Pride Chapter 4: Surrounded by flames

Natsuki Subaru's mind returned back to the moment where the fire was starting, causing him to cross his arms and analyze all the information he had just learned from the previous loop. He took a moment to think before looking at both Elsa and Meili with a serious facial expression.

"Contractor, are you not satisfied with this fire?"

"No, I mean the fire is fine and it'll spread without any influence of mine but that isn't what's bothering me."

"What is bothering you?"

Subaru looked at Meili and for a moment he saw her as an innocent girl asking her big brother something only for him to remember that she is an assassin with a twisted way of looking at things. He stood silent for a couple of seconds before responding to the question by saying,

"There is another Natsuki Subaru running around, one that can ruin my plans. It would be easy to deal with him if he didn't had a knight and some demi human fighting by his side."

"Weeeeell isn't that quite the information, co-conspiratoooooor."

Subaru turned to see Roswaal approaching him with Ram walking by his side. At first the witch cultist boy was tempted to have the maid executed for her defiance in the latest loop yet he knew that this would cause trouble with the Margrave. Subaru just stared at Roswaal and Ram for a moment before looking at the fire he created. Seeing the flames spread helped calm him down, allowing him to focus on the goal that is in front of him.

'I need to deal with that knight and the demi human but I also need to deal with my counter part. I don't know if he is looping with me as well...note to self, need to know if other me is looping. Okay the objective is still be the ultimate villain for Emilia to beat. To accomplish this objectives I need to deal with Natsuki Subaru, that purple hair knight, that "Garf" guy, and avoid being killed by Reinhard...well that and piss him off cause why not.'

Knowing his objectives, he thought how everyone would make this plan effective with himself being in the shadows in the case he needs to assist.

'I can't have the maid assist Roswaal or be near the others since seeing that boy she called "Garf" might turn her against me. I need her to do something else for me but as for the others.'

Subaru turned towards the group and asked them to individually approach him while he tells them their specific roles of a new plan he came up with. Ferris joined in after Subaru was done talking to Roswaal, allowing him to tell his slave how exactly he can help. Ferris was happy to hear that his services were needed and listened in on what his part of the plan was.

"Don't worry Subaru-sama, Ferris won't fail nyow!"

"I know you won't blue. Okay everyone, head to your places!"

The group nodded and quickly split up with Ram being the only one to stay there, confused since Roswaal ordered her to stay up. As she watched the group dispatched, Subaru turned towards her and started conversation.

"I take it my co-conspirator told you to stay."

"Yes, Roswaal-sama said you wanted me here."

"Yes."

"Okay, then what for?"

"No need to look at me with anger, I just need you for an important part of the plan."

'Assuming all falls how I want it to be, she will help make sure that my main objective can be successful.'

Subaru approached her as he continued to speak.

"You are actually the key to this plan going successfully."

Prior to these events, another Natsuki Subaru had also looped back in time, his mind having been focused on escaping Roswaal's attacks until he realized that he wasn't running anymore.

'What just happened?'

Subaru was caught off guard when he ended up looping back to the checkpoint, seeing that his counter part of this world had died. Since this happened, he knows now that he needs to move fast if he wants to save Felt from her fate. He turns towards Garfiel and Julius to tell them,

"We need to move and fast."

"Agreed."

Julius says this and quickly with Garfiel and Subaru, the three of them start running with everything they got towards the kingdom. Julius being worried for Anastasia's sake, Subaru wanting to save Felt, and Garfiel wanting to help the people of Lugnica. As the three sprinted towards the entrance, Subaru remembers how he should have the events play out in order to reach Felt in time. He turns towards Julius to ask him if he can help the knights while Garfiel takes care of the Mabeast. Garfiel and Julius nodded at this and quickly went to do their parts while Subaru redid his footsteps from the first loop until he heard Felt's voice screaming out for help. This prompted Subaru to quickly go to the girl, knowing that she needs his help.

