Pride Chapter 7: Fight fire with fire

"Emilia-sama, we should get out of here while we can."

"No, we need to help the people of the kingdom and we need to stop that monster."

"I am aware Emilia-sama but Roswaal-sama's orders were clear, to get you out of the kingdom safely."

"I don't care, we have to help the innocent people."

"That won't be needed, Emilia-sama."

Ram and Emilia both noticed this and quickly get themselves ready for a fight until they noticed that it is a little girl, a giant, and a young man. Puck appeared to check on what is going on for a bit and could sense that the three people approaching them are not a threat.

"Lia, maid, don't feel threatened. They are not a threat."

"Okay, then who are you three...no wait..."

Emilia looked at both Felt and Old Man Rom for a moment before recognizing the two from a long back. Felt knew who was Emilia and realized that she needs to apologize to her since she did stole the insignia from the silver haired half elf, causing all of the events to transpire the way they did. She slowly approached Emilia who had her hands crossed as she recognized Felt. The little girl looked down as she said in a shy tone of voice,

"I-I'm sorry...about the whole insignia thing...I'm sorry."

There was a moment of silence which made Felt nervous for a moment until she heard Emilia finally speak.

"Well as long as you are sorry, then we are okay."

Emilia pats Felt in the head which caught the little girl off guard for a moment and even surprised Ram. Otto smiled when he saw this and quickly approached Emilia and Ram with Puck being on guard of his daughter. After petting Felt for a few seconds, she turned towards Otto, wanting to know who the young boy is.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Otto Suwen, a once proud merchant...well now a debt slave."

"You poor thing."

"Ram, no need to be mean."

"Pardon me, Emilia-sama. Just feeling pity for the young man."

"Is that really necessary?"

"Yes."

"Anyway, Emilia-sama we need to talk."

"What about?" Emilia asked with a curious voice. Ram did not like this and was about to do something to the young man until he heard the boy say,

"We need to stop the witch cultist."

This words caught Ram's attention since she does hate the witch cultist known has Natsuki Subaru. She lowered her guard while keeping a close eye on Otto. Emilia was silent for a moment before asking Otto in a serious tone of voice,

"What are you talking about, Otto?"

"We have an ally who knows how to beat the witch cultist monster. He just...um needs you all to meet him up in a specific point while he deals with that monster."

Emilia wanted to help yet both Puck and Ram were uncertain about this with Puck thinking for his daughter's safety while Ram knows that doing this would mean betraying Roswaal. Wanting some confirmation, she approached Otto in a slightly aggressive manner and spoke in a defensive tone,

"How can we know that this ally of yours will beat that monster?"

"He has a plan and he has the determination to beat the witch cultist."

"How much faith are you willing to put into that ally of yours?"

Otto paused when he heard this, knowing that he is taking quite the gamble by trusting someone who looks and has the exact name of the person he both hates and fears. Although it is a gamble that he might lose, he knows that he rather take a chance with the other world Natsuki Subaru than be forever a debt slave. He looked at the pink haired maid with a confident look before responding with,

"I trust my ally with my life."

Ram looked at the young man's face and could see the determination and confidence in his eyes, seeing that Otto has faith in his ally. Although she respected this, she still didn't trust the boy.

"This is too risky for Emilia-sama. Whether your ally could take down that monster is one thing but Emilia-sama's safety is another."

"Well Garfiel-san and Julius-san will be there to make sure that—"

"What did you just say?"

Ram looked at Otto with a serious facial expression, having noticed on what the young man said. She got close to Otto which made him a little uncomfortable before she continued to speak to him,

"Who will be joining us again?"

"Garfiel-san and Julius-san."

"Garfiel Tinsel?"

"Y-Yes..."

