AN: Here we go again! Ladies and Gents, here's the next chapter, and let's just say I listened to a ton of Soul'd Out while writing this one.
This chapter gets it's name from the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure DIU opening "Chase" by batta. It works. Huhuhaha! Now ENJOY!
Arc Three: The Bloodstained Roses War
Chapter 11: Chase
Two blades clashed, as several guards stood back watching the sparks shoot out in front of them, too afraid to get involved, too enthralled to intervene.
Sarah's short blonde hair swayed, as she gritted her teeth for what came next. Focusing with all her might, she used her retractable forearm blades connected to her forearm armor to trade slashes against her foe.
"Little girl, you really are in over your head."
"Incorrect, even if I face a man of your reputaur, I do not see myself falling so easily!"
She was close enough to see the pale face of her current enemy, Mathrafal.
His pale countenance, covered in small cuts and dryness, his sharp fang like teeth smiled sinisterly at her. Her own struggling expression reflected in his yellow spiral eyes.
One would surely be disturbed by his very being, let alone so close to themselves.
Not Sarah.
He leapt back and spinned his twin bladed sword cutting curves at the air, sending a slash of fire barrelling at Sarah. She kicked off the ground and dodged it; and with dazzling speed, she kicked the air several times to launch herself, before ending up behind him.
He spun the sword in his hand and blocked a curving slices from Sarah's blades, he then swooped down and jabbed at her, quick to notice this, she once again kicked the air...but noticed too late that the blade was glowing orange...releasing flames.
Mathrafal chuckled as he jumped and spun himself in the air and released a jarring slice of fire at her. Sarah got on the grassy floor and somersaulted away….but the force of the attack put her off balance and Mathrafal took advantage.
"Here girlie."
He stabbed her through her side, right before biting into her shoulder.
"GYAGHHHHH!"
"MMF!"
He then pushed his sword deeper into her...just as Sarah glared down at him with absolute fury. She took in a deep gurgle as she swiftly kicked him on his side. This made Mathrafal open his mouth wide as she freed herself from his sword and drop kicked Mathrafal, giving her space away from him. Using the momentum, she balanced herself on one hand and used both legs to kick the air, the force made her twirl towards Mathrafal. He simply growled at her spun his sword in circles rapidly.
With that, he charged straight at her and their swords clashed, sending a sharp wave of air around them, even going as far as to make a few nearby spectators pass out.
Mathrafal spun his sword again and again in his attacks, while Sarah used her blades and enchanting self-taught style of fighting, to block the attacks.
It was like a dance. A duet.
Yet there was no enjoyment on their faces, not even for Mathrafal; this was a struggle.
Then, Mathrafal had his two bladed sword, which he affectionately named Irkalla, stop the spinning. Stabbing it into the ground, the ground began to crack, light shining through it...and Sarah knew what was happening. She jumped back, but cracks formed under her, and even behind her, the light permeating through it. Her irises shrunk seeing this.
"...!"
"Was saving this for my next encounter with Lust, but I can have fun and use it on you."
The ground erupted into a huge explosion, sending rocks and pieces of the earth itself to fly around, windows of the estate shattered and many guards flew far away from the attack.
From the smoke Mathrafal strutted forward, licking his fangs.
"Sorry about that, but you were part of the contract you know? Money is money, and Priscilla-sama is also an important ally to the Vollachia Empire."
No noise came from the smoldering crater.
"Nothing huh? Well, this proves this attack works wonders."
He then felt his face up and down, before he removed his hood and showed, to the now collected guards…
"Now, when I find Lust, I'll get my payback for what she did."
His long sharp ears and white mohawk like hair, which traveled down beautifