Greed Chapter 9: Check
Otto kneeled down on one knee as he pulled out the knife, completely dumbfounded at the fact that he didn't feel this for a moment until it was pointed out to him.
As he was holding his right hand onto his chest to hold his wound while his left was on the ground, he turned towards Subaru's direction, seeing how confident he looks now.
"You got me good there, Natsuki-san..." Otto said calmly as he was breathing heavily. "I didn't see that coming."
"..." Subaru remained silent as he prepared to kick the merchant, wanting him to be knocked out before he attempted to do something.
Otto figured that his opponent's about to do something to him, prompting him to grab all the red crystals he had in his right pocket.
'I won't let you down, Natsuki-san. I won't stop here...for his sake.'
He looked at his surroundings for a moment before seeing the perfect area to set the red crystals off.
As he threw them to the side, Subaru immediately picked up on what his opponent was trying to do.
He charged at him in an attempt to stop this only for the merchant's attack was successful as it reached it's target before exploding.
Right before the explosion had taken place, he knew that the merchant was too dangerous to live. He attempted to stab him with a second knife he had while he had a chance, however the impact of the explosion was enough to push him to the side.
Otto saw this and knew that if he wanted to get out of this alive, it is either now or never.
He slowly started to get up, using all of his strength to hold back the pain from the stab wound.
Once back on his feet, he began to run towards the entrance of the mansion, knowing that the fire would spread rapidly and eventually the mansion would collapse.
As he was on the run with a found that was giving him intense chest pain, Subaru gets back up and begins to chase his opponent down.
"You won't get away from me! Not again!"
"..."
Otto ignored the pain from his chest and the scary words his opponent was shouting, not wanting to die.
He doesn't want his Natsuki Subaru to be in pain if he were to die, especially if the killer is his counterpart.
'Don't worry Natsuki-san, I'll survive this.'
He continued to push forward, doing his best to ignore the wound and using all of his strength to try and escape.
Just as it seemed like the merchant was about to escape, he was suddenly tackled to the ground.
"tsk!"
"Got you!" His opponent shouted as he went for the kill. He saw this and using every ounce of strength left in him, he tried to push the knife away.
As the two were giving it their all to try and move the knife towards the direction they wanted, all Subaru could think was how Otto had left him.
("—Well then, goodbye, Natsuki-san. Take care of yourself.")
"..."
("—I thought of you as my friend.")
("—You wouldn't have thought that though.")
The anger in him was enough to slowly overpower his wounded opponent, finally having the advantage in this fight.
"You may kill me here, Natsuki-san, but that won't change anything. The version of me that you are angry with, he's gone. And all you will do is force him to beat you even more, because unlike you, he cares for those he fights for."
"I care for everybody!" Subaru shouted in frustration, "I have done everything for everyone's sake! All I ask in return is to trust me, to let me handle every situation so—"
"—Nobody gets hurt? Yeah, I figured as much. But that kind of mentality will do nothing more than destroy anybody. Those that take that kind of burden are just as insane as the witch cultists."
"Shut up!"
As he was pushing down the knife with enough force for the tip to start piercing through the merchant's skin.
He wanted to scream in pain since he already has one knife on his chest, another will only amplify the pain.
Just as it seemed like he was about to get stabbed once again with a lethal wound, the two suddenly heard an explosion come from the top floor with the temperature rapidly dropping down right after.
The two were distracted by this, allowing Otto to take this opportunity to use his right hand to land another punch on his opponent to push him off.
As he manages this for a second time, he quickly gets back up and starts running towards the exit.
'The only way to escape now is through the front. Assuming that it's the Emilia-sama I know, I'll have to believe that Garf and Ram-san have been taken care of...'
Otto was skeptical of this since he knew full well that even if Emilia was using her full strength, she wouldn't want to cause too much harm to either of them and would probably try to convince them to stand down.
'If it's this world's Emilia-sama...then I'm hoping Natuski-san managed to convince her to be on our side.'
As Otto hoped for this, he almost reached the front doors of the mansion only to be stopped by his opponent once again.
Since the fire was spreading around the mansion rapidly despite the temperature dropping just as fast, Subaru was unable to grab the knife he was using to stab his opponent a second time, forcing him to go into hand to hand combat.
As he grabbed Otto's back, he tossed him away from the front doors of the mansion while attempting to land a punch onto the merchant's face.
Otto was able to block this attack back, with his chest area increasing in pain since his movements are making the knife on his chest cut more of his skin.
Despite this issue, he was still doing his best to block his opponent's attacks.