She took a moment to think on how this could be possible, making her curious since Garfiel would never leave the Sanctuary for almost any reason, let alone join some people from the outside world. This caused her to think of a way to help the group out without betraying the orders given to Roswaal, knowing that their contract wouldn't permit her to do whatever she needed to destroy the thing that is keeping him bound to his goal. Eventually she came up with a plan that would benefit all parties involved.

"Roswaal-sama told me to make sure to keep Emilia-sama out of the kingdom...though there is a path way that leads away from the kingdom, it just so happens to be through the burning kingdom itself."

Emilia was surprised when she heard this, seeing Ram allowing her to help Otto and his group in stopping the villain that caused all of the destruction they see before them. She thanked Ram before turning towards Puck, hoping that he would allow her to help Otto's ally stop the villain. Puck could see what Ram is doing and although he isn't thrilled to have Emilia running around where there is constant danger, he knows that he can't stop her from wanting to help others. He sighs before saying to his daughter,

"Alright but summon me the moment things get too dangerous for you, Lia."

"I will, Puck."

Emilia smiled at her adopted father which made Puck happy before he disappeared, allowing both Emilia and Ram to follow Otto and his group into the kingdom, causing Otto to smile since everything is going according to Natsuki Subaru's plan.

'Don't worry Natsuki-san, we will stop that monster now. We got Emilia-sama on our side now.'

Julius continued his battle with Ferris, seeing that this world's Ferris is much dangerous since he learned how to use water magic for offensive. This did put Julius on the defense for a bit until he summoned his six spirits to assist him in pushing his friend back. As Julius with his spirits were able to slightly push the catboy back, Ferris smiled before saying,

"Nyow!"

"Huh?!"

Julius was able to react to the Mabeast charging at him just in the nick of time, jumping out of the way and using his fire spirit to do some damage to the Mabeast. As Julius gained his distance, he could hear Ferris speaking to him in a calm and collected manner,

"Subaru-sama and his highness would like to have you eliminated, Julius-kyun."

"And why is that Felix?! You are a knight! Why would you side with a witch cultist?!"

"Subaru-sama and his highness saved me."

"Saved you?...wait, what happened to Crusch-sama?!"

"Crusch...sama...?"

Hearing that name caused something in Felix's mind to move since it sounded familiar yet nothing came to mind except a mild headache. Julius noticed this and started to ponder on what happened to this version of events regarding the white whale. He knew that it was thanks to his friend, Natsuki Subaru, that they were able to take down the great mabeast yet this version of events...he feared the worst.

"Felix! What happened to Crusch-sama?! To Wilhelm-sama?!"

"Who...are nyow talking about, Julius-kyun?"

"Oh no..."

Julius made a realization that this world's Crusch and Wilhelm didn't make it out alive on the battle against the White Whale. Without Subaru's help, they likely couldn't beat it and got erased which would have mean that the Natsuki Subaru of this world got to Felix.

'Forgetting someone as important like Crusch-sama must have caused some kind of mental damage to Felix. That explains why the Sin Archbishop of Pride got to him. That bastard!'

Julius was filled with anger, hating just how much this world's Natsuki Subaru is a corrupt bastard that harmed his friend, brainwashed him and even got his world's counterpart killed though he didn't know the full details of this. He pointed his sword towards Felix, wanting answers from the catboy.

"How did you killed me?"

"Huh?"

"This world's Julius, how did you or your master killed him?"

"Huh? What are nyow talking about nyaw?"

"Hm. Let's just say I'm a different Julius from another world. Now how did you killed the Julius of this world? Answer me!"

"Okay Okay! Yesh. He was my friend but he was getting in the way of Subaru-sama and his highness. So nyai set him up and attacked him before nyai killed him."

"I see."

Julius was shaken by this yet he didn't let this information get to him, knowing that his friend was relying on him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before pointing his sword towards his friend's counterpart.

"Julius Juukulius, a member of the Royal Guard."

"Nya! Ferris Argyle, Subaru-sama and his highness' servant."

The two knights took a moment before Julius charged at Ferris while Ferris himself send the Mabeast to attack his former friend's counterpart. The mabeast attempted to take out the finest knight with one hit yet with the assistance of his spirits, he was able to dodge the attack in the nick of time. As he does that, he was able to use his spirits to take down the mabeast with a couple of powerful blows.

Once he managed to do that, he turned towards Ferris to see the knight using his water magic near him. Just as it seemed like he was going to get hit by Ferris, Julius' water spirit named Kua helped stop the attack. As this happened, Julius dropped his sword while managing to land a punch to Ferris' face. This caused the catboy to be taken aback before receiving another punch to the face which was the one that knocked him out. As Julius knocked Ferris out, he looked at him for a moment before picking his friend up.

"We will get you some help. I won't allow you to stay like that, my friend."

Julius turned towards the direction Garfiel and Subaru had gone and quickly went that direction.

Garfiel and Elsa both went all out once again, this time Elsa was more cautious in her fighting style while Garfiel used his knowledge of his previous two fights with the bowel hunter to make sure he doesn't get caught off guard. As the two were on equal grounds, Meili sends in the Guiltylowe to help out Elsa, knowing that she will need some assistance. Garfiel noticed this yet he wasn't afraid of this, if anything he was more excited since he hasn't had a good fight since his battle against Kurgan in Priestella. Since this was a life or death battle, Garfiel smiled at the Gultylowe before showing his trump card.

"Let my amazin' self show you the true strength of the shield of sanctuary!"

Garfiel set his twin shields down before starting his transformation into his beast form, wanting to show the bowel hunter and the Mabeast user that he isn't playing around anymore. Once his transformation was complete, he roared loudly before charging towards the Guiltylowe, surprising the Mabeast. Although it did notice Garfiel as a threat, it wasn't afraid to fight the demi human in its beast form. Garfiel with all of his mental strength to stay in control, waited until the Mabeast was close enough for him to easily take down. Garfiel with everything he got managed to destroy the mabeast with one hit. As he does this, he quickly reverse backs to his human form since he doesn't want to lose control but he also wants to keep the fight in his human form. As he does this, he pucks up his twin shields and puts them back on while looking a bit fatigue. Elsa and Meili were both shocked to see this with Meili being in complete fear of Garfiel while Elsa was just simply amazed to see such a strong warrior. She turned towards Meili and asked her,

"Step back Meili, allow me to fight this amazing boy on my own."

"A-Are you sure about this, onee-san?"

"I'm sure."

Elsa had her sharpest weapons pulled out, prepared to go all out against this boy while Garfiel got his mindset ready to defeat the Bowel hunter once again, knowing that he has the strength to do it. The two looked at each other for a brief moment before continuing their fight from before with Garfiel managing to be on the offense. He moved in a quick pace, forcing Elsa to defend herself all while paying attention to her opponent's movements and the way he fights. Since Garfiel knew how the bowel hunter fought and even had more battle experience thanks to the chaos caused in Pristella, he was a lot more stronger in this fight than in his first fight with the bowel hunter in the mansion. Despite this, the demi human boy did notice that the bowel hunter of this world was also a bit stronger than his world's version of the bowel hunter. Showing the two being around the same strength, the two were able to keep up with Elsa gaining the advantage in some points while Garfiel managing to take back the advantage in other points. Eventually the two were on a stalemate with the other not being able to land the finishing blow until an unknown attack hit Elsa's arm, causing her to be distracted for a moment. This moment was enough for Garfiel to use his full strength to land a destructive blow to the bowel hunter's stomach, giving her a fatal blow before using a bit more strength to send her flying a few feet away with a powerful punch to the face. As Elsa was sent flying with blood spewing out from the places Garfiel hit, the boy turned towards the direction the unknown attack came from and was both surprised and happy to see a familiar face.

"Ram."

"Garf."

