And even then, more rocks may still pile their way in from the ceiling.
Subaru continued to carefully set the rocks in a circular formation around his feet, conserving all of the space around him to prevent encroaching on the monster to his back.
After another hour or two, he had made decent headway into the mound of rocks blocking the entrance. He began to believe that it might be possible to escape this situation. If he was lucky, he may even be able to lead the others out through the path that was no longer blocked by this monster.
For a moment, he didn't feel quite as hopeless.
Just as Subaru began to find solace in his thoughts, he heard a noise.
What sounded like panting coming from the creature behind him, was the gaping mouth on the beasts torso.
The centaur began to push it's hooves against the sand, forcing itself into an upright position.
The boy gently turned his gaze towards the beast as it lifted itself off of the ground. Slowly, it made it's way towards him, calmly inching itself closer to the pile of rock.
Subaru simply stood completely still, trying not to provoke the beast, or alert it to his position.
After a moment, the boy realized that it wasn't looking directly at him, but at the area where it once forced it's way through the wall.
It knows that it's trapped.
He decided to get out of it's way, silently tiptoeing to the other side of the room. He swore that the beast had jerked it's maw towards him for a moment, but quickly turned back to the mound of earth. He would have to be more careful about concealing his presence, any slip up would result in the loss of his life.
He watched as the creature stretched it's arms towards the wall, feeling the surface and trying to find anyway it could get through.
The beast started to hoof backwards, as it preparing a plan of attack on the mass of debris. It's back began to ignite, and a large oval of light emerged from the orange tendrils below it's shoulders. Grabbing the mass with it's left arm, it lifted it's hand above it's head, as if striking a pose.
From the maw on it's abdomen, it began to generate a horrific screech
"GRRRAAAAAAAAAAAA"
What sounded like a thousand screaming bats, accompanied by roar of a train erupted from the mouth of the beast. Between it's teeth, it churned steam into the air, before it's raised arm began to glow, then quickly dimming into an obsidian-like darkness.
The arm was now over twice it's original size, and shined lightly as if it were covered in a fine armor.
The centaur was now winding it's arm into a throwing position, turning it's body sideways, and leaning it's hooves towards the wall before it.
In an incredible display of speed and power, the glowing object launched out of the hand of the creature and into the wall, generating a shockwave of flames and dust, as rocks scattered throughout the room.
In the same instant, the earth shook, and ceiling was torn asunder, breaking itself into small chunks of rock which berated the ground bel-
Subaru woke up once again.
He had died only a few meters from the spot he was in. His face gave off a look of powerlessness as the dimly lit darkness welcomed him into it's loving arms. The twisted words of the Witch echoed through his mind, as if laughing at him for his failure.
"Mine! Always mine! Only mine! Forever mine!"
He gave up.
Subaru cemented himself to the ground. Refusing to move, he decided that he would simply let time pass.
It was a possibility that he might have somehow provoked the monster into attacking the wall by clawing away at it, though he was fairly confident in his ability to mask the noise.
He resolved himself to simply lie in that exact spot and wait. Taking action only led to death. If he was going to make it out of this situation, he would have to see the outcome of his slothfulness.
He wasn't a lazy person. The word Slothful wasn't something that he was particularly enthused by, especially after a certain encounter by a certain someone, but his fruitless efforts had simply left him with this final option.
So he waited.
Hours went by. Nothing happened any differently. Obviously, just like last time the beast would simply lie in the center of the room and sleep. Why would it do anything else if there were nothing to provoke it?
Maybe the others will show up…
He could only hope for the best. He had foolishly told them to wait in that spot himself.
He cursed himself for holding on to the mentality that he should have let go of after the events of Sanctuary. Otto's fists smashing into his face for taking on his burdens alone was still an event fresh in his mind. He thought that he would have known better by now.
Yet here he was, in a hopeless situation, brought on by nothing other than his incompetent self.
He then heard a familiar noise.
Panting from the gaping mouth, the centaur once again lifted it's body off the ground. It slowly made it's way towards the pile of debris before reaching it's arm to it's back.
So this is it, huh.
As the same exact situation played out before him once again, tears began to stream from the boys eyes as he held his arm over his face, in a silent whimper.
Subaru had often wondered exactly what Hell was like. Some said that it was a pit of despair that would assault you for eternity, bringing to life nightmares that you could never dream of. Others would say that it was a place of fire, that would burn you for every sin that you had ever committed.
He never imagined that the two of those statements could be so accurate.
If there was a god, they were most certainly punishing him for every sin he had ever committed.
Every last one of them.
That time he walked into the convenience store annoyed that his parents had asked him to pick up some groceries, before quickly skipping in line so that he could make it back to his computer in time to join his raiding party for the next dungeon.
It burns
That time he took the chalk roller from his school, and painted the street white before being walked home by the police, embarrassing his parents.
It burns
Every time he woke up from his bed, staring at the clock until he knew he could no longer make it to school on time.
It burns
That time he ignored his mother as he walked out of the house, never to return again.
It burns
That time a girl confessed her undying love for him, and he proclaimed himself as her hero, only to let her existence be snatched away from those who loved her.
It….
He could no longer feel the pain.
The unending sensation of death had finally been numbed.
How many times had he died? He stopped counting long ago. Years ago.
Time, numbers, existence.
They were all irrelevant.
Here and now, the only thing that he could use as a tool to measure with was his own suffering.
He thought that perhaps he could reach some type of atonement.
That if he suffered enough, maybe he would be forgiven by those he had sinned against.
And yet, in another cruel twist, he had become numb to the pain. How could he atone like this?
It was like accepting a belt whooping, while knowing the person holding the belt wouldn't hit you hard enough to hurt you.
Could he have already suffered enough?
no.
He had committed countless sins. Most of them warranted multiple deaths. Just how many times had he allowed others to die?
He recalled his death to the Great Rabbit once again.
The feeling of flesh tearing, teeth gnawing away at his brain as his body broke down in shock.
Others had to suffer through that as well.
He remembered walking through the village in sanctuary, not finding a single soul. Each and every person in that village suffered the same cruel fate. He should have been the only one, but his uselessness got the better of him. Otto had sacrificed himself for his life. Patrasche, the ground dragon who carried him around, asking nothing for herself was crushed into the rocks. All of the villagers too, had suffered greatly for his sake. He had led them into that atrocity.
Every death was burned into his mind. His failure to save everyone the first time around was a grave sin, one that would take his entire life to make up for.
As he died over and over, he couldn't help but be disturbed by a duo of voices singing ambiently, as he occasionally found himself stranded in a foreign sea of darkness. A strange place where he would often float around, seeking out a familiar womanly figure in the black mist.
"Aaaah, how lacking in diligence." The first voice called out.
"I fail to see how this boy ever made it as far as he has. Has he no standards? Don't you think it uncouth of yourself not to strive for a satisfying existence?" The second voice berated his non existent ear drums.
" Do you even care to discern what.. what.. what we are trying to CONVEY to you?!… Aaaah... Aaaaah! How… Worthy of disdain!" The first voice called out to him again.
Relentlessly, these voices assaulted his very being. He cared nothing for them. The familiar voices only served as a reminder of his sins. For his slothfulness… And his selfish greed.
"Just who do you take me for? Does your ignorance imply that you would slander me as someone so greedy that I wouldn't settle for the simple joys of life? Have you any respect for my rights? Do you simply step on the dreams of others for the sake of personal enjoyment? One such as yourself is purely wicked and twisted, you desire nothing but to deny the wishes of others. Such a demented way of thinking is beyond despicable! Far from human!"
"It appears he would ignore us to the end of time if he could. Such contempt… Such inconsideration...How…Utterly, neglectfully, sinfully... Slothful."
They could say whatever they wanted, he would continue to ignore them. Bickering from one end to the other as they could only complain about the hopeless situation that he had brought upon himself. He didn't require anyone else's consideration. And despite that, regardless of their intentions, they were more sinful than even himself. He completely despised himself, yes, but the voices surrounding him were from people whom he believed never even deserved a chance at life.
