Pride Chapter 3: Hellish fire
"What exactly do you want with me, Ros-chi?"
"Information."
Subaru noticed what Roswaal said without his accent, making him aware that this version of Roswaal was working with this world's Natsuki Subaru.
"What the hell do you need—?"
"Ram, could you take care of Garfiel-kun and their friend."
"Of course, Roswaal-sama."
"Now just you wait! Ram, don't listen to th's bastard!"
"Garf, I would like you to respect Roswaal-sama." Ram spoke with a threatening manner.
"No! He doesn't deserve respect!"
Garfiel prepares to charge at Roswaal only for Subaru to grab his arm. Garfiel was thrown off by this for a moment yet he was able to calm down thanks to this. As he was calmed down, Subaru looked at Ram before asking:
"What happened to Rem?"
"..."
Ram serious facial expression turned into one of rage because of the boy's question. She got her wand out and quickly was about to attack Subaru until Garfiel got in front of his captain.
"Move out of the way, Garf."
"No! Yer not hurtin' Cap'n."
Ram and Garfiel both looked at each other with a serious facial expression until Subaru managed to calm the situation. He got in between the two while saying,
"Come on, let's not fight." As he says this, he turns his attention to Roswaal. "What do you want, Ros-chi? Did the me of this world send you?"
"Well, we want you to tell us hoooow are you heeeere?"
"I don't know but is it wise having a conversation in the middle of a crisis?"
"Are you questioning Roswaal-sama, you monster?"
Subaru took note of Ram's extreme hatred for him, reminding him of the loop where Rem was killed by the curse and how angry Ram was towards him. This made him realize something.
'Wait, if I joined the Witch cult in this world to deal with Petelguese, then that means...'
"...Rem died by the curse."
"Wh-What did you just say?!"
Ram without warning approached Subaru and started to choke him. Garfiel saw this and quickly grabbed Ram to stop her from trying to kill his captain. As he succeeded in doing this, Ram started shouting at Subaru:
"What do you know?! What do you know about my sister's death?! Who did it?!"
Ram continued to shout, wanting to know who killed Rem since she never got the answer from this. Subaru looked at Ram's eyes looking at him with complete and utter hatred but also from a broken girl who lost the one thing that was most important to her next to Roswaal. This made the boy understand the truth, something he needed in order to get Ram to listen.
"I know you are not going to believe me when I say this but I know who killed Rem, I know exactly who did it and how to get him but first, I need to know one thing."
"And what is that?!"
"Where is the Natsuki Subaru you all know?"
"Natsuki-san, is this really a good idea? I thought we were going to find the Sword Saint first?"
"Yes, I know but there isn't much we can do right now."
"F-Fair..."
Otto seeing that it is the Margrave and a very scary maid they are dealing with, they do need to play this smart. Subaru looks at Roswaal and asks his question again, wanting to know where is his counter part located. Roswaal gives him his usual facial expression before saying,
"Now Now, Subaru-kuuun, I'm the one asking the queeeestions. Are you really Natsuki Subaru?"
"Yes, my name is Natsuki Subaru, Emilia-tan's one and only knight!"
"Is that sooooo?"
Subaru was on edge when he heard Roswaal speak in a slightly threatening manner. Garfiel and Otto both looked at Roswaal with a cautious look, both of them having also notice the threat in Roswaal's voice.
Garfiel got himself ready for a fight while Otto prepared to get Subaru out of there, realizing how dangerous the situation as gotten. The demi human boy pointed his finger towards Roswaal while saying:
"Hoshin was Banan's sunset!"
Roswaal was actually taken aback by this along with Otto and Subaru while Ram just looked at Garfiel with anger in her eyes. She got in between her master and childhood friend before she said,
"Garf, are you stupid?!"
"I'm not th'dumb one! Yer the moron fer trustin' th's bastard!"
"You will respect Roswaal-sama!"
"No I won't!"
