Chapter Six: The Statue

"You…you asshole."

Subaru sat on the cold, dead grass protruding from the gravel, catching his breath as his disgusted glare burned holes in the corpse of the knight he'd felled. The adrenaline from the fear had finally dumped, and a tremoring exhaustion had settled in his body.

Standing shakily, he placed a foot on the back of the knight and pulled his sword from the armored back of the fallen soldier. Rolling his shoulders and neck, he readied himself to continue his journey.

Marching forward through a dark corridor of the cave, he found himself entering another open room, anchored by another normal campfire. On either side of said fire stood two more of the zombie-like creatures he'd fought at the beginning of his adventure through the cave.

"More trash mobs, huh?" he said with a tired smirk. "No rest for the weary, I guess." Wasting no time allowing the enemies to prepare, he rushed the one on the right and ran it through with his blade. As the second closed in on him, he blocked its strike with his own weapon, causing a resounding clang as the zombie stumbled backward with a wail. Subaru took the opportunity, kicking its knee and bringing it down into a kneeling position. The moment it raised its head, he pushed his sword through the monster's chest.

Attempting to carry on through the cave, he whipped his shoulder back, just barely avoiding a crossbow bolt that flew past him with blinding speed. Turning to the source of the attack, he saw that his path was leading him to the very bridge he'd passed under to arrive here - with an all-too-familiar knight waiting for him halfway across.

"Should've seen this coming," he sighed, resigning himself for yet another fight with an enemy likely too strong for him. "My luck is so unenviable, I swear."

Rushing forward, he closed the distance between himself and the knight, shoving his blade into his foe's abdomen just as he was raising his bow. The weapon clattered and fell to the ground below as he faltered. Extracting his sword, Subaru stepped back and prepared another strike, lunging forward and aiming for his chest, but his attack met a hard surface and bounced off. The young man recovered from his surprise, seeing the soldier hiding behind a triangular brass shield.

"W-what the hell?!" he growled. "How'd you pull that thing out so fast?! It was on your back!"

Entirely ignoring his question, the knight swung forward with the blade he now held in his right hand. Subaru blocked it, but a second strike followed almost immediately, forcing him to lean back and fall on his rear. A third downward swing was aimed for his seated form, but he just barely managed to bring his sword above him to hold off his demise.

"How are you guys so damn strong?! And how do those injuries not slow you down?!" he yelled at the armored man leering over him, again receiving no answer. He pushed his sword arm to his left, parrying the blow and causing the knight to strike the ground and stumble beside him. Spinning on the ground, he lifted his right leg and kicked the knight's hip as hard as he could, forcing him over the edge of the bridge.

Waiting for a moment with bated breath, he heard the loud smack accompanied by the prolonged crash of an armored body making impact with the ground. He breathed a sigh of relief as he waited for the stream of Grace to find him.

A stream that never came.

Slowly peeking over the edge to see what had happened, he found the knight, very much alive and slowly making his way to his feet.

"Oh, hell no," he groaned, "what is it gonna take with you guys?!" He scrambled to his feet and began to run further in the direction he'd been headed, deciding to leave the knight alone and hope he could lose it with enough distance.

Coming to the end of the bridge and the room at its apex, he found another zombie which he dispatched quickly. In the next room, he found two more, one rummaging through the dirt and the other standing guard at the exit across a bounty of bushes. Killing the mobs as quickly and discreetly as possible, he moved onward to find a single zombie facing him. He rushed forward and cut it down, letting out a breath as it fell.

Turning to his right, he saw what seemed to be an old, worn statue of some kind, similar in height to him. Its likeness was that of a woman in robes, possibly crucified, or maybe with her arms spread welcomingly, the state of it making it difficult to tell.