Garfiel was happy to see Ram again, even if it isn't his world's Ram. Ram was at first surprised to see Garfiel since she knows for a fact that he is still in Sanctuary, refusing to leave. This made her think on whether this was the ally Otto was referring to yet she knew that Garfiel isn't that smart to take down someone has dangerous as the Sin Archbishop of Pride. Regardless, she was still very happy to see a friend. She approached Garfiel and nodded at him before the two turned towards Elsa, seeing that she somehow recovered from her fatal wounds.

"My My, isn't this interesting. A maid helping you out."

"Seems like yer goin' down now, bitch in black."

Elsa smiled off Garfiel's comment before preparing herself for a more fun fight, seeing that this won't be any easy now. The two groups stared each other down for a moment before the battle continued with Garfiel and Elsa clashing weapons while Ram used her mana sparingly, not wanting to use too much of her strength due to how limited she can use her mana. As the battle was getting tense, Garfiel had a feeling that he needs to use the approaching fire to his advantage, knowing that his world's Elsa had died by the fire created in Roswaal's mansion. Garfiel jumped back to gain his distance for a moment, allowing Ram to use a powerful El Fura towards the bowel hunter to push her back. Elsa was able to notice this and quickly dodged the attack, leaving herself open on purpose to lure Garfiel. The demi human boy noticed this trick yet he used it to his advantage, wanting Elsa to think that he is going to take the bait all the while he planned to send Elsa into the burning building nearby and trap her there.

'Th's'll take care of the bitch in black!'

Once Garfiel got close to Elsa, she tried to stab the boy on his gut until he managed to block the attack off.

"Gotcha now, bitch!"

Garfiel surprised attack Elsa with a powerful kick to the face, causing her to be sent into the burning building. Before anything can be done, the demi human boy turned towards the pink haired maid to shout,

"Finish it, Ram!"

"Al Fura!"

Ram sends her most powerful wind magic attack towards the building. Meili tried to send her Mabeast into the building to help Elsa yet Garfiel was able to stop any of the demon beasts from getting close to the building. As this was happening, Otto quickly used the mana he could gather from the animals left in the kingdom to create a strong barrier, blocking Elsa's ability to escape the fire. As the trio do this, Meili begins to shout for Elsa as she grows more and more worried for the bowel hunter. Before she could do anything, she was knocked out by a gentle hit to the neck from Ram. As she does this, Garfiel and Otto both approach her to make sure that she didn't hurt Meili too badly. As they checked up on her, Garfiel and Ram both faced each other for a moment before they spoke briefly.

"How are you here, Garf?"

"Cap'n. It's all thanks t'th'Cap'n I was able t'leave th'Sanctuary."

"Captain? Who is this Captain?"

"If I told ya, ya wouldn't be happy."

"Hmph. Fine, don't tell me."

"He is right, the ally that brought us together is not someone you would expect." Otto said this to help back up Garfiel. Ram just looked at Otto for a brief moment before asking on the "ally's" whereabouts. Garfiel wanted to answer yet Otto was the one to speak.

"Our ally is facing the Sin Archbishop of Pride as we speak. He will have a little help in a moment."

"Help?"

"Come, we should be able to watch the fight from a safe distance."

"Yes, I wanna see th'Cap'n kick th't witch cultist's ass!"

Otto and Ram both had a smile when they heard Garfiel speak in excitement beforethe three went to check on the ally Otto and Garfiel had been mentioning. As they were going off, Garfiel goes to pick up Meili while Otto notices Julius approaching them with Ferris on his arms. The three noticed this with Otto being the one to ask,

"Sir knight, who is that on your arms?"

"A...friend, a friend who has lost his way. Once this is all done, I will take him to Reinhard-san in hopes that he can help our friend here."

Otto took a moment to look carefully at the person that Julius was carrying to see that it was Ferris, the one that killed this world's Julius.

'How the tides have turned here.'

Otto had a smile on his face briefly, seeing that there is still a chance that things will be better not only for him but for everyone.