Garfiel charged at Ram which initiated their fight. Roswaal flew up and watched as Ram took on against Garfiel meanwhile Otto pulled Subaru away to safety. The slave merchant knows that staying there would only lead to Subaru's death and the last thing he needs is to lose the one person who might be worth being friends with.
As they were running, Roswaal noticed this and started to follow the two. Otto and Subaru both looked up to see that Roswaal is following the two, frightening Otto while Subaru view this as an annoyance.
"Of course he's following us."
"Wh-What do we do?!"
"We keep running, he needs me alive to get information so I doubt he will kill us."
Otto and Subaru continued to run with Roswaal just following the pair. While they were running, Julius and Elsa's fight dragged on to the point that they ended up crossing paths with Subaru and Otto.
Elsa was escaping Julius which caused her to cross paths with Otto and Subaru. She stopped on her tracks and looked at Subaru to see what is different between this Subaru and the Subaru she knows and loves.
"My My, I didn't expect to see another person who looks like my contractor. You are different from him."
"How so?" Subaru questioned with a curious tone.
"Both your eyes tell two different stories. Your eyes give off a determination, wanting to save life while my contractor's eyes are one of a burning passion. One to see the whole world burn just to help one half-elf."
"Is that right?"
Subaru prepared to act, knowing that his best course of action is to use his Invisible Providence only for Julius to finally catch up and get in between Elsa and Subaru. As the finest knight had arrived to the scene, he pointed his sword at the Bowel Hunter while saying:
"I won't let you escape our fight."
"Pardon me for that, I just have a job to accomplish. Killing you would be fun but my first objective is getting information from Natsuki Subaru."
'Well...shit!'
Both Subaru and Otto realized that they were in more trouble than originally. With Roswaal still in the air awaiting for his chance to strike while now having to deal with Elsa, the tweo felt a great amount of pressure. As their guards were up, the two notice that someone was approaching.
The pair turn towards their backs to see that it was Ferris. At first Subaru was relieved since he knows that Ferris is on the side of good until all of a sudden he was hit with a few harsh memories. This caused him to fall to his knees which caught Otto's attention, causing him to get worried.
"What's going on, Natsuki-san?!"
"J-Just one hell of a...f-freaking headache!"
Subaru started to see some of his counter part's memories.
("...Someone, tell me. Tell me. Why am I... where's His Highness? What was I for? There was somebody. There had to be somebody. Everything's strange if there wasn't. But...")
("Man, I'm stuck. Gonna take some time for this one.")
("Someone, please... tell me. I, why am I...")
("This time, I'll definitely figure out how to keep you from killing yourself.")
'You...You son of a bitch!'
Subaru looked up to see Ferris approaching them but with a sinister face. Otto assisted Subaru in getting up with the boy getting his whip weapon out, knowing that he is going to need it. As he got himself ready for a fight, he called out to Ferris.
"Ferris, what do you think you are doing?"
"Nya! I'm just following Subaru-sama's orders. Nyow, stand still Subaru-kyun."
Ferris tried to attack his target yet Otto got in between the two and manage to land a punch on the catboy knight. As Ferris was pushed back by this, Otto turned towards Subaru to tell him:
"Get out of here! Find the Sword Saint and fast! I can take care of this fake knight."
"Are you sure, Otto? We can take Ferris on together!"
"As much as I want that, getting you out of here is important."
"Okay but don't get yourself killed."
"Ha! I'm not planning on it."
Subaru and Otto gave each other a thumbs up before Subaru ran deeper into the kingdom with Roswaal following behind while Otto took on Ferris.
Subaru turned for a moment to check on Otto, seeing that he is putting up a good fight against Ferris, making him confident that things will be okay for this very hellish loop.
As he was running with everything he had, he could feel that Roswaal's presence following him, making the boy aware that he has to figure out how to deal with the Margrave on his own since his allies are all too busy dealing with their own opponents.
'Come on, who can help me out? Reinhard? No, he would think I'm the evil version of myself. Old Man Rom? I don't know where to find him. Priscilla? Hell no, though I could ask her assistant or knight, whatever he is but are they even alive in this world? Who knows considering how dangerous this Natsuki Subaru is.'