Although, the voices in his ear were not from an independent consciousness. They weren't far off from himself, perhaps you could even say they were connected in a way? Between his thousands and tens of thousands of deaths, he had at several points entered a place of shadow, a place both familiar, and alien. In this garden, one consciousness would preach to him with insanity while the other would bicker at his insolence. Most of the time, he would simply turn his nonexistent back to them as he searched for a certain someone. But no matter how many times he sought her out, his tiny semblance of an imagination could never visualize her face. He often found himself frustrated, but his being was not strong enough to display any actions derived from his shallow emotions. Eventually, he would find himself drifting off, losing grip to the void and unable to continue manifesting himself in the-
Awakening from his last death, he observed the familiar ceiling once more. Dark and dry, just like every other time. He could taste the dryness of the air circulating around him.
Once again, he would welcome death.
He glanced at the beast before him, noting how powerful it was, in comparison to his useless self.
He could only consider how horrible it was to constantly rely on others to get things done. One of his gravest sins was his manipulation of others. Yes, he may have led the charge against the White Whale, but it was ultimately the combined firepower of other groups that made it's defeat possible.
And then, as if mocking him for his uselessness, they called him a hero.
Him? A hero?
Subaru?
None of that made any sense. All he could do is watch people suffer due to his own incompetence, and then manipulate them into defeating the threat, only to have him steal the glory for himself.
If the title of hero belonged to anybody, it would be Reinhard. He was always friendly, and could handle even the most hopeless situations with ease.
Maybe, if he could become stronger. Maybe, if he actually put in the effort to handle things the first time, he would never have put so many people through hell.
How could he ever call himself a hero? Let alone Rem's hero. After what had happened, he even had the gall to say that he would save her.
That he would bring her back.
Isn't that why I came here in the first place?
He had lost all hope that he would ever make it out of this situation.
He believed that he was far too weak of an existence to ever make any difference.
All he could do was give up.
"But it doesn't suite you."
"..."
Subaru forced his face into a scowl, as if denying the words that rang through his head.
How could he listen to her voice again like that? Those words that once inspired him to shoot for the stars now fell upon deaf ears.
He never deserved her in the first place. The only thing he deserved from her was to be tortured that night in the forest. Every ounce of pain that was placed on him was well deserved.
After how he had betrayed her trust, letting her memories be eaten, and alienating her existence, he never deserved to hear the precious words she gifted him with that day.
He had to pay for what he had done to her. To the girl that loved him. Indeed, it was possible that she might never be fixed.
Might never.
Ever.
Be fixed.
Aaaah, how truly slothful.
.
.
.
Subaru continued to lie on the ground, awaiting his fate. Though, at this point it was only secondary punishment.
The true punishment was psychological. Even if he was completely numb to his physical pain, the mounting pile of regrets would continue to bore a hole through his soul.
The situation was a culmination of both his lacking physical and mental capability.
He gazed at the sword on the ground next to him once again.
Dulled and bland. It was a common sword that hadn't seen maintenance for many years.
Subaru wondered how much longer he needed to suffer. Though, it wasn't like he had a choice, it wasn't as if there were any chance he would ever make it out.
Musing to himself, he wondered how others might react to the situation.
He immediately attempted retracting his thoughts however, as the first thing he could see was tears.
Memories flashed before him of the nights that he would wake up to Beatrice sobbing, as she held her small hands over his scar covered arm.
"It scares Betty when you hurt yourself, I suppose"
His heart winced in pain as he imagined the sad look in her butterfly eyes.
He had made so many people cry over him. Who was he to make himself so important to them? It was true that he had to force her to make a decision that fiery night, otherwise that girl would happily give away her own life. She was almost as stupid as him.
Almost.
.
.
Subaru contemplated at his own idiocy.
How much longer would he continue to wallow in the dirt?
His mind conflicted, not knowing if he should continue to suffer, or steel his determination.
Who deserved it more?
Did he deserver to suffer more than Beatrice deserved to see a fulfilled life of happiness outside those library walls?
More that Emilia deserved to become queen?
More than Rem deserved to have her life back?
.
.
.
A gulping noise could be heard throughout the room.
Subaru once again found himself relying on others in his own twisted way.
I'm sorry for keeping you guys waiting on me for so long.
In that moment, Natsuki Subaru decided that he would fight until the end of eternity itself.
The cave erupted into a flash of light. Once again, he had failed to make any kind of decisive blow to the creature.
At this point, he was only analyzing it, attempting to poke holes in it until he could find a weak spot. He realized that if he approached it calmly, he could easily land a hit or two on the beast. He had tried jamming the sword through it's throat and through it's chest multiple times, but he would either be incinerated instantly, or pull out the sword only to find that the beast had regenerated. It made absolutely no sense to him that stabbing it through the heart wouldn't do something to it.
He wondered if the monster's vital organs were contained in the horse-like portion of the body.
Ah, duh. How else would it be able to pump all of that blood through it's body? It would need a heart the size of a horse's.
The only problem was, he wasn't too familiar with the anatomy of a horse. He guessed the heart would be somewhere around the chest, below where a horses neck would be, but pin pointing it was more difficult than he imagined.
Time after time, he continued to throw himself into the fire, grasping at straws.
"GRAAAK!"
This time, the creature twitched and screamed in pain.
Found it!
He found himself elated with a new discovery.
But even then, the centaur would stand back up and pummel him into the ground with a blaze of fire. Over and over again, he would stab clean through it's heart, but it would immediately recover and kill him before it showed any evidence of giving up on it's life.
No way... Could it be regenerating it's heart too?
Subaru wondered if there was an organ it used for regeneration somewhere located within it's body, or if it's entire body possessed that ability throughout.
There has to be a limit to it's regeneration. He thought.
The boy continued to peck away at the beast, hoping he could find something, anything. But he found nothing.
He wondered if slicing it in half would be enough to kill it, but he knew that he could never achieve such a feat. The beast didn't just have the body of a horse, it was also far larger, standing over 6 meters tall at it's highest point. Even the humanoid torso of the creature dwarfed Subaru.
He recalled Garfiel's fight with Elsa, and what he had to do to defeat an opponent that regenerated continuously.
"Th' bitch kept comin' back fr' more. I jus' kept beatn' her down, till she couldn't recover. I swear she was jus' like a vampire from th' books I read as a kid."
In this world, there was only one ability he was sure of that had infinite potential to recover, and that was Return by Death.
Even that disgusting freak Elsa had her limits.
And with that, Subaru decided to test just how far the beast could regenerate.
He believed the best place to start with would be it's arms.
The beast's primary method of attack was generating ammunition or weapons from it's back, and then collecting it with with it's two arms.
If he could manage slicing off it's arms, it would be disarmed until it could regenerate them, allowing him to further probe.
Initially, Subaru found it difficult to slice through an arm. The shortsword was extremely dull, and his strikes would often stop after hitting bone. However, with time and practice, he was able to find weak points between it's joints, gliding directly between the bones and lopping them off at the joints with minimal effort.
After repeated runs, he had managed to cut off both of it's arms multiple times, leaving the beast only able to hoof with it's legs, unable to return any meaningful attacks.
However, he once again ran face first into another brick wall.
The beast took a step back, and began to screech in an oddly familiar manner. Emitting steam from it's body, it began to morph somewhat, growing enormously in arm size, and brandishing a shining obsidian armor over it's body, as well as growing a second pair of arms on it's torso. The beast then moved it's arms to it's back, and brought forth 4 large flaming swords, charging it's opponent and erasing them from existen-
Subaru once again found himself shaken by the impossible challenge the creature presented. Not only could it regenerate, but it could armor itself and grow even more limbs?
The longer he considered it, the deeper the rabbit hole in his soul became.
Although his body would maintain it's energy and resources after each loop, Subaru began to find himself mentally exhausted. He had been suffering in this chamber for an imperceptible amount of time. He had easily died thousands of times, likely tens of thousands of times ever since he began fighting the creature.
He leaned back once again in the sand and reviewed the information he had discovered about the beast.
He was unsure if it had multiple hearts, or perhaps the ability to regenerate it's heart. Poking more holes in the beast could help him to discern the truth about that.
As for the it's ability to armor itself, he noticed it would always take a retreating position before doing so, as the process took 4-5 seconds. Was it possible that if he could prevent it from retreating, he could continue to dig away at it's limbs, exhausting it's regenerative ability?
But how would he prevent it from retreating?
Ah, it's legs!
Immediately, he began to put together a plan of action.
First, I slice it's arm off to wake it up, preventing it from immediately attacking me. After that, the centaur will stand on it's legs, and I will immediately sever both of them on one side before it can make it's first move. Then, I will try to keep it pinned in that location as long as possible while I hack away at it.
This situation felt eerily similar to something he had done before. His memories went long into the past, before he was ever summoned into this world. The game Dark Souls had just released, and he remembered throwing himself at a boss time after time, strategizing and planning, optimizing after each failure, patching together a plan of action until he could execute it and defeat the boss.
What a twisted and ironic situation. He refused to treat this like some type of game.
Arm, leg-
Death.
Arm, leg, leg, gut-
Death
Arm, leg, leg, gut, leg again, don't let it-
Death
Swifter movements, optimize every action
Arm, leg, leg, gut, leg again, don't let it stand up, arm, leg-
Death
Better execution, I missed the gap in the joints on the last leg.
And so the process repeated. With each death, his movements became swifter, utilizing less energy, allowing no margin for error.
His body would always stay the same after each reset, but the mind controlling it continued to develop and enhance the bodies movements, time after time, generating technique that could only be created with experience.
Subaru lie on the ground once again, considering the last few loops he had undergone.
Just a few loops ago, he believed he had actually managed to kill the beast. Unfortunately, his victory was short lived as the beast's back brought forth an orb that erupted into an explosion, self destructing and taking it's killer with it.
He considered his options thoroughly.
Maybe he could slice off the humanoid torso somehow to prevent it from generating that orb? Maybe it was a fluke that it had even created it in the first place?
Subaru wondered why the creature would resort to such desperation.
What if there was a place to shield myself from it? He wondered quietly.
"..!"
Suddenly, an idea manifested itself.
Subaru reached down and picked up the sword once again, preparing himself for another fight to the death. He removed his cloak and shirt, as they were prone to catching on fire. He could have removed his pants as well, but even in the state of near madness he was in, he still wanted to believe that he had some shred of dignity left.
He silently approached the sleeping giant, his footsteps in perfect silence through the sand, gentle enough to be the feet of a professional assassin.
Raising the sword in his right hand, he whipped it through the air, slicing the beasts left arm off from it's shoulder with pinpoint precision, carefully threading the sword between the joints of the arm.
"GraAAK?!"
Subaru quickly ducked, dodging the strike from it's right arm as it hurled a ball of fire through the air.
Immediately as the beast began to stand, he entered a limbo position, walking underneath it's horse-like stomach, reaching the opposite side.
Within an instant, two more of it's limbs hit the ground, this time the legs on it's right side had been completely removed from their joints, detaching like a lizards tail. The beast rolled onto it's right side, hitting the ground with a thud.
"GRAAAAAAAK!" The monster screamed in agony as it's limbs began to reform.
As the centaur rolled into a sideways position, Subaru leapt into a backflip over it's grounded body, landing gently in the sand, now facing it's horse-like belly.
The next moment, a slice appeared, bisecting it's stomach. A hand reached in, ripping out multiple entrails.
"GRAAARAAARAAAAHHHHKKK!"
The creature began kicking it's left legs in the air aimlessly, attempting to hit whatever was assaulting it's organs.
By now, the centaur had regenerated it's left arm, and began to reach towards it's back, grabbing a flaming swor-
The limb hit the ground once again, piling onto two others that had been stacked in the same spot.