"What are you three up to? Were you able to deal with the Bowel Hunter?"

"Don't worry, we took care of th'bitch in black."

"Yes, Garfiel-san and the maid here—"

"That is Ram-sama to you."

"Okay Okay, Ram-sama and Garfiel-san's efforts to defeat the bowel hunter seemed to have worked. She hasn't escaped nor could she escape."

"That's good to hear. We better check on Su—"

"—yes, let's check on our ally."

Otto interrupted since he doesn't want Ram to know the identity of their ally due to the fact that it is the same person as the Sin Archbishop of Pride. The last thing they want to do is cause Ram to turn on them. Julius was caught off guard by this but allowed it, wanting to keep things peaceful for now.

"This time you will fail and I will succeed in my plan to make Emilia the king of Lugnica, Natsuki Subaru!"

"I won't let you hurt Emilia-tan, Sin Archbishop of Pride!"

The two Natsuki Subarus charged at each other with everything they got, both of them confident in their strength and pure fighting techniques. The Natsuki Subaru of another world confident in the things he had learned from Clind, Garfiel, Otto, and Wilhlem while the Natsuki Subaru of this world was confident that in all of his millions of deaths, he has the perfect fighting technique to deal with people like his counterpart, who is relatively the same strength and speed as him. With the two attacking at the same time, their fists clashed which caused them to try kicking each other, both moving their left leg for a kick only for the other to counter.

'Well...this is going to be annoying.'

Both Natsuki Subarus thought this as they realized that they literally are fighting the same exact way. This made it hard since in a sense, they have to beat themselves up, both figuratively and literally. As the two were countering and attacking in unison, they sparked a conversation with the Nasuki Subaru of the other world saying,

"What the hell do you have to gain by doing this?! Killing millions of people! Leaving Emilia-tan all sad and confused!"

"You wouldn't know anything! I had to go through literally hell! Having died so many goddamn times! My mind breaking into a million pieces by that bitch Capella! Dealing with that fucktard Regulus! That crazy bitch Sirius! Those Gluttony boys! All of the stupid Sin Archbishops with only just my ability of dying to rely on!"

"That's...that's just wrong!"

"What the hell would you even fucking know! I had nobody but myself to rely on!"

"That's just the problem! You should have relied on other! Emilia-tan herself, Rem, Ram, Reinhard—"

"Don't bring that prick into this conversation!"

Just hearing the name of the Sword Saint was enough to piss of the Sin Archbishop of Pride, causing him to pull out his handy knife which forced Subaru to pull out his whip.

"Shows how pathetic you are, having to rely on a whip."

"I was able to beat you in the last loop with it."

"You got lucky!"

Subaru tried to knock off the knife from his counterpart's hand yet due to how aware Pride is this time, he was able to dodge the attack.

"Do you think I'm stupid enough to get duped by the same fucking attack?!"

"You do look stupid."

Witch cultist Subaru looked angrily towards his counterpart before charging towards him, wanting to do some harm to himself. As the witch cultist Subaru was closing in, Subaru knew that he needed to use his trump card. He lowered his guard which confused his evil counterpart for a second before making him smile, thinking that he can end this farce until he heard the Natsuki Subaru of another world shout,

"Invincible Providence!"

"Wha—?!"

Before the Witch Cutlist Subaru was able to react, he saw the unseen hand pop out of his counterpart's chest and received a strong punch to the face. This ended up sending Natsuki Subaru towards a wall with intense force though not has bad as his previous loop when Reinhard send him flying into a building wall. The witch cultist boy looked at his counterpart with anger in his eyes yet he was more curious than anything.

"Why...do you have Pete-san's unseen hand ability?"

"You mean my invincible providence?"

"Okay fucking asshole, you know what I meant."

"Well I'm surprised you can't do it since you did killed Petelguese."

"What...?"

The witch cultist boy was stemming with complete anger, seeing that he could've done such an ability and how handy that would've been yet he hasn't been able to do anything. He got up and looked angrily at his counterpart to attack him until—

"Stop there, villain."

"...n-no way..."

Subaru slowly looked towards the voice to see Emilia standing tall with Felt, Puck, and Old Man Rom standing behind her. The witch cultist had a tear stream down his left cheek, not wanting to see Emilia just yet, especially after what happened in the latest loop yet he is forced to see the girl he loves once again. Subaru tried to commit suicide yet his counterpart's whip was able to knock the knife out of his hand, leaving him even more desperate to end this loop, seeing it has another failure. He attempts to charge at Emilia only to get tackled to the ground by his counterpart.

"G-Get off me!"

"No, you are not going to kill yourself!"

"Let me go, you fucking prick!"

"No!"

The two Subarus continue to fight amongst each other which confused Emilia since she wasn't aware of the existence of two Subarus. She turned towards her adopted father to confirm what she is seeing was correct. Puck looked at the two boys fighting and quickly looked into their outside thoughts, seeing the two determined to beat the other.

'Hm. This is quite the situation. One is trying to kill the other or kill himself for selfish reasons but the other...he has more of a good heart compared to the other one since he just wants to stop his counterpart.'

Being able to understand a portion of the situation, Puck approached his daughter to inform her of what was going on.

"Puck, what is going on? Why are there two of that villain?"

"I don't know Lia, but I can say that one is evil and the other is actually not evil."

"Reeaally?"

"Yes."

"Hm."

Emilia was confused by this still yet the only thing she understood was that one was the villain and the other is not a villain. As the two Subarus continue fighting, Emilia broke the fight by simply saying,

"Stop."

Both Subarus in that instant stopped with Felt giggling a little since she did found it amusing how the two Subarus are so different and yet when it comes down to Emilia, they immediately stop what they are doing to put the focus on her. Old Man Rom looked at the entire situation with uncertainty yet if anything, he is confident that the Natsuki Subaru of another world will come out on top. Emilia and Puck both approached the two with Subaru pinning his witch cultist self, making sure that he doesn't do anything stupid. Emilia looked at the two Subarus and was able to tell who was the villain and who was just happened to look like the villain himself.

"Who are you?"

"Huh?"

"Please answer the question, what is your name?"

"My name is Natsuki Subaru."

"And so am I!"

"Shut up, evil me."

"No, you shut up!"

The two Subarus started to fight with each other once again until Emilia caused the two to be frozen in place, stopping the two from fighting all the while they could still move their heads. The two were in an intense cold yet they were more focused on Emilia.

"E-Emilia-tan, what is the meaning of this?"

"I want to get things straight and you two fighting isn't helping anyone. Now tell me, why do you look exactly like the villain and even share his face?"

"Emilia-tan...you see, I'm from another world like this Subaru but we both are different."

"...Puck."

"He is telling the truth from what I can tell...though it is hard to tell if he is insane like the other one."

"Fair, I wish there was someway to figure this out."

"Allow me, Emilia-sama."

"Huh?"

The two Subarus, Emilia, and everyone else in the area all looked around towards the voice to see a handsome red haired knight with a margrave standing next to him. The witch cultist Subaru was annoyed to see that Roswaal since he failed his objective somehow but what really angered him the most was seeing the sword saint.

"You..."

"Hm."

Reinhard and the witch cultist Subaru met eyes with the two instantly seeing the other as a threat yet the knight was more interested in the other Subaru, a bit curious to know why there are two Sin Archbishops of Pride.

"Emilia-sama, I would suggest you stand back."

"But—"

"Please Emilia-sama, I want to make sure you are safe, away from those two."

"There is no need for that, Reinhard."

Reinhard turned around swiftly when he heard a familiar voice. As he turned towards the direction of the voice, he had a smile on his face since he sees a friendly face.

"Julius."

"Reinhard."