Subaru continued to run around until finally Roswaal landed in front of him with six fireballs with different colors preparing to attack the boy. Subaru stopped in his place and quickly got his whip weapon out to prepare himself for the fight ahead.
"I suggest you staaaand down and tell me what I want to know, Subaru-kuuun."
"No, the last thing I want to tell you is how we are looping. That is what you are more curious about since your little book won't tell you anything except how to reach the goal of reviving Echidna."
"I see that you already know about my plaaaans. What else can you tell me?"
Subaru backed up for a bit with his whip ready while trying to think on what he can say.
He knows that saying anything useful would only help Roswaal and from the looks of things, this Roswaal was more threatening than his version of the Margrave.
The boy thought for a bit until finally he knew how to buy himself some time.
"What is the purpose of helping this version of Natsuki Subaru? He doesn't have your best interest."
"Now, do you think I will alloooooow you to distract me from my objeeeective?"
"I can't loop Roswaal and I know exactly how this Natsuki Subaru loops."
"Is that soooo?"
Roswaal lowered his guard since he found this information more useful for him than his co-conspirator.
He took a moment to think before he asked the Subaru that is in front of him,
"And hooooow does he do it?"
"Think carefully, why do you think he doesn't care if he dies?"
"...Hm."
Roswaal took the moment to think carefully into what Subaru had asked him, allowing the Margrave to come up with the answer himself.
'Isn't that an interesting method to loop.'
"And whaaaaat about you? How do you loop yourself, Subaru-kuuuun?"
"Like I would tell you, it's not like I can loop anyway. Besides that, this Natsuki Subaru doesn't have your best interest. He will destroy everything and make sure you are also destroyed with him, meaning you can't revive Echidna like you want."
"If that is what is destineeeed to happen, then so be it."
Roswaal created his six-fold magic to be shown to Subaru, showing that the Margrave is going to kill him now.
This caused the boy to look around for a moment at his surroundings in hopes of finding something to help him out.
As he looked, Roswaal started to speak in a threating tone:
"Thank you for the infooooormation, Natsuki Subaru-kuuuun. This will help me with my plaaaans."
"R-Really? Cause this Natsuki Subaru isn't stupid! Look at all the damage he has done! Do you think he doesn't have a plan to deal with you should you even look like a threat?!"
"Now Now, what maaaakes you think that I would be a threat to my Subaru-kuuun?"
"..."
Subaru stood silent with Roswaal preparing to kill the boy until suddenly someone handsome with red hair and knight's clothing jumping in between the two, catching both Subaru and Roswaal off guard.
"Reinhard!"
"Sword Saint Reinhard Vaaaan Astrea! What briiiiings you here?"
"Margrave Roswaal L Mathers, I'm here to deal with the threat himself."
"Of course you are here for that."
"You will pay for what you've done, villain."
"Okay, Reinhard, please wait before killing me. Is there any way you can tell if I'm lying?"
"Why are you asking?" Reinhard questioned.
"Because what I'm going to say will sound like I'm lying. All I ask is if you use some ability to see if I'm lying or not."
"Hm. If you are just stalling, you will pay dearly."
Reinhard closed his eyes to get one of his divine protections to see if Subaru is lying.
As he gets that divine protection, he looks at the boy and says:
"Okay, what was the purpose of this, villain?"
"Well I'm not the villain you are speaking of. My name is Natsuki Subaru but I'm not of this world. The Natsuki Subaru of this world is the villain you are looking for."
"Hold on."
Reinhard was caught off guard when he saw that Subaru wasn't lying to him, causing him to approached Subaru to grab his arm while having his divine protection of empathy, wanting to see if the boy in front of him wasn't insane when saying this.
"Okay, now answer my question, who are you? What are you doing here? Did you caused all of this destruction?"
"My name is Natsuki Subaru. I'm here to stop the villain that looks like me and no, I didn't caused this destruction."
"Is that so...?"
Reinhard was caught off guard by this but before anything can be done, he noticed that someone was going to attack him, causing him to turn towards Roswaal's direction to see a couple of fireballs heading towards him.
Reinhard with just a swift of his hand stopped the attack while looking at the Margrave with a confused facial expression.
"Margrave Roswaal L Mathers, what are you doing?"
"My baaaad, I was trying to get rid of Subaru-kuuun."
"No need, he isn't the one we are looking for."
"Sorry Reinhard-kyun, but he is the one we are looking for, nya!"
Reinhard, Subaru, and Roswaal all three turned towards the voice to see Ferris standing on top of a large Mabeast with Meili sitting next to him.
Roswaal smiled since this is his chance to get Reinhard distracted in order to kill Natsuki Subaru while the Sword Saint was completely shocked seeing one of his allies standing on a Mabeast.
Subaru worried for Otto's safety since he was suppose to be taking on Ferris. He stepped up to look at Ferris to say:
"What did you do to Otto?"
"He put up a gyood fight but thanks to Meili-san, he didn't stand a chance."
"Wait...so Otto is..."
Subaru wanted to puke, feeling guilty that he gave his friend hope only to have him be killed for his sake in the most hellish world.
This caused him to fall to his knees with his anger growing towards the Natsuki Subaru of this world, blaming him for having caused all of this.
As Subaru was on his knees, Reinhard looked at his ally with a sad look before changing that look into a serious one.
"Felix, please stand down or I will be forced to put you down."
"Sorry Reinhard-kyun but nyai only serve Subaru-sama, my Subaru-sama."
"That's..."
Reinhard and Subaru both looked at Ferris to see how far the knight and the best healer had fallen. As Ferris smiled at the two in a fake innocent style, Meili got up and commanded her mabeast to attack the pair from all directions.
Reinhard did not worry since he could easily take down the Mabeast within seconds yet Subaru knew that this was a coordinated attack since Roswaal is waiting for the right moment before killing him.
'Damn it! I need to get out of this situation and fast!'
A little prior to the events of the other worldly Natsuki Subaru, the Natsuki Subaru of this world ran around for a bit before finally he can say that his goal is done.
The kingdom of Lugnica was on flames with many people dying all around him. He could hear their screams of pain, agony, and death. He looked around for a bit to smile at his handy work, knowing that this is all part of his original end goal.
'Now that I have established myself as the big villain, I will now look for my counter part since I know he will be a nuisance to my plans.'
Seeing that this should be taken care of first before allowing Emilia to kill him, he quickly made his way towards the middle of the burning city in hopes of finding one of his allies with the news that they had dealt with them or that he encounters his counter part himself.
As he was running around, all he can hear is the screams of people dying a horrible death. Had he been around his first 30 ish deaths, he would have felt extreme guilt but at this point he doesn't care anymore. He just looks at everyone dying around him and could even see children dying yet he didn't care.
'Your deaths will serve a purpose to help Emilia. I'll make sure of that!'
Subaru ran and ran until he noticed a fight between two groups, one being with a familiar boy with grey hair and blue while the other was the knight with purple hair facing off against Elsa.
'You have got to be fucking kidding me.'
Subaru was annoyed that his two associates are having trouble with some random boy with grey hair and a knight that was taken care of by blue. Subaru was going to interfere and do something yet he heard someone say,
"Weeeell hello there mister."
"Well if it isn't Meili Portroute. Have you found the other Natsuki Subaru?"
"Not yet! Buut I will find him for you, mister."
"Okay but before you do, be a little dear and assist your sister and blue. I need them for other things."
"I'm not little! I'm the appropriate size!"
"Okay Okay, my bad. Can my favorite assassin help the others?"
"Yes!"
Meili nodded and quickly got her mabeast to quickly charge into the area to assist Ferris and Elsa.
While that happened, Subaru crossed his arms in hopes of figuring out where his counter part is located.
While he was thinking that, he did felt someone approaching him. He turned towards his right side to see a boy with blonde hair walking towards him, all bloodied up.
'Hm. I don't recognize this boy. I wonder what happened to him.'