Subaru then used these limbs as a slight stepping stone to make his shoulders level with the creature's head, or where a person's head would normally be on it's humanoid torso. Originally, he would try to climb on top of it's side to perform this stunt, but the creature could immediately tell exactly where he was, attacking him before he could perform his next move.
In a wind up attack, Subaru unleashed every bit of strength he could muster, turning his hips and tightening his legs towards his center of gravity, optimizing every ounce of power his feeble body could put forth, quickly decapitating the monster's horn from it's neck.
Subaru had recognized that the horn of the creature was the most dense area of it's body. In practice, he found that this meant it would consequently be the body part that took the longest amount of time to regenerate. However, removing this part of the creatures body was likely the hardest part of taking the beast down so far, and even after tens of thousands of attempts of trial and error, he had only managed to cut it's horn off 7 times, meaning he had just bounded the highest hoop in this trial.
What came next would determine the fate of the monster.
Immediately, it's right arm threw itself at Subaru. The arm had no weapon, and it was clear that the strike was merely a reactive measure to the removal of the beasts horn.
He allowed the arm to strike his left shoulder, and quickly severed the arm, this time from the elbow joint, as it's right shoulder would be hard to reach from his current position.
Taking out the arm this quickly meant he could move on to the remaining limbs. The plan of action being to degrade it's regeneration process as much as possible, limiting it's regenerative capabilities.
With both of it's arms detached, including it's head, Subaru went directly for it's legs. The legs on the left side of the creature had already begun to regenerate, so he quickly disposed of the ones on the right side that dangled in the air, as the creature still lie on it's side in the sand. Before the legs from it's right side could hit the ground, Subaru moved on to the regenerating left legs, which were pinned into the sand. The dull sword threaded it's way through the knee joints of the legs, leaving the beast writhing in agony.
With the left legs gone once again, the creature was without a head, arms, or legs. All of these limbs were attempting to regenerate at the same time.
The only thing the beast could use to interact with at the moment were the sharp jaws on it's torso.
In a moment of realization, the beast determined that in this state, it would be impossible to protect itself from any further attacks, and began to focus energy into the core of it's body.
The gaping maw of the creature began to wheeze, blowing steam into the air with blistering heat.
The atmosphere of the room filled with searing steam, burning the boys body, as the monster's skin began to darken, forming a thick shell of-
"..."
.
.
.
A dull blade had pierced through the centaur's lower chest, stabbing directly into it's heart, which normally would not be a problem for it.
However, It had already committed to regenerating all of it's missing limbs and forming a shell of armor around it's body, meaning it could no longer pull out the sword that had been stabbed into the heart, and even if it could...
It's heart could no longer be regenerated.
As the limbs and and horn of the creature finished regenerating, the beast let out a final cry of hate, determined to bring and end to whatever entity that had had managed to slay it.
A large golden orb began to form out of it's back. With the last of it's strength, it had decided to create a bomb that would destroy everything in the room, though it wouldn't be much of a match for the now fully solidified obsidian armor the creature wore. It reached it's hands towards it's back, grabbing hold of the orb and raising it in the air, letting out a final war cry.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKKK!"
Moments before the room erupted into flame, it could feel something enter through it's underbelly.
Towards the beginning of the fight, Subaru had pulled out the beasts entrails, preventing it's stomach from regenerating. By cutting off all of the limbs, it had forced the monster to take defensive measures and create a shell over it's body that might just be strong enough to ward off the suicidal blast. At the last moment, Subaru used the creature's stomach as a final place to take cover from what came next.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The room shook from the detonation of the bomb, rocks falling from the ceiling, nearly causing the cave to collapse in on itself. The inside of the dead monster's underbelly was extremely hot, burning away at Subaru's bare skin. But he endured for the next few moments, allowing the blast to dissipate, and the last of the rocks to fall.
He slowly inched his way out of the stomach of the beast, gasping for air.
Once he had managed to catch his breath, he surveyed his surroundings.
The cave walls were covered in flames, limbs and flesh littering the floor.