Once again, he thought about how this Natsuki Subaru had clearly learned how to fight.
'The way he fights is very dangerous, calculated, and refined. Even Natsuki-san would have trouble fighting him.'
Otto continued to do his best...though he would eventually be overwhelmed by his opponent's skills.
His opponent landed a strong gut punch onto his stomach before easily pulling the knife off of his chest in order to try and slice his neck.
The merchant was barely able to avoid this however he did receive a cut on his right cheek.
'Too close!'
As he barely avoided this attack, his opponent just gave him a death glare as he just kicked the merchant to the ground.
"Enough of this!" He shouted with frustration. "You've been such a problem ever since we've met!"
"Heh...I know, I can be a bit of a handle." The merchant responded with a confident tone, not really caring what this Natsuki Subaru is saying to him. "But that won't change what I said to you, Natsuki Subaru. Natsuki-san will be better than you in many ways."
"Oh yeah? You speak so highly of him but I don't see him here saving your life. I don't see him doing everything in his power to prevent me from killing you right here and right now."
"That's true, he's not here. He's doing something else, something important."
"Ah yes, something important that isn't you. Shows that you aren't the priority—actually, when have you ever been a priority?" As he says this, he closes in on his opponent and puts the knife right near him while continuing to say: "You've always been a side character. You'll never have the guts, the dedication, determination to save them all. All you are ever good for is running from your problems because that's all you've ever done!"
Otto looked at Subaru's eyes, seeing that this is the first time in their entire encounter so far that he's shown a hint of his true feelings...though he can also see right through the words that are truly directed towards him and those that are just deflection.
"You say those things but we both know that it's not about me, Natsuki-san."
"..."
Subaru regained his composure after a few seconds, having realized that he showed more than he had to.
Once his usual blank expression was back, he prepared to kill his opponent as he had no more use of him. Right as he was about to do this, he was stopped when a voice spoke to him...
"Subaru-sama...?"
"..."
Subaru and Otto both paused as they recognized this voice, prompting the two to turn towards the direction of said voice.
Once the two looked at this person, Subaru's eyes widened as he didn't expect to see Petra herself.
("Reinhard.")
("Yes, Subaru-sama. How can I be of assistance?")
("I need you to get Petra and yourself out of here.")
("...? May I ask why?")
("I don't want her involved with what's coming.")
("If a threat is on it's way, then allow me to help—")
("No. I want you to protect her at all cost.")
("...U-Understood, Subaru-sama. But what of Emilia-sama if you don't mind me asking.")
("That's...none of your concern, Reinhard. Just trust me on this one.")
("I...understand, Subaru-sama.")
"Petra? Wh-What are you doing here?" He was a bit caught off guard by this, seeing the little maid here in the middle of a fight as well as in the middle of a battlefield of sorts.
"What are you doing to him, Subaru-sama? Are you going to...?" She couldn't help but pause herself, not wanting to finish the sentence.
As she looked horrified at the thought, Otto took this chance to once again push Subaru away.
Although there's barely any strength he realistically has, his determination to help the Natsuki Subaru he knows keeps him going.
As he succeeds in this, he finally manages to gain some distance all the while Subaru was left thinking to himself,
'Why is Petra here? Shouldn't Reinhard be protecting her somewhere far away? Where is that—?'
"Seems like you need some help, Subaru-sama." A calm voice spoke out which prompted Subaru to look up and see Reinhard in the flesh.
He had managed to easily knock Otto out unconscious with a single hit onto the back of the merchant's neck.
As he was carrying the merchant, he looked at his master with a bit of a curious expression.
"What do you want to do with him?"
"Keep him alive. I got something planned." Subaru turned his attention back towards Petra, giving a cold expression, one that she's never seen before. "Petra, I need you to get out of here now. This place is too dangerous for you."
"B-But—"
"Petra. Do you want Frederica to be sad if something bad happened to you?"
"...N-No..."
"Okay then."
As he pointed towards the way she had come in, Petra quickly started to run towards the back doors of the mansion's first floor while the fire was beginning to spread towards that exit.
While she was running away, Subaru gave a blank expression to the Sword Saint as he turned towards his direction.
"I want you to follow my every word, Sword Saint. Got it?"
"Yes, Subaru-sama."
With that said, the Sword Saint bowed before following his master while continuing to hold an unconscious Otto on his right arm.
Subaru, Meili, and Beatrice were all keeping a distance from Emilia and Roswaal's fight due to how dangerous the battle between the two was.
'There's got to be somewhere we can hold out for now...'