As he attempted to take a step towards it, he heard a squelching sound as an unknown force pushed him forward slightly from behind. He tried to turn to see what it was, but his body wouldn't cooperate - it felt as if he was being held in place. In his lower peripheral vision, his eyes caught a glimmer of some kind, causing him to look down, only to find…

…a gold, blood-soaked blade, protruding from the chest of his tracksuit.

As the disgustingly familiar circle of blood began to expand from the wound in his chest and travel down his belly, his eyes widened and his head turned slowly to look over his shoulder. He found the zombie he'd just slain, standing behind him with an expressionless face, holding the handle of the very sword that was buried to the hilt in his back.

The pain rushed him suddenly, forcing a bloody cough from his mouth. He fell to his knees, still held somewhat upright by the blade in his torso, until the emotionless creature removed it, lighting the nerves of his body on fire in a torturous symphony of suffering as he fell prone to the floor.

As he stared up at his assailant, unable to speak due to the pain and blood, he watched as the zombie strolled past him calmly. It made its way a short distance ahead of him and then stopped, standing with its back to him.

'How…are y-you…alive?' he thought to himself. 'I killed you, I kn-know I did. Th-that strike was enough to kill every other z-z-zombie until now, so wh-what's-...?'

As the light left his eyes, Subaru Natsuki once again succumbed to the icy clutches of death.

Rushing light, an incoming excess of stimulation as feeling returned to his extremities. The fading sensation of pain from the mortal wound he'd sustained.

Subaru was returning to life.

With a deep gasp, Subaru sat upright beside the golden fire, his teeth clenched as he grasped his chest where the sword once pierced him.

'So that's it,' he thought, his breaths coming labored and harsh. 'There's no denying it now. I died, and I died for real.' He held his hand out in front of him, glaring at his palm. 'I must be…looping through time somehow. Whenever I die, I must go backward through time to a predetermined point.'

"Sister, sister. The Tarnished has yet to notice our presence." Subaru turned toward the voice, seeing a familiar blue-haired girl, staring at him from beneath her bangs in a somewhat untrusting manner.

"Rem, Rem," the other maid's voice rang out, pulling Subaru's attention. She had her same annoyed glare. "We are seemingly being rudely ignored by the Tarnished."

The boy smiled weakly. "It's good to see you again," he muttered. The girls looked at one another in confusion. He stood and shook his head with a chuckle. "Nevermind, don't worry about it." Walking around the fire, he approached the pink-haired maid and reached a hand out to her. "You must be the ones who saved me. Thanks! I'm Subaru Natsuki, nice to meet you!"

She stared at his hand for a moment with wide eyes before reapplying her aggravated scowl and crossing her arms. "I am Ram, and this is my sister, Rem. We are Finger Maidens, and we wish to accompany you on your journey to claim the Elden Ring."

Rubbing the back of his head with the rejected hand, he said, "skippin' right to business, huh?" His beaming smile made her scowl deeper towards him. "Alright then! Ram-Ram!" He yelled at the nearby maid, causing one of her eyebrows to rise. "Rem-Rem!" He pointed at the second, farther maid, making her startle and put a knuckle to her mouth. "I accept your aid! Welcome aboard!"

His sharp eyes softened considerably as his genuine smile shined a light of warmth on the two girls. Ram seemed annoyed, though Rem seemed…confused, for some reason.

Confused and hesitant.

Ignoring the less-than-pleasant expressions on the twin Maidens' faces, he placed his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest confidently.

"Okay!" he shouted at the ceiling, coaxing further bewildered stares from his sorta-new companions. "Time to get out of this damn cave! See you girls on the other side!"

Before they could respond to their new Tarnished, Subaru had burst into a sprint deeper into the cave, intent on reaching its exit on this, his third attempt.

Before reaching the first zombie for the third time, Subaru donned a stern, determined scowl. 'I've got an idea,' he thought to himself.

Suddenly, his mind went back to the moment he'd kicked the ranged knight off the stone bridge. Looking below, he'd seen the knight, still alive, rising to its feet and beginning to make its way along the path Subaru had traveled to get where he was. It was following him, but for some reason, despite reaching much further into the cave, the knight never found him. It never appeared, as if it had given up its pursuit. Maybe…maybe it was like a video game? Maybe…

'Maybe I lost aggro!' he yelled to himself internally.

With the sudden realization that the enemies in this cave seemed to cease their chase if he were to reach a certain distance from their original spawn point, Subaru grinned devilishly.

"All I've gotta do," he growled through a tooth-clenching smile, "is run past 'em before they can attack!" With this declaration, he'd begun to approach the first group of trash mobs, choosing to completely ignore them and bolt through the room as fast as he could. Jumping in pace with his sprint, he took the ledges separating the two rooms like steps and continued his dash into the room with the first knight.

He looked up and saw the soldier taking aim at him with his crossbow, but instead of attempting to anticipate his shot and dodge it, Subaru chose to clench his eyes shut as hard as he could and push his body to the absolute limit, hastening even further and crossing the entire room in mere moments. The wind whipping by his ears prevented him from hearing the bolts being fired at him, if there even were any, but he managed to arrive in the next room unharmed.

Slowing somewhat to allow his lungs to function and begin recollecting oxygen, he jogged briskly through the room with the second knight. Just as he was passing the campfire, he saw the spear of the knight being thrust over the flame and towards his face. Ducking to just barely dodge the pointed end putting an unnecessary eighth hole in his head, he was forced to roll across the rough ground, but he managed to recover quickly and continued his jog, leaving the room.

The trip through the next room was uneventful, with Subaru managing to pass the two enemies and leave before they'd even been fully alerted to his presence. The following area, however, was the one he'd been worried about.

The second knight stood at the midpoint of the bridge, his crossbow reloaded and ready. As he lifted it to fire at the boy attempting to bypass his post, a shoulder was buried into his diaphragm with the force of a cannonball. The knight slid backward a meter or so, but never left his feet, worrying Subaru somewhat. The armored man placed his crossbow on his hip and removed his straight sword and shield, readying himself immediately for a strike. Swinging downward, his blade swiped the air with a slash and clashed with the ground, forcing gravel and dirt to be flung in every direction.

Subaru, having passed underneath the sword arm of the knight, turned and planted an extended foot into the lower back of his foe with all the force he could muster. The knight, still somewhat off-balance from the follow-through of his missed attack, was pushed clean off his feet, landing prone as his weapon and shield clattered to the ground before him. He immediately began to push himself upward, but a hand placed on his back forced him back down. Subaru, recovering from his attack first, used the knight's rising back to vault over his body, sliding to a knee on the other side. Picking up the fallen straight sword, he stood once again, spinning with force just as the knight began to kneel, and…

…beheaded the helmeted man in one powerful swing.

As the headless form slumped to the dirt and the Grace formerly dwelling within the body of the knight flowed into that of his killer, Subaru rolled his shoulders and steadied his breath.

'I…' he thought to himself, lifting and looking at the bloodied sword in his hand, 'I've killed two people. Maybe more…it's not like I'm sure those…zombies aren't alive.' He closed his eyes and tried to come to terms with what he'd done. "If I didn't," he said quietly, his breath finally returning to normal, "I'd be dead. I have to survive."

With his darker thoughts successfully stowed under the bed that is the back of his mind, Subaru continued through the cave, passing the remaining zombies until he finally arrived back at the one that killed him in his previous…loop.

"Alright," he said, gripping the handle of the straight sword with both hands and holding it in a proper kendo guard before him, "I'm getting past you, right here, right now." His growl did nothing to intimidate the seemingly undead man, but it did have the effect of instilling a bit of confidence in him.

Bounding forward and reaching the zombie in just two purposeful strides, he took advantage of the incredibly slow attack animation the enemy possessed and struck it directly across the belly, forcing a stumble. He wasted no time, pouncing and piercing the frail creature through the middle of the chest.