"Don't worry Felt, I'm here to help you."

Subaru got to Felt's location and managed to move the broken rubble from Felt's legs before getting her out of the area before the broken building crushed her. As he does this, Felt looks at Subaru and starts to say,

"Th-Thank you, mister."

"Anything for you, Felt."

As Subaru got Felt away from any possible dangers, he set her down and made sure that she was alright. While checking on her, Felt looked at Subaru's face and somehow felt that she knew who he was yet she wasn't sure. This prompted her to ask him for his name, something Subaru was unsure if he wanted to give since he knows in this world, his name is associated with evil. He paused for a moment but before he could give an answer, something grabbed his collar and started lifting him into the air.

"What the—?!"

"Mister!"

Subaru looked around and can see that he is being taken away by someone who is strong and can fly since he can see the entire kingdom just by looking down. This causes him to panic for a moment since he doesn't know what is going on until a familiar voice speaks to him.

"I wouldn't mooooove like that if I were you, Subaru-kuuun."

'You have got to be kidding me!'

Subaru looked up to see that Roswaal is the one responsible for this, causing the boy to be annoyed and scared since he has no way out of this and death won't be able to get him out of this situation. He turned towards Roswaal to say,

"Ros-chi, what the hell is the meaning of this?"

"Ros-chi? Thaaaat is quite the nickname, Subaru-kuuun."

"Yeah Yeah, I know you from my timeline but what are you up to?"

"Juuuust following orders."

"Let me guess, my evil self told you to get me away from the kingdom?"

"Something like that but also to gaaaaather information out of you."

'Well this isn't going to end well.'

Subaru made this realization and quickly tried to think of something he can do to get Garfiel and Julius to help him in this problem. His only idea was to throw his shoe towards Garfiel's location, knowing that he could probably find him should Roswaal take him far away where he can't do anything. He quickly grabs his left side shoe and tries to take a good guess on where Garfiel could be located before throwing his shoe, hoping that this would save him. As he does this, Garfiel was taking on a familiar mabeast he had taken out during his fight against Elsa and Meili. As he was keeping his distance to come up with a strategy to beat the Banassi, something hit him on his head, causing him to be confused and angry.

"What the?!"

Garfiel looked down and was at first confused on why a random shoe fell on his head before looking up to see something off. He could see two people flying away yet he couldn't tell who they were until he looked closely at the shoe that fell on his head. Upon close examination, he realized that it was Subaru's shoe, making him now aware of his captain being in danger.

"Shit! I need t'get t'Cap'n!"

Garfiel was about to leave yet the Mabeast he was fighting started to charge towards him, forcing him to return his focus on the fight against the Banassi.

'Th's fuckin' thin'! I need't beat ya before going to cap'n!'
Garfiel quickly semi-transformed with both his arms being in their beast form before going off to attack the Banassi, knowing that he is going to have to use everything he has if he wants to end the fight early. Julius and his group managed to push back the Mabeast and get a lot of people to safety yet he noticed Felt approaching him. At first the finest knight didn't recognize her since she was all dirty and a mess but after hearing her speak, he recognized who she was.

"Knight! Knight! I need your help!"

"Felt-sama, what are you doing here? Where is Reinhard-san?"

"T-The sword saint?! I don't know! I just need your help! A boy who saved me had suddenly been kidnapped."

"Who was this boy?"

"I don't know him! He looked scary with those scary eyes but he was a good person! He wore weird clothings."

'Subaru.'

Julius could tell that it was Subaru with just the description of his eyes but hearing that someone captured him made him realize that he needs to act now. He kneeled down to be on the same level as Felt while asking her for information.

"Were you able to see who took him?"

"N-No. He was just grabbed while having been taken away through the air."

"Hm. That is unnerving. Did you saw where they were heading?"

"Out of the kingdom from the looks of it."

"Hm. Alright then."