He quickly looked at his surroundings, knowing that any room is too dangerous to be in for long due to the fire slowly spreading onto the mansion.
As he tried to come up with a solution, he suddenly remembered that there was someone that's in bigger danger than them.
'Shit. The other Beako!'
With not only the fire spreading like crazy but this world's Emilia not holding back on her attacks, it's basically a guaranteed death sentence if he doesn't rescue the Beatrice of this world.
Though the only concerning thing is how his contracted Beatrice would react to seeing a broken version of herself...or better yet, how a broken Beatrice would react to one that has a contract with someone.
'I could have Beako get Meili out of here...but then there's Elsa she'd be dealing with.'
He hadn't forgotten that this world's Bowel Hunter is working with his counterpart...unwillingly.
Having Beatrice get Meili to safety is one thing but another is ending up dealing with Elsa when she has no real way to fight back.
As Subaru manages to get into the room to avoid the attacks from Roswaal and Emilia, he sets both Meili and Beatrice down.
"What are we doing here, in fact? We need to leave."
"I know...but there's someone we need to save."
"Who else?" Meili questioned with a curious tone, wondering who he's trying to save now.
"There's just someone who needs saving more than us."
He walked towards the other side of the room to find the person he was mentioning, a little girl that's on the ground.
He kneeled while moving his right hand towards her, extending a helping hand.
"I know you hate my guts...well the other me but right now the mansion's in danger of burning up or to be frozen over, whichever comes first."
"..."
The little girl didn't respond, nor did she budged when hearing his voice.
Beatrice and Meili both turned towards each other for a moment before looking back towards his direction.
"Who are you talking to, I suppose?"
"...?"
The little girl on the floor slowly moved her head towards the direction of Beatrice's voice, having been caught off guard by this.
Beatrice closed in on their position before realizing who her contractor was speaking with.
The little girl got up the second she saw Beatrice, causing her to snap out of her daze.
"How is this...possible, in fact?"
"This is...surreal, I suppose..."
Both Beatrices were looking at each other with a curious look, finding this such a weird situation as well as a unique one.
Subaru looked at the Beatrice of this world, seeing that the hatred and pain she had a moment ago was temporarily gone.
He could tell that right now her attention is directly towards his contracted spirit, making it easy for him to come up with something to convince this Beatrice to leave with them.
"Beako."
"Which one?" His contracted spirit asked, causing the other world Beatrice to turn towards him with that anger returning in full swing.
"Right...Beako of this world, I can ask—"
"I want nothing to do with you, in fact."
Beatrice said this with anger before pointing her hand towards him, preparing to attack. This was something the other world Beatrice had instantly noticed, prompting her to quickly stop her.
"Stop!"
As she pushed away her counterpart, the attack the Beatrice of this world was going to do had barely missed her target, grazing his left cheek while the wall behind him was suddenly destroyed.
"What are you doing?!"
"Protecting my contractor!"
As Beatrice said this, the other Beatrice suddenly was filled with extreme rage when hearing this.
"A contract? With him?!"
As this world's Beatrice was angered by this fact, she began to fight her counterpart back by trying to push her away as the Beatrice of another world was trying to keep her pinned down.
Due to the fact that she had no mana in her, she knows that there's nothing she could do if she tried to attack her contractor with magic once again.
As the two were in an altercation, Subaru quickly grabbed the two as he could feel the temperature in the room dropping swiftly.
"Okay you two, we need to go. Meili, follow me."
"Okay."
As he gets the two Beatrices out of the room, Meili follows behind as she didn't want to get caught by either the fire spreading or the battle going on between Roswaal and Emilia.
As they were trying to make it to the other side of the hallway to reach the stairs, the Beatrice of this world was losing her mind as she was starting to scratch and punch him.
"Stop doing that!" Beatrice shouted as she tried to punch her counterpart, hating how she's harming her contractor.
Although Subaru's getting hurt by the attacks coming from both Beatrices, one intentional and one unintentional, he's secretly enjoying this.
He thinks of himself as the older brother trying to calm his twin little sisters.
'This scenario...won't happen again.'
As he wanted to smile, he suddenly received a punch to the face by his contracted spirit.
"What the—?!"
"I know what you are thinking, in fact. Don't try to think of stupidities!"
He was stunned for a second since this caught him off guard though he shook it off and just continued to prioritize getting both Beakos and Meili to safety. As they reached the stairs, he suddenly felt his back be pierced by a random icicle.
"ghk!"
"Subaru!"
Beatrice shouted in complete concern as he suddenly coughed a bit of blood.
The Beatrice of this world paused her assault on him when she saw that he was coughing up blood.
Meili paused as she could see that the wound Subaru received from a random attack from the silver haired half elf was not lethal but it's painful as hell.
Subaru also knew this since he knows when an attack will surely reach him to a dead end, prompting him to shake his head before confidently saying to his contracted spirit:
"Don't worry...about me. This is nothing...!"
As he said this, both Beatrices were shocked when they saw Subaru's smile. This smile was a strong determined expression despite the excruciating pain he's in.
"Meili." Subaru spoke with confidence before turning his attention towards the little mabeast user. She was surprised by Subaru's determination as he continued to say, "Stay close so that you get to see Elsa again."
"...okay."
As Meili said this, she started to put two and two together.
She was shocked that there were two Beatrices in the first place.
At first, she assumed that 'mother' was involved in this before seeing Subaru's expression right this second, making her aware now that this is the real deal, the real Natsuki Subaru.
'You are better than the other one.' She thought this as she compared her interactions with this Natsuki Subaru and the otherNatsuki Subaru she had spoken here and there.
This one shows his true emotions while the other is faking his, making it easy now for her to follow Subaru's commands.
As they were heading towards the first floor, he noticed right away that his counterpart was making his way towards the stairs with Reinhard of all people by his side.
'Shit!'
As this thought popped up in his head, he saw that the Sword Saint was holding an unconscious Otto on one of his arms.
'Damn it Otto! You weren't supposed to get caught!'
"Meili, we need to go back. Now!"
Meili looked down for a moment to see why he's saying to go back up. She nodded at him before the two started going back up.
As they were about to reach the second floor, the Beatrice of this world spotted this world's Natsuki Subaru. This caused her to start freaking out.
"Two! TWO?!"
She could barely handle dealing with one Natsuki Subaru, the thought of two of them was enough to make her lose her marbles.
As she freaked out and was throwing a tantrum towards the one carrying her and her counterpart, he and Meili reached the second floor with nearly half of the hallway covered in ice.
"What...Where are they?"
"Who knows? Can we leave now?"
"...we sure can..."
There was something he shouldn't have forgotten, someone that also needs to be taken out of the mansion...
'...Rem.'
"We need to go to a specific room...on the other side of that hallway..."
"That's suicidal!"
"Do you want to get out of here or do you want to deal with my evil counterpart?"
Meili didn't respond and just nodded away since she did see the other Natsuki Subaru as Reinhard van Astrea by his side.
As Subaru took the lead on walking towards Rem's room with Meili behind him. Reaching the halfway point, he turned towards his back side to see that his counterpart and the sword saint were there.
'Shit!'
"Here, grab on."
Subaru kneeled in order to allow Meili to grab onto his neck.
"Are you sure? What about—?"
"I'll be fine." He said as he was holding the pain.
Meili understood that they didn't have time, prompting her to grab onto the boy's neck and hold on tight.
Although this pain was excruciating, he knew that this was the best chance to get them out.
Natsuki Subaru spotted this and all he could see was the leftover of Emilia's rampage, his counterpart injured and bleeding, Meili freed from her room, and his counterpart holding two Beatrices.
One is looking at him with a stern expression while the other is just punching and scratching his counterpart.
"You know, that is still surreal. Two Beatrices in the same place."
'Regardless, we have him cornered.'
He said to Echidna with a confident tone, knowing full well where his counterpart's going.
"Shall I end this?"
"No. Let's follow, slowly."
As he said this, he and his knight followed behind his counterpart. While they did this, Meili started to complain.
"It's sooo cold!"
"..."
Subaru remained silent as he will-powered his way through the pain of the wound he received from Emilia and the intense cold they were in.
Eventually they reached Rem's room, with him kicking the door though doing this had caused him to cough off blood.
"Subaru!"
"It's fine...! It's fine..."
"It's not! Let me down, now!"
He turned towards the worried little spirit, knowing that she's at her limit. Before he could even set her down, he fell onto his knees as his body had suddenly gone numb.
Both Beatrices took this opportunity to get off of Subaru while Meili let go of his neck to be back on her feet.
Once this happened, Beatrice checked on the wound her contractor had. It was deep though it didn't hit any vital organs.
However, this injury he had received was still fatal if not treated soon or properly. Unfortunately for her, she has no mana to do something...though there's someone that could help. She turns towards her counterpart to plead:
"Help Subaru! Please!"
"..."
The Beatrice of this world looked at her counterpart, a jealous aura emitting from her.
