Aganau Chapter 7: Defying Fate
Natsuki Subaru and Patrasche were both awaiting for the arrival of the two Sin Archbishops, having figured that they probably found them in Bisito City due to Subaru's intense witch scent given off by the authorities he held within him.
While he waited with his favorite and only ground dragon, Subaru closed his eyes and mulled over what roles he had given everyone.
'We only have one chance here… either we succeed by luck or… we'll die trying.'
As he was thinking this, he heard footsteps approaching him.
He turned towards his backside to see that Elsa Grainhart was standing there, having her usual smile on her face while treating everything like it was another day on the job, which for her it technically was.
Subaru scowled and looked away. He might never get used to having Elsa Grainhart as an ally, especially after all the shit she put him and his friends through.
"Have you done your part?" Subaru spoke sternly, keeping his nerves in control.
"Yes. Though I must ask, do you believe that he will help? He hasn't been active for a long time."
Subaru paused for a moment, knowing full well that the note he had Elsa deliver might not reach its intended target in time… but even so, he had a plan should he be forced to fight without this specific person against the combined might of Sloth and Greed.
'I'll have to… th-thank that bastard Pride for giving me the information he used in beating Regulus...'
Having gone through the memories of his counterpart, the Sin Archbishop of Pride Natsuki Subaru, he knew of a way to truly beat Regulus Corneas with only Elsa. Though as he was looking back into the successful loops where it led to Regulus's death in Pride's world, he had an epiphany.
'The cultist version of me had worked with Elsa a lot… this version of me had also worked with Elsa as well, considering she's here with us because he asked for help. What other version of me chose to have Elsa as an ally?'
This deeply concerned him since the only other option would be the Purge King version of him. He already had Cecilus and Halibel, which would explain why he never hired or tried to form some alliance with the Bowel rather obvious reasons, the previous older version of him would never want to associate with such a person.
That meant he might have to get used to seeing Elsa more often since he doesn't know how many worlds he would be sent through before returning to his.
He turned towards his right side as he noticed Al, the older Natsuki Subaru, and Beatrice return with a new ally.
"Old Man Rom."
"..."
Rom remained silent for a moment as he eyed Subaru before turning to the Older Subaru. "Hmph. Seems like you really were tellin' the truth. There really are two of you."
"The hell do you mean I'm telling the truth?" The Older Subaru questioned. Old Man Rom turned towards him to respond swiftly with:
"You have a habit of lyin'."
Despite his serious demeanor, Older Subaru seemed taken aback by what was said by Rom. "Okay, when have I lied to you?"
"Is that seriously a question?" Old Man Rom said as he gave a stern look.
"Name one." Older Subaru persisted.
"Where's my money then?"
"I told you, I'm working on it."
"Ha! Right."
The Older Subaru shook his head with annoyance, causing Subaru to chuckle a bit before turning his full attention towards Old Man Rom.
"It's been a while."
Rom scoffed. "For you maybe. I've had to deal with that annoyance for over twenty years." He jerked his head towards the Older Subaru.
Subaru let out a quick laugh. "I do feel bad for you then."
Older Subaru shot his gaze between Subaru and Rom as his tough guy act melted away. "Hey! C'mon guys, what the hell?!"
Subaru and Old Man Rom laughed at Older Subaru's expense.
"It's still pretty surreal seeing you at that age. I remember how you saved Felt and me from that crazy assassin." Rom spoke as he started to get relaxed with the situation in front of him.
"You mean her?" Subaru pointed at Elsa. Old Man Rom turned to look where Subaru pointed and stopped. The smile he had moments prior quickly gave way to a scowl as he rounded his shoulders back.
"What is she doing here?"
The Bowel Hunter's smile never left her face as she spoke. "There is no need to worry. I'm just hired help for this fight." She tilted her head and widened her smile, but the air still felt tense.
Rom didn't hesitate at pointing a finger towards the older Subaru.
"He's the one that did this, isn't he?" Rom growled.
Subaru shrugged. "Pretty much."
Rom pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed deeply. "Honestly, you really have become the worst version of yourself."
Older Subaru balled his fists. "Don't judge me, Rom. I'll do anything to kill that cultist bastard!"
Rom rolled his eyes in response. The conversation had evidently retread ground that had been spoken about multiple times in the past."Right, that obsession of yours. And what exactly will you do once you are done killing that witch cultist? What lengths will you go until you've gotten that vengeance of yours?"
The older Subaru remained silent, not wishing to think on that until after Petelguese had truly been killed both in body and soul. Rom noticed the silence, then sighed before changing the subject.
"So boy, you've got a plan that'll end two Sin Archbishops?"
Subaru nodded."Yes. But there are two backup plans in case a few people refuse to help, one of which being you. On that note, will you help us?"
Old Man Rom remained silent for a moment, his face expressionless. Finally, he spoke."Normally I wouldn't get involved in such things… but if it'll get him to finally pay me all the money he owes, then sure."
"W-Wait" Older Subaru stuttered, "that wasn't-"
"Deal" Subaru interrupted. "Older me will just have to pay all the money he owes you plus interest." He gave a thumbs up.
"No, stop! That wasn't part of the damn plan!"
"Plans change" Rom teased, "but that's just something you're going to have to deal with if you want to finally complete that vengeance quest of yours."
Older Subaru turned away and clicked his tongue. He would do anything if it meant Sloth is killed...but that doesn't mean he wouldn't be mad by what had happened.
This caused him to walk away for a moment, completely outraged at his young self for having accepted a deal without his opinion on the matter.
Wanting to let out this rage in him, he pulled out his sword and started slashing down a tree nearby him. Al noticed this and couldn't help but comment with:
"Come on bro, the tree did nothin' to ya."
"..."
Older Subaru ignored this as he continued to attack the tree for a minute before finally calming down. Just as he calmed down, Felix approached the group on his own with his knight attire on.
"What's he getting mad for nyow?"
"He's in debt when this is all over, I suppose." Beatrice answered in a blank tone.
"Why am I not surprised?" Felix said this as he faced palm. Subaru took note of the fact that the catboy was in his knight uniform attire rather than the dress he's accustomed to seeing from him or the suit that he was wearing in this world.
"Mind if I ask Ferris, what's with the knight attire?"
"I don't know...I felt like I should wear it this time..."
"Well, if you are comfortable wearing that for this battle, then go for it."
Felix nodded at this before returning the topic to what his objective was.
"I delivered the message just like nyow wanted."
"Good. Hopefully everything falls into place."
"Mind if I ask, what happens if both recipients don't arrive in time?" The Bowel Hunter questioned, wondering what backup plan this Natsuki Subaru has in case something like that happens.
Everyone took note of what was being asked, prompting them to look at the boy to see what his response would be. Natsuki Subaru expected this, prompting him to answer with:
"We will handle the situation ourselves. I have enough information on how to win this without the two recipients."
Although this wasn't something they wanted to hear, noticing Natsuki Subaru's voice and posture of confidence was oddly reassuring.
Subaru turned around to see deeper into the forest, having a feeling that the two "guests" were on their way.
"They should be getting here any moment...remember the plan."
Everyone understood this which prompted Felix and Beatrice to go hide in one area away from the battle, only coming out as backup.
Old Man Rom and Al go to a separate area with their weapons ready for combat, the two providing support against The Sin Archbishop of Sloth specifically.
Lastly Elsa Grainhart hiding herself in another area of their location in the forest, preparing her blades for disembowelment while also searching the area for any random females nearby.
The only remaining ones were Natsuki Subaru and the Older Natsuki Subaru, both of them readying themselves up for a confrontation with the two Sin Archbishops while also having Patrasche there, ready to fight as well as run.
"This plan of yours, how did you get it?"
"What do you mean?" Natsuki Subaru questioned. "I've faced them both before."
"Yes but last I checked, you had either that bastard Julius or the Sword Saint assisting you. So how can you formulate a plan without either knight's assistance?"
"...let's just say I'm 'borrowing' some ideas from another version of ourselves."
"...If you say so."
Older Subaru didn't care much on how Natsuki Subaru got the plan, he was mostly concerned if this was going to actually lead him to his prize, the true death of Petelguese Romanee-Conti.