The zombie stared at him, its wail more a reactive noise than the death rattle he'd become used to.

"So I was right," he growled again, "for some reason, you're more resilient than your friends. I'm assuming a higher level." Receiving no response other than another attempt to swing at him, Subaru removed his sword and stepped back once before repeating the action he'd made against the ranged knight, beheading the zombie.

Walking forward, he finally reached the statue he'd found earlier, but just as he was about to reach out to it, he saw a faint, eerie glow puncturing his periphery. Turning his head, he saw a large wall blocking the way forward, but…it wasn't a wall. It was more of a mist, or fog. The rippling, golden fog was both inviting and intimidating at the same time, like the stripes of a tiger.

"Wh-what am I supposed to do?" he asked nervously, his brow beginning to sweat. "This can't be the end, there's no other way out of the cave."

Absentmindedly, he placed his hand on top of the statue's head to lean in a thoughtful manner, but just as he did, both his eyes and the eyes of the statue glowed a bright gold, not dissimilar from the experience when he'd interacted with the Site of Grace. It lasted only a moment before the light died, and he was once again left standing in the echoing silence of the cave.

"What the fuck is this place, man?"

Walking forward slowly, he cautiously made his way to the fog wall, standing before it and taking in its daunting aura. Reaching forward, he stopped his hand just before it made contact with the fog.

"I-...I shouldn't do this. Something bad is gonna happen." He grimaced to himself. "Damnit! How else am I supposed to leave this dumb place?!" Stealing himself, he plunged his hand through the fog.

Contrary to the warning sirens going off in his brain, he wasn't frozen from the wrist down or instantly dragged in and murdered horribly. In fact, the fog was almost comforting to the touch, slightly warmer than the surrounding air, and he could feel it move across his skin. It was like a solid wall of warm cloud licking his wrist as it rolled over him.

The security somewhat returning to his mind, he confidently stepped forward, fully submerging himself in the vertical wall of vapor. Having closed his eyes to pass through it, he reopened them on the other side to find himself in a large, circular room, not too different from the rest of the cave. On the other side, he found the exit…

…obstructed by yet another fog wall.

"Huh, that's weird," he hummed to himself. Turning, he casually raised his hand to pass back through the wall behind him…only for it to be stopped by a solid barrier. His eyes widened in shock, then further in terror, as he began to put the pieces together.

'One-way entrance into a circular room?' he thought to himself, the sweat beginning to drench his collar. 'Oh no. This is…'

Near the top of his vision, a long, red rectangle appeared, bordered by gold. Just above the rectangle, he could make out what seemed to be a name in a regal font, a font which read-

'Soldier of Godrick.'

'This is a boss room!'

Turning slowly, he saw a man, dressed identically to the two knights he'd fought previously, carrying a large sword - likely longer than Subaru was tall - in two hands. He'd walked through the second fog wall and hadn't even slowed down, making a bee-line for the petrified Japanese teenager.

'Shit!' he screamed at himself in his head. 'Shit, fuck! Fuck, fuck, fucking shit, fuck! What am I gonna do?!' Shakily lifting his sword, his terrified face did little to exude an air of confidence. He started to walk towards the large man, internally battling his own mind. 'I can't do this! I don't want to die again, I don't want to die! But what choice do I have?! If I don't try I'm dead anyway, I have to win! That's my only chance, my only option! I have to fight, and I have to win!'

Reaching the soldier, Subaru lifted his sword high above his head and let out a war cry to drown out the voices in his head, but he'd just barely noticed the knight holding his sword extended behind him and had no time to react to the wide, horizontal swing his enemy had made. He couldn't tell why, but he suddenly couldn't force his arms to chop downward anymore, his body had ceased listening to him. His vision faded, but more importantly, it began to lower, as if he were falling. The misplaced teen's quickly-dying brain had but one, singular thought before the darkness took it for the third time.

'Whose legs are those?'