Julius turned towards his fellow knights nearby and told them to protect Felt while he went to tell Garfiel that Subaru is in trouble. As he approached the boy, he could see that someone is trying to attack him while he is finishing off the Banassi. Julius quickly summoned his spirits to assist him in stopping this threat. As he got in between Garfiel and the person trying to attack him, Julius clashed blades with a familiar threat.

"The Bowel Hunter."

"My My, you are quite strong, knight."

Julius with his strength managed to shove Elsa back while still having his guard up.

"What are you doing here?"

"My My, wouldn't you like to know."

"It's alright Elsa, you can tell him."

"Are you sure?"

Julius noticed the voice and it sounded familiar while Elsa turned to see her boss approaching the scene. Julius and Garfiel both looked and were in complete shocked when they saw Natsuki Subaru right in front of them but in witch cultist attire and looking much evil than the Natsuki Subaru they know.

"Yer...Yer not cap'n!"

"I know I'm not that weakling you call as your captain. I'm Natsuki Subaru! Sin Archbishop of the witch's cult, representing Pride!"

"What...?"

Julius and Garfiel were stunned at this, not believing that even another version of their friend could have fallen so far to become a sin archbishop. This caused the two to feel anger, with Garfiel seeing this Subaru as an imposter and a weakling for joining the witch cult while Julius viewed this as a possible fake who took his friend's name and body. Julius pointed his sword at the Sin Archbishop of Pride while saying to him,

"You are a phoney, using the name of Natsuki Subaru for evil. I, Julius Juukulius, the finest knight of Lugnica, will be the one to strike you down."

"Oh really? That would be interesting but you would have to get through my associates here, the Bowel Hunter also known as Elsa Grainhart, my slave friend blue, and the little mabeast user Meili Portroute."

As Natsuki Subaru says this, Ferris and Meili both come out of hiding with a couple of Mabeast standing behind them. Garfiel looked at the three threats and the Mabeast with confident, having beaten Elsa and Meili before while Julius was in shock.

'Ferris...why are you siding with a witch cultist?'

"Julius-kyun, soo gyowd to see noyw again. How are nyow still alive?"

"What are you...?"

"That's right, I never mentioned this, but blue had killed you once. I have faith that he can do it again."

"..."

Julius was unsure on how to handle this new threat and was tempted to reason with Ferris until Garfiel patted him in the back.

"Oi! Let my amazin' self handle them, go find Cap'n."

"...are you sure about this?"

"Trust me, the shield of sanctuary won't fall here!"

Garfiel says this as he smacks his fists together, happy that he gets his rematch against Elsa and Meili. Julius was not sure whether he wants to let Garfiel fight on his own yet he knows that someone has to go and help their Subaru. Just as he was going to leave, he looks at the demi human boy and tells him,

"Good luck, Shield of Sanctuarry."

"Thanks, knight."

The two nod at each other before Julius went off to the exit of the kingdom to look for Subaru while Garfiel got himself ready for the match of his life. Elsa and Blue both turned towards their Subaru, both having the same thought on whether Subaru wants someone to stop the knight. The Sin Archbishop of Pride noticed this and just brushed at the two while saying,

"Don't worry about him, I have someone dealing with him. I do, however, want to see how this boy handles all of you."

"Would you like us to keep the boy alive?"

"Do whatever you want Elsa."

"With pleasure."

Elsa had a smile in her face when she heard this, enjoying how her contractor allows her to do whatever she wants. Elsa turns towards Garfiel with both her blades ready to see the boy's bowels while Garfiel himself got ready for his rematch. He pointed towards Elsa while saying,

"Guess my amazin' self'll have to kick yer ass once again!"

"Once again?"

"Yes, bitch in black. I've faced ya before and was able t'beat ya!"

"Wait Elsa, everyone, stand down for a moment."

Subaru having heard this caught his curiosity, causing him to want at least some information. He looked at Garfiel and began to ask,

"You say that you fought Elsa before. Explain how is this possible."