He took a long, deep stare at the body in front of him. For the first time ever, he saw the beast dead, beyond a shadow of a doubt.
.
.
.
His heart was pounding. He felt a euphoric rush that he'd never thought he would feel again.
He had won. He had beaten the creature that kept him trapped here for what he could only assume was years.
Years of suffering. Torture. Agony.
"rrrRAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
In a state of absolute joy, the boy let out a cry of victory. It had been so long since he had last spoken, that he couldn't even control his own speech.
He began to grab the sand beneath him, and throw it into the air, shouting and screaming in celebration at the end of his pain.
After a few minutes had passed, his head snapped back into focus. It had been so long since he was able to consider it, that he nearly forgot what his next objective was.
Subaru looked across the room, staring at the debris pile that housed his only escape.
He quickly came to another realization.
Who knew how long it had been since they had parted ways? He knew, despite the fact that he had quite literally spent years in this room, that the group that was awaiting him outside had been there for hours, possibly the better part of a day.
He would have to make his way back to them, but he remembered the arduous task that escaping this place would be, especially given his serious injuries.
He found that his legs no longer had any strength in them as he tried to make his way to the pile of rubble.
Suddenly, his mind went blank.
Would he spend an unfathomable amount of time trying to beat this monster, only to be rewarded with death again on the other side?
He began to claw away at the rocks, tossing them frantically, cutting his hands and further injuring his broken wrist.
What if he could never get out of here?
Even if he made it out, he would still have to walk for several hours just to reach the group that was waiting for him. Could he last that long?
Were they even still waiting for him there?
His thoughts began to eat away at him, his worries digging a hole deep into his consciousness.
He didn't want to die again.
Just how many times would he be dragged back into the depths of hell?
It almost felt like there was a dark presence behind him, gripping him by the ankle, trying to pull him back into the depths.
An endless, gaping maw of dark.
Subaru was terrified. After fighting so hard, and for so long, he could only expect for his efforts to be in vain.
He continued to claw at the wall, pulling away debris in droves, casting it into the sand below him.
For what seemed like hours, he threw rocks aside and scraped at the wall, his hands covered in blood and his finger nails almost completely stripped away.
I don't wanna die
He urged on, throwing every last bit of strength he could muster into the wall before him.
I don't wanna die
Sweat made it's way down his brow as the hot room continued to sap away at his energy.
I don't wanna die I don't wanna die I don't wanna die
Until finally-
A cool breeze grazed his cheeks.
The rocks began to fall away, casting a white light that he could only describe in that moment to be angelic.
Suddenly, a gentle hand met with his own.
Before him, was quite possibly the most beautiful thing he had seen in his entire life.
"Barusu!"
A soft voice called out to him.
He could only respond with a stare.
Subaru gazed at the girl in front of him with his eyes wide open, as if peering into her divine soul.
"What happened to you!?" The voice began to question him with worry.
For a brief moment, he fell in love with the person who had just grabbed him by the shoulders.
His mind dug deep, attempting to pin down the name of the being before him.
His eyes began to water.
Water?
Aaah, yes. He remembered this feeling. This wasn't the same as the last time time he had done it, but he was still somewhat familiar with the act of crying.
He had finally remembered the name of the girl that was on her knees in front of him.
"Aaaa..aaaaaa...Rrrraaaa.."
He tried calling out to her, but it had been so long since he had last spoken words with his mouth that he forgotten precisely how he needed to move his lips.
"Huh, just what are-"
He put his arms around her and stuffed his head into her chest, weeping tears of joy while she held him by his shoulders.
"Baru-Wha-What are you doing?!"
The pink haired girl was obviously apprehensive about his actions, but it didn't matter to him.
She had saved him from an eternity of torment, it was only appropriate that he thank her.
"Aaaaa...Raaaaaa...mmm..."
Ram.
This time he had managed to say her name fully, or at least somewhat.
Slowly, he began to drift of into a peaceful sleep.
He was finally safe.
He was finally free.
He just wanted to rest.
Closing his eyes, he loaded his worries onto the shoulders of someone he could call his friend.