"No."
"No? Why not?!"
"..."
She turned around, not wanting to speak with her counterpart at all before once again laying down onto the cold ground.
"What are you doing, I suppose?"
"..."
"Answer Betty, other Betty!"
This world's Beatrice didn't say a word, if anything she made an active effort to ignore her counterpart.
"Betty's asking a question!"
"Leave me alone..."
"What?!"
"I said leave me alone!"
"No!"
Beatrice approached her counterpart before pulling her hair, attempting to drag her towards her contractor. This didn't work, if anything it just caused this world's Beatrice to lose her mind and start physically attacking her counterpart.
The Beatrice from another world didn't hesitate to attack herself, hating this version of herself. As the two were physically attacking each other, the two would eventually feel their ears being pulled.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!"
Both shouted in pain as they saw that the one doing this was Subaru, who was barely able to move.
"Enough you two...no fighting..."
As he said this, he heard the door open behind him.
'...damn it. Of all the...'
He paused his thoughts as he turned around to see his counterpart staring right at him with Reinhard right behind him.
"Seems like we are right on time."
"...damn you."
The two Beatrices turned towards the Natsuki Subaru of this world, feeling overwhelmed due to Reinhard's presence.
The Beatrice from another world was able to keep her cool however the other was not able to. She pointed her hand towards Natsuki Subaru.
"Die!"
She casted a powerful El Minya directly towards Natsuki Subaru, wanting to kill him. He wasn't phased as the second the attack was going to connect, Reinhard managed to protect him.
"Pardon me Beatrice-sama but I cannot allow you to harm Subaru-sama."
Beatrice only had full rage in her, prompting her to be reckless and just waste up mana. She fired even more El Minyas towards the Sword Saint, hoping that one will eventually hit her target.
This was extremely foolish on her part since all she's doing is running out of mana without a care in the world. Subaru saw this as an opportunity, allowing him to look outside to see if there's a chance of escape.
As he was checking for a way out, he realized that there's not enough time to get everyone out.
'Even if we can all escape, there's Reinhard. If I try to escape, my asshole counterpart will have both Beakos, Meili, and Otto. There's also the issue of my injury. I won't be able to escape. Sending Beako alone wouldn't work since she won't leave me behind. That only leaves Meili...'
Any choice he makes he won't win, meaning he's lost at this point.
'I can't win no matter what I do...but I know Meili was forced to be here by that bastard.'
He sighed as he didn't have much time to think about the matter. He turned towards the other Beatrice, seeing that she only has one big attack left.
"Meili, follow me, quick."
"Okay."
She followed eagerly as the two went towards the window. His contracted spirit was curious on what he was up to, prompting her to follow. Once on the window, he took off Rem's sheet before telling the mabeast user,
"Hang on to these, tight."
"Okay...?"
As she did this, Subaru managed to break the window with his elbow before preparing to get her out.
Meili realized what was about to happen and knew that she was going to be the only one to escape.
"Are you sure about this?"
"...yes. Just, tell Elsa to get the hell out of here."
As he said this, he set Meili on the window to allow her to start her escape, with her holding onto the sheets and moving her way towards the ground while Subaru held the sheets tightly.
Despite the low strength he had in him, he was giving his all to make sure that if anybody was escaping, it'll be Meili.
Once the little mabeast user had touched the grass, Subaru let go of the sheets while signaling to her to make a run for it.
She nodded and was prepared to escape within the forest...though she hesitated for a brief moment since she was worried for his sake.
She turned around and looked at the window she just got out of, uncertain if he and his Beatrice were even going to make it out alive.
She looked for a few seconds before making a run for it, not wanting to waste the opportunity she was given.
While she did this, Subaru turned to see Reinhard approach Beatrice before knocking her out.
The Beatrice of another world wanted to help her counterpart even if they were physically fighting moments ago.
Before she could do something, she noticed her contractor collapse to the ground.
"Subaru!"
"...I'm...fi...ne..."
"You are not! Stop acting all tough when you are hurt, in fact!"
"..."
Subaru looked at Beatrice while trying to keep himself from coughing blood. He didn't want to give her another reason to cry, seeing that tears were forming in her eyes.
'I don't want to let this asshole win...but I guess for once, I have lost.'
He turned towards his counterpart, seeing that he was walking right towards his direction with Reinhard not only carrying Otto but now also carrying this world's Beatrice.
Once Natsuki Subaru was a few feet away from his counterpart, he gave him a blank expression before telling him:
"Game over, Natsuki Subaru. I won."