"Like hell I'm talkin'!"

"Okay, at least answer me this, what events lead to you fighting Elsa?"

"Hmph. Th't bastard, Roswaal, hired th's bitch t'attack my big sis and a lil' girl on his mansion."

"Wait, Roswaal hired Elsa to kill his own people...that doesn't sound right."

"Well my contractor, he did hire me to kill the half elf for some odd reason despite her being in his care."

"Oh really?"

Subaru crossed his arms with a bit of hatred increasing in his mind, having now realized that Roswaal was the person responsible for his first many deaths at the hands of the bowel hunter. Keeping this in mind, he turned towards Elsa to tell her that they can start fighting before looking at Garfiel to thank him, happy to gain some new information that he wasn't aware of before. He snapped his fingers and left, allowing Elsa and her crew to officially start their fight with Garfiel. The boy first clashed with Elsa, being able to tell that this Elsa is slightly weaker than the one she fought though the one from his world wasn't fighting him at full strength since he was still recovering from his fight against the Emilia camp.

The two clashed for a bit with Elsa intrigued in finding an opponent that she is on pair with until Ferris joined in and tried to use her water magic to do some damage to the demi human boy only for that said boy to dodge the attack and force it to hit Elsa's right arm. Although it did inflict damage on the bowel hunter, it did not faze her and she kept on attacking Garfiel. The boy knew this would happen yet he was still confident that he can beat Elsa even with her allies helping her against him.

"Aight, let's see the black bitch and her friends take on the shield of Sanctuary, Garfiel Tinsel!"

Garfiel with confidence charged at Elsa and continued with their battle while Julius ran away towards the exit, lost and confused on how everything doesn't make sense. He knows that Felix wouldn't just turn to the witch's cult's side or allow himself to be in slaved or the fact that there is a Sin Archbishop of Pride with Subaru's body and name.

'This world...is a nightmare.'

As he was thinking this, he noticed that someone familiar was blocking his pathway to leave the kingdom. He pulled out both his sword and his six spirits in the case it was someone threatening only to see that it was Ram in her maid uniform.

"Ram, what are you doing here?"

"..."

"Ram?"

The maid stood silent with anger shown all over her face. The two stayed looking at each other for a moment before a fight broke out with Ram started it against a reluctant Julius.

"Al Fura!"

Subaru was still in danger with Roswaal dragging him a few feet away from the kingdom and into the forest. As they were near the ground, the margrave threw Subaru into a tree and caused him to get bruises in his back. This annoyed Subaru which caused him to shout,

"What the hell was that for?!"

"My baaaad, I accidently dropped you onto that treeee."

"Oh shut up, you did that on purpose, Ros-chi!"

"Weeell, mind telling me something then."

As Roswaal says this, he closes in on Subaru. The boy was trying to get up yet his back was still injured.

"What exactly do you want to know?"

"Caaan you loop in this world? What is the method of your looping?"

"Look, I can in a sense loop but it is different here. This Natsuki Subaru loops because of his..."

Subaru paused for a moment, worried that saying how his counter part loops would cause him to die by this world's Satella. Roswaal noticed the boy pausing, making him wonder if the boy is under a contract of sorts regarding the looping ability.

"The nature of both you and my co-coooooonspirator's ability is quite unnatural. I would assume someone gaaaaave it to you both."

"S-Something like that."

Roswaal smiled as he heard this before preceding to beat the boy up once he closed the gap, catching Subaru off guard while also being reminded of a time where he wanted his world's Roswaal's assistance only to learn he was the cause of all the hell he went through in the Sanctuary. Seeing his beatdown be the exact way he received the same beatdown from the same clown is unnerving for the boy. After Roswaal punched him a couple more times, he starts to say,

"Soooorry for the harsh treatment, I just waaaant to show you the consequences should you try hiding any information."

"G-Great...you prick..."

"Noooow, who are you?"