Subaru looked at the boy with a blank facial expression for a moment before turning into a fake worried facial expression, wanting to know what happened to the boy. He moved his hand in concern while saying,
"Are you...okay? You look like someone kicked your ass."
"Ha!...Th's...S'nothin' t'my amazin' self...! You should see...the other one..."
The boy tried to act all prideful yet he was badly injured. Subaru continued to act like an ally, trying to see who this person is and whether he's someone he needs to deal with.
He approached the boy in a concerned way yet the boy suddenly punched him in the face, catching him off guard and pissing him off.
"What the hell?!"
"Ya think ye can fool my amazin' self? I know how cap'n looks like and yer not him! Yer th'evil one he mentioned."
"Hm. I guess it would've been too easy if I could fool you."
"Ha...Ya bastard!"
"Well, you are not a threat to me so I'm going to get back to what I was doing earlier."
Subaru turned around and prepared to leave yet his senses were right to leave himself open, wanting to bait the demi human boy into attacking him. He manages to dodge the attack before using his handy knife to stab the demi human boy in the gut.
He was caught off guard by this yet the demi human boy still had enough strength to land another hit on Subaru's face. As Natsuki Subaru was sent flying away, the boy fell on his knees. He looked at Subaru with anger in his eyes before pulling off the knife from his gut.
"Ah! Yer a fucking prick!"
"Hahahaha, I know but at least I'm honest about who I am." As Subaru is saying this, he is getting up while looking at his opponent with little to no pity. He continued to speak in a disrespectful tone, "You act all tough yet you are a scared child. A pathetic one at that. Did mommy and daddy abandoned you?"
"Shut...up...!"
"Aw, seems like I hit a nerve. What are you going to do? Cry to mommy dearest?"
"Y-You fucking...bastard!"
The demi human boy despite his injuries got up and put up his fists, ready to give it his all against the evil Natsuki Subaru. The cultist boy saw this and smiled as he also got his fists up, ready to fight against the weak demi human boy.
'Whoever left him in such a state did a pretty good job. Just by the two punches alone where powerful enough to cause some damage to me. And that was with him extremely weakened.'
As Subaru thought this, the fist fight between the two began with his opponent being the first to swing his fist towards him. Not wanting to take a risk in getting hit, he dodges the attack just barely.
As he was able to move out of the way, his opponent left themselves open to be attacked with a right hook. Subaru managed to land a hit on his opponent's face, only doing minimal damage but enough to get the demi human's balance to be off.
As the demi human boy was off balance from Subaru's punch to his face, Subaru took this opportunity to land another face punch with more force on this one.
This was strong enough to push back the demi human boy back, leaving him open to be attacked once again.
As Subaru was about to connect his fist to the boy's face, the boy smiled as he quickly grabbed Subaru's hand.
"Well...shit."
"Got ya!"
The boy pulled Subaru close to him in order to land a powerful kick to Subaru's gut, bruising Subaru's ribs while also being send a couple of feet away from him. With Subaru holding his chest area in slight pain, he looked at his opponent with an impressed facial expression.
'This fucker is actually pretty strong. I wonder if there is some way to manipulate him into helping me dealing with Reinhard, the fucking sword saint prick!'
Subaru managed to gain the strength to stand up tall and quickly got himself ready for whatever his opponent is going to throw at him. As he was ready, he began to say to his opponent,
"You are pretty strong, I'll give you that but I'll make sure to enjoy killing you."
"My amazin' self'll be th'one killin' ya!"
The demi human boy and Subaru look at each other for a moment before the two charge at each other, both intending to kill the other. As they were closing in, they swing their fists at each other only for the two to land a hit at the same time. This caused both Subaru and his opponent to be pushed back.
As the two were recovering from the punch, Subaru was able to recover fast enough to go and grab his knife. As Subaru gets his knife, the demi human boy looked at him with anger before starting to transform despite being extremely weakened.
"I'm gonna kill ya, Natsuki Subaru!"
"This isn't good..."