The two remained silent for a moment, waiting for the arrival of Petelguese and Regulus. Just before they arrived, the Older Subaru wanted to clarify one aspect of the plan.
"When they arrive, we just have to separate them?"
"Yes. If we all gang up on them, the only best outcome will be killing Petelguese but also dying to Regulus. Worst case would just be all of us dying."
"So by force we need to separate them."
"Yes."
"Understood...well then, I guess I better figure out a plan in making that happen."
"The hell are you talking about, we—"
Before Natsuki Subaru could finish speaking, Older Subaru hit the back of his younger self's neck with enough force to knock him out.
Patrasche was caught off guard by this, prompting the ground dragon to look at her owner with concern, wondering why the Older Subaru knocked his counterpart.
The Older Natsuki Subaru could tell that Patrasche was confused by his actions, prompting him to look at her for a moment before going to pick up his knocked out young self.
While he did this, he spoke to his ground dragon,
"I know, I know. Knocking my own self out like this while an imminent threat arrives isn't the wisest choice but I have a plan of my own, something that'll for sure work."
"Skreee!" Patrasche shouted at the Older Subaru in a manner that made him see that she questioned this.
"It'll work, Patrasche. All I ask is if you can take him to wherever that crazy psychopath Elsa is at. Also, if you can, hand over this not to her. This'll help clear up any issues."
Patrasche looked at her owner and despite not liking this, she trusted his judgment and just held the paper in her mouth.
As she did this, she waited for her owner to give her the all clear signal before sprinting it with everything she had towards the direction the Bowel Hunter had gone off to.
As Patrasche left with the unconscious Natsuki Subaru, the Older Natsuki Subaru had a serious facial expression, not showing any regret on his current actions.
'I understand your plan...but I needed to know what the important elements were in order to formulate my own plan in killing this bastard.'
Older Subaru had his sword out after thinking this, confident that he can handle this situation his own way. He waited three minutes before noticing a couple of trees being destroyed left and right off in the distance.
'There you are.'
Older Subaru thought as a smile appeared for a few seconds, happy to see that he got another attempt in taking on his target.
"Took you long enough, Petelguese Romanee-Conti! I've been waiting for you."
"Ah yes, it's you once again. You really are special~DESU!" Petelguese was genuinely impressed to see the Older Natsuki Subaru once again, standing in his way once again.
He didn't think that the boy he left in that cave twenty years ago was still standing in front of him, after the many encounters they've had recently.
Regulus remained silent as he looked at the Older Natsuki Subaru, finding him quite the eyesore while also taking note of the man's odd looking arm.
"Shall we kill you, imperfect being? Shall you continue to disrespect my rights by preventing me from finding the boy with the fake greed witch factor? Will you continue standing there or will you come to your senses and tell me where that boy had gone? Shall you also tell me where that girl and man with that horrible suit had gone? I would like to repay them tenfold for being disrespectful towards my rights has a human, as a man."
'This guy is honestly an annoying prick.' The Older Subaru kept his facial expression serious, preventing himself from revealing just how annoyed he was by just Regulus talking. He waited until the right moment to speak in a calm manner,
"Regulus Corneas, allow me to ask if you will interrupt my matter with that bastard of an ally you have?"
"Eh?" Regulus's demeanor swiftly shifted into a threatening one, viewing the way the Older Subaru spoke as a massive disrespect. "Are you saying that I'm not that important to be here? How dare you! Such disrespect to my rights of being here won't stand—"
"No need to be aggressive, Greed." Older Subaru interrupted, knowing that the Sin Archbishop of Greed was preparing to kill him. "I'm asking if you are here to interrupt the issues between me and that bastard right there? Are you here to keep him from being killed by my hand?"
"Ha! Me, care for this buffoon of a man? Well, a man is not the word I would use."
"Ah yes, viewing me in such a light because I follow my love! Doing everything possible to be reunited with her~DESU!"
Petelguese and Regulus turned towards each other in a way that gave Older Subaru the impression that they were about to fight.
'Oh hell no!'
"Regulus Corneas, allow me to send you off in the right direction if it means I can personally kill him...with your permission of course."
The Sin Archbishop of Greed remained silent as he heard this, viewing the Older Subaru with a different light as he saw the man giving him his respect by asking for permission to do something.
"Well, it seems like you've come to your senses."
"I just know when to show respect, especially to someone as highly as you."
"But of course, I, Regulus Corneas, deserve this respect. As someone who's perfect in every way, deserves to be viewed as such."
'That's right asshole, eat up your goddamn ego.'
Despite how demeaning it is doing this, the Natsuki Subaru of this world will do anything if it means he gets to be the one to kill Petelguese, even if it is boosting someone's inflated ego. Regulus took a moment to think before saying to the Older Natsuki Subaru,
"Alright, I, Regulus Corneas, have granted you the permission to kill this excuse of an Archbishop."
"..." Petelguese remained silent, viewing this both as blasphemy but also amused that Regulus is allowing this. Older Subaru nods in respect though in reality he's just satisfied that his plan is actually working.
"I appreciate this..." He pointed towards the direction Patrasche had gone off to, "The boy you are seeking went that way."
Regulus Corneas smiled as he moved towards the direction the Older Natsuki Subaru pointed, satisfied that things are going his way though he did want to leave with one last word in.
"Should I not find this boy, you'll have violated my rights as a human being, meaning I will just kill both of you myself."
"Understood."
Older Subaru wasn't worried at all. The original plan was to have both Sin Archbishops separated though the big difference is that his younger self will just encounter the self-proclaimed perfect human a bit later than he had planned.
'It may be a dick move to actually send that prick towards my counterpart's direction...but I do believe in that moron.'
("What are you going to do now, bro? Are you really going to go after the two Sin Archbishops?")
("..." The Older Subaru took a bit to answer, remembering the last words Rem had told him before dying. "My goal has always been to kill that bastard, Sloth. He's been my target for twenty years. If that other Sin Archbishop gets in my way, then I'll kill him too.")
The Older Subaru was satisfied that he could take on his target one last time, this time knowing that it would take everything he had to truly kill Petelguese.
"Now it's just the two of us, Petelguese Romanee-Conti!"
"All alone, once again. Nobody to die for you, right?" Petelguese mocked him, having clearly seen that this Subaru he had left for dead seems to be so dead set in wanting to kill him all alone.
"..."
"No response? That's very slothful of you~DESU!"
Hearing those words were unnerving for him, being reminded of how Rem was mutilated by Petelguese's authority before leaving her to die.
He also remembers all the dead bodies he had found on the previous loop, the countless deaths that Petelguese and his group had caused to Arlem village and the Roswaal manor.
"You know, I would've had a hard time killing you before on my own with the same method I killed your previous body, but..."
The Older Natsuki Subaru pulled out a second sword, one that got the Sin Archbishop of Sloth's attention.
"And what is that? A new sword? Is it supposed to be special?" The Sin Archbishop questioned, not really knowing what the sword is. Older Subaru smiled as he saw that his opponent was unaware of the weapon he was holding.
"Yes, the Life Sword."
When visiting Old Man Rom, he had asked if he had information on a sword that could kill the soul.
Having had enough time to go get it before arriving back to this location, he prided himself as he now had the weapon that could truly kill his target.
"This time, Petelguese, you won't have some bullshit saving your ass."
"Do you truly believe I'll allow you to interfere with the ordeal? That would be very foolish if you did."
"Shut up!"
The Older Subaru charged at Petelguese with his usual weapon and the Life Sword in each of his respective hands.
As he did this, Petelguese had his usual evil smile as he started to send a barrage of unseen hands at him.
"This is the very moment will decide who deserves to live and who deserves to die~DESU!"
"You're the one who's going to die!"
Older Natsuki Subaru shouted with rage as he was able to avoid the attacks from the Sin Archbishop before closing the gap.
He swung the Life Sword towards Petelguese's direction only for one of the unseen hands to block off the attack.
This block gave Petelguese an opening for him to attack. Older Subaru was uncomfortable using two swords since he hadn't honed his skills in using two swords.