"...I-I'm Natsuki Subaru...E-Emilia-tan's k-knight...!"

"Emilia-saaaama's knight?"

"Y-Yes! I'm a part of her camp!"

"Why shooould I believe your word?"

Subaru looked at Roswaal and took note on what he said, knowing that the clown was trying to gain some information for himself as well besides his counter part. Having this in mind, Subaru thought carefully on his words before responding to Roswaal's question by saying,

"Whether you trust me or not is irrelevant, killing me will only leave you out on many things I know, especially the other Natsuki Subaru you follow."

Roswaal's looked at Subaru with an interesting facial expression, curious on what the boy had said. He took a moment to think carefully on what information he wants to attain from the boy before looking at his direction once again, only this time having a fire ball pointed at him. As he does this, he starts to say in a rather sinister tone,

"Weeeell then, what is the true method of my Subaru-kuuuuun's looping ability?"

"Why should I tell you that?"

"Hmmmmm."

Roswaal approached Subaru once again to beat him up, reminding Subaru that he is in no position to avoid answering the questions. Subaru looked up and spitted blood at Roswaal's face, looking at the margrave with anger which resulted in him having his nose broken with a simple punch by Roswaal.

'Fuck...! Worth it...!'

Subaru was in pain yet he didn't care since he knows that Roswaal can't kill him, not with the information he had. The Margrave grabbed Subaru's neck and started to speak without his usual accent,

"I won't be saying this again, how does Natsuki Subaru-kun loop?"

"Hehe...I don't...know if the same rules apply...asshole but if I do that...I'll probably end up dead..."

"Is thaaaat so? Then at least answer this, whaaaat is the limited amount of times one caaaaan loop?"

"That...I'm not sure myself...but from what Echidna had told me...it could be endless."

"Echidna...?"

Roswaal let Subaru go, having been caught off guard that Subaru met his teacher. This caused him to question what exactly happened in this Subaru's world.

"Did my coooounterpart accomplished his goal?"

"I will answer that if—"

"You shoooould remember that you are nooooot in a position to ask questions."

"Yeah Yeah."

Subaru slowly got up despite how much his body hurts from the beatdown he has received by Roswaal once again. As he got himself back on his feet, he looked at Roswaal and was about to speak until the two heard a voice say,

"Roswaal-sama."

"Hm?"

Both Subaru and Roswaal turned towards the voice to be surprised that it is an injured Ram standing with a battle damage Julius standing side by side. Subaru smiled at this since he knew he would get help while Roswaal was shocked that his maid would be standing side by side with the knight his co-conspirator wanted dead.

"Whaaaat is the meaning of this, Raaaaam?"

"Pardon me, Roswaal-sama but that book of yours needs to be destroyed."

"I seeeee, what a shame."

Roswaal says this in a calm and collected manner before starting his fight with Ram and Julius while Subaru tried to think of a way to get out of this situation. He knows that this Roswaal is much dangerous since he has his book with him and that this Ram is nowhere near as strong as his world's Ram. He looked around for a moment in hopes that he could find something he can use yet the only thing he really can rely on is Invisible providence.

'The only thing this Roswaal knows is that I worked for the Emilia camp, but he is unaware of my witch factors. This might be a good thing.'

Subaru seeing that this is the only advantage he has left, he slowly approaches Roswaal while he is distracted by Ram and Julius. The pair were dodging all of Roswaal's attacks with Julius assisting Ram considering how injured she is compared to him. As the two were doing their best, Subaru continued to approach Roswaal until the Margrave himself spoke to the boy while still on the offense in his fight against his maid and the finest knight,

"I woooould stand back if I were you, Subaru-kuuuun."

"Don't...underestimate me, you prick!"