Subaru knew that he needs to act before his opponent transforms completely, knowing that he would die if he doesn't do anything. He charges at his opponent and with a bit of luck he manages to stop the transformation when he forces his opponent to block his attack as he attempts to stab the boy's eye.
As the boy blocked the attack, he left himself open to be punched once again which left him vulnerable for Subaru to tackle him to the ground. Just as Subaru managed to gain the advantage, he looked at the boy and started to ask him,
"Okay, who the hell are you? I doubt you are from here with the way you are dressed or by the way you talk. Also is this so called "Cap'n" happen to be my counter part?"
"...F-Fuck you...!"
"Wrong answer!"
Subaru started to punch the boy in the face with excessive force, knowing that his opponent is too injured at this point to fight back. Subaru attacked his opponent with a barrage of punches, he looked at him with disgust and disappointment before saying:
"Okay, now answer the question with the right answers this time."
"...F-Fuck...you...f-fake cap'n...!"
"Wrong answer again...though that those confirm that your so called captain is my counter part. I guess in the end you did answer one of my questions but I sort of figured that out, so..."
Subaru started to grab the boy's neck in an attempt to choke him, knowing that he has the strength to do it. He starts choking the boy, he looks with satisfaction at how weak the demi human is only for something to all of a sudden hear a familiar voice shout out:
"Garf!"
Subaru turned towards the voice to see a familiar maid yet she looked very beaten up and seemed to be at death's door.
The witch cultist took a moment to process what is going on before coming to the conclusion that Roswaal's maid knows the boy in front of him and that they had some kind of fight.
Before he could say anything, a wind attack was thrown towards him which sliced off Subaru's left arm. This caused Subaru to fall on his back with a bit of pain being registered in where his left arm once was.
"Fucking hell!"
As Subaru was recovering from the attack, he looked at the maid as she was approaching the demi human boy with all of her strength. This made him aware of some new information, his counter part as someone that is dearest to Roswaal's maid, making it possible for her to turn on him.
'Noted for the next loop, keep these two away from each other or have the maid be killed should she betray me again.'
Having this in his mind, he got up despite being in pain and just looked at the maid with a death stare. Ram knew that she was in trouble yet she didn't care at this point, having lost her sister was bad enough but she refused to watch Garfiel be killed by the monster that is Natsuki Subaru. She got her wand out but it was too late, Subaru had plunged his knife deep into her neck. Ram looked at Subaru with anger yet she allowed death to take her, wanting to be with her sister in the afterlife.
"Good riddance to a useless maid."
As Subaru dropped Ram's corpse to the ground, he could feel something was happening behind him. He turned around to see Garfiel looking at him with anger in his eyes, causing the witch cultist to smile.
"I see. So maybe you do have a fire in your eyes. I'll have to remember this for next time."
"There won't be a next time...I'll fucking kill you!"
Garfiel started to transform with Subaru tempting to kill him mid-transformation yet he saw this as an opportunity.
'My plans won't work without my left arm, so I'll let this boy transform to see what I will be dealing with on my next loop. All this information will help me create the perfect loop for Emilia to win the royal selections.'
Once Garfiel transformed, Subaru was amazed to see the large creature that was Garfiel. Although knowing that this alone can't beat Reinhard, this form could provide some uses to him if he can manipulate the boy.
Before he was able to say anything, he saw Garfiel's hand move swiftly which resulted in the witch cultist boy being sliced in half. As he felt himself dying while managing to ignore the pain, Subaru had a thought in mind.
'Seeing this amount of strength, I think I'll have that clown handle him...or maybe Elsa...nah, she would get too distracted with wanting to see his intestines. All I know is the other Natsuki Subaru sure does have a powerful ally, so let's fix that on the next go around.'
Subaru smiled as he looked up to see Garfiel crush him to death, knowing that the next loop he has the advantage now.
Author's Note:
For those curious how long the if stories will take, it might be from 5 to 8 chapters depending on the if story and depending on the situation main timeline Subaru gets himself when dealing with his counterparts.