Despite this, he was aware that he's opened for an attack, prompting him to swiftly use his right hand to slice off the unseen hand approaching him.
Once he did this, he dodged a couple of unseen hands thrown towards him before attempting to stab the Sin Archbishop of Sloth.
As he closed the gap once again, he tried to stab Sloth in the face only for him to dodge the attack by moving his head towards the right side.
"Slothful!"
Petelguese says this as an unseen hand uppercuts Older Subaru.
"F-Fuck!"
As Older Subaru was sent flying up, Sloth did not hesitate to have one of his unseen hands grab his opponent's leg to throw him towards a tree.
Just as he was going to crash onto the tree, Older Subaru managed to use his prosthetic arm to protect himself from the impact of hitting the tree. This allowed him to still have enough strength to keep fighting against Petelguese.
"If you think throwing me around will give you the advantage, you have another thing coming!"
Older Natuski Subaru continued to dodge the attacks from his opponent while also attempting to land one blow on Petelguese, knowing that the Life Sword just needs one hit for it to work.
'This time, I will win. No matter what, I will Win!'
He thought of Rem, Beatrice, Ram, the children of Arlem village, Rem again, Felix, Crusch, Wilhelm, Al, Emilia for a small moment, and lastly Rem once again.
Rem's death had truly wounded this Subaru and since he listened to her dying words, he has always felt this guilt for not trying to go back.
Seeing another Natsuki Subaru made him feel oddly hopeful at first, viewing it as a chance to save Rem by warning him of the upcoming events...only to realize that this version had not only beaten Petelguese but also had done more with the cost being Rem.
He definitely hated him for it, after all the shit Rem had gone through just for him to not only ignore her final words but to also have her end up in a coma, it fueled his already burning anger even more.
'If this bastard had never gone after Emilia, perhaps I wouldn't be in this damn situation...this is all Sloth's fault.'
This anger helped him move slightly faster and attack with a lot more force than before. He dodged and dodged until suddenly one of the unseen hands managed to hit him in the face hard enough to disorient him, causing him to drop both his weapons.
"That anger of yours won't help your slothfulness~DESU!"
"S-Shut up!"
Just as Petelguese was in the process of summoning more unseen hands, the Older Natsuki Subaru managed to gain back focus before grabbing the closest sword towards him.
As he does this, he closes the gap and within a few seconds he is finally able to land a hit on the Sin Archbishop, stabbing Sloth in the chest area.
"Got you now!"
Older Subaru was confident that the fight will now end with Petelguese's soul being destroyed yet nothing happened except for a few unseen hands being summoned once more.
'Huh? He should be in pain. I know the Life Sword has mana stored into it to kill this bastard.'
Older Subaru took a closer look and without realizing until now, he stabbed Petelguese with the wrong sword.
'Fuck.'
"How disappointing." Petelguese said with a serious tone, prompting him to easily knock away his opponent.
As the Older Natsuki Subaru fell near the Life Sword, Petelguese had one of the unseen hands pull out the sword that was lunged in his chest area before pulling it out.
As he was in a bit of pain, he started to laugh maniacally while saying to his opponent,
"Twenty years of vengeance. Twenty years of blind rage and this is your best? Why am I disappointed? Why do I feel angry towards you?! Someone who shouldn't even be standing right now! Someone so weak~DESU!"
"Tsk." Older Subaru watched as his sword had been destroyed by the unseen hand holding it, prompting him to quickly grab the life sword, viewing it as his only means to fight. While he was on his defensive stance, Petelguese continues to speak with anger in his voice:
"For someone who has been wanting revenge, you have proven to have learned nothing. That's beyond slothfulness! That's...that's reckless, pathetic, weak, impatient!" An enormous amount of unseen hands were throwing towards the Older Natsuki Subaru's direction. "I will eliminate you for the sake of her love~DESU!"
"I won't let you win...I can't let you win!"
'I can't fail Rem...after so long of fighting...I can't fail here.'
"Don't give up, Subaru-kun."
Older Subaru was stunned for a moment as he could hear Rem's voice speaking to him, motivating him to keep fighting.
He looked at Petelguese with determination once Rem's voice had reached his heart, strengthening his resolve.
He waited for the right moment before shouting from the top of his lungs:
"Shamak!"
A cloud of darkness exploded all around the Older Natsuki Subaru, allowing him to hide within the darkness.
Petelguese noticed this yet he did not stop his attack.
His unseen hands entered the darkness and attempted to kill his opponent only to see that Older Subaru had disappeared once the cloud of darkness cleared.
"?!"
The Sin Archbishop of Sloth was left surprised for a moment before looking around to see if his opponent was trying to use the ability of Shamak as a distraction.
He looked and looked until he saw his opponent running away deeper into the forest.
He did not expect someone who's been after him for twenty years to start running away.
"Running away? In the middle of a fight? That is certainly slothful..." Petelguese spoke out to himself, finding this dumbfounding before chasing after Older Subaru. "I've made the mistake of letting you live for this long. As a courtesy to her love, I shall end you~DESU!"
As Petelguese used his unseen hands to clear him a straight path towards his opponent, Older Subaru glanced back to see that everything was going according to plan.
'I knew he was going to follow. After all, I'm the one person he least expected to survive all of his encounters!'
Older Subaru knew that this plan of his had to be carefully thought out while he was following his counterpart's plan for the most part, knowing that Petelguese isn't someone who can easily be persuaded to do anything unless provoked.
'Hopefully my young self has reached Elsa's position.'
As he thought of this, he suddenly noticed a tree being thrown towards his direction.
"What the?!"
He quickly manages to dodge the attack just barely, feeling annoyed that Petelguese would just decide to throw a large tree at him.
"You missed, asshole!"
As Older Subaru shouted this, more trees were suddenly thrown towards him.
'Well...shit.'
Older Subaru once again uses Shamak to try and escape from Petelguese's sight long enough to be in the safe distance.
Once he did this, a couple of trees landed on top of where he was, prompting Petelguese to move towards the center of the dark clouds to make sure his opponent was dead.
As he did this, he saw that somehow Older Natsuki Subaru had managed to escape what would be an assured kill.
"Very persistent."
Petelguese was impressed for a few seconds, seeing that he's still underestimating the same person he had left in the cave twenty years ago.
"This time, you will die~DESU!"
Prior to Older Natsuki Subaru confronting the two Sin Archbishops, Patrasche was carrying a letter written by her master intended to go towards the Bowel Hunter while also carrying the young version of her master.
She turned towards her back side to check on the young Natsuki Subaru, seeing that he was still knocked out.
This made the ground dragon slightly concerned that he might not wake up for the remainder of the fight, knowing full well that this boy is a key in defeating the threat they were dealing with.
She looked forward and used all of her senses in order to find where exactly the Bowel Hunter was located.
As she looked for ten minutes, she eventually sensed someone nearby. She quickly hid in some bushes nearby in order to see who was closing in on her location.
As she was waiting for a moment, she saw that it was the Bowel Hunter. As she prepared to approach Elsa, she noticed that the Bowel Hunter was covered in blood.
This was concerning for a moment before she approached the assassin, preparing herself to see the need to protect young Natsuki Subaru and herself. Elsa noticed Patrasche approaching in a defensive manner, prompting the assassin to say:
"No need to worry, I just had a run in with some witch cultists."
Patrasche looked at Elsa with some wariness before approaching her, making sure that she delivered the letter her owner asked to be delivered.
As she was doing this, Elsa had not only noticed the piece of paper on the ground dragon's mouth but also the unconscious Natsuki Subaru on the ground dragon's back.
"What happened to him?"
Patrasche doesn't respond to this and just signals to the bowel hunter that she needs to grab the letter.
Elsa figured that she wouldn't even receive an answer from Patrasche, which caused her to grab the letter intended for her.
As she does this, she opens it up and begins to read it briefly before closing her eyes.
"...okay."
She smiles as she likes the change in plan, seeing that she can be as unrestrained as she wants. She turned towards the unconscious Natsuki Subaru before speaking:
"Ara Ara. Seems like this job was worth taking after all."