Subaru with all the strength he could muster managed to summon the unseen hand, landing a punch on Roswaal who was completely caught off guard by this attack. As he took a hit, Ram and Julius noticed this and were confused for a second before realizing that this is an opening for the two to do something. Ram used the last of her true oni strength to charge at Roswaal, looking like she is going to kill him only to all of a sudden spare him. Subaru had an idea of what Ram did while Julius and Roswaal were dumbfounded by this. Roswaal and Julius turned to see Ram standing next to Subaru, coughing up some blood due to the amount of strength she was using. Subaru noticed this and knew that he needed to use Cor Leonis on Ram to keep her from dying. He turned towards her and wanted to accept her burden yet she considered him a threat. Seeing that this is the case, he managed to gain the will power to move towards Ram and grab the book from her while looking at Roswaal with a determinate voice,

"Are you looking for this?"

"What...you!"

Roswaal was prepared to attack Subaru, wanting to get back his gospel but before anything can be done, Subaru starts saying,

"If you get close or even try to get your precious book back, I'll destroy it!"

"You are bluffiiiiing."

"Are you sure about that?"

Roswaal looked at Subaru and realized that something like this must have happened in this Subaru's world, where his counterpart lost the gospel. Considering that Garfiel is fighting for Natsuki Subaru, that made him slowly realize that something happened in Sanctuary.

"Hm. My, you seeeeeeem to be acting like this as happened before. I suppooooooose you defeated me in your world."

"You could say that...but in reality we made a bet that made him bound to work by my side."

"A bet?"

"Yes, a bet."

"Of course you won, wiiiiith your ability to redo everything."

"Redo everything? What does he mean, Subaru?"

"Nothing by that, Julius. As for you, Ros-chi, I didn't use my ability. We had made a bet in one loop and I beat your little gospel."

"What?"

Roswaal was again dumbfounded, seeing that this Natsuki Subaru is much different to his co-conspirator. The two do share the intelligence to overcome their situations yet his co-conspirator does things more for self-interest although he says it is for Emilia's sake while this Natsuki Subaru is more so fighting for everyone's sake. This made Roswaal to close his eyes and to think carefully on the next thing he was going to ask.

"So, whaaaaat is the overall goal here?"

"Well...I want to thank Ram and Julius for saving me from you."

"I...didn't...do it for you...you monster look-alike..."

Ram says this as she is slowly losing conscience, prompting Subaru to turn towards her and to ask a simple question.

"Ram, can you let me take your burden?"

"...what...?"

"My world's Ram was harsh like you but she was still my friend. I know that the Natsuki Subaru is dangerous and a pathetic loser for having accepted the witch cult. I mean I know why he did it but I hate that he chose this path, which is why I'm asking you to trust me. I'm not like him, I do care for Emilia-tan but I also care for everyone, including your very stubborn master. Yeah, I dislike him but I wouldn't let him die, nor will I let you die so I ask again, can I take your burden?"

Ram looked at Subaru with hatred at first but as she processed what he said and looked deep into the boy's eyes, she felt something different about this Subaru. She sees a completely different person than the one she had met around the time her sister had died. That Natsuki Subaru she hates, especially how he keeps pushing Roswaal to use the gospel she hates. This thinking allowed her to nod at Subaru, considering him as an ally for now. Because of this, she felt all the pain she was feeling to suddenly leave while Subaru was holding his stomach as if he is in pain.

With only a few seconds she realized what Subaru was doing, getting her to slightly trust him yet she still couldn't look at the boy's face without being reminded of the monster that is the Sin Archbishop of Pride, Natsuki Subaru. She looked at Roswaal while Subaru regained his composure, managing to find a way to get through the pain before Julius joined his side. Subaru gave the book to Julius while Roswaal was keeping his calm, knowing that this Subaru probably has some kind of method to destroy the book should he do something wrong. Seeing that he is backed into a corner, he started to ask,

"What are yoooou going to do to me, Subaru-kuuuuun?"

"Well, I'm going to need some answers. Tell me, what exactly as my counterpart done from the moment you met him all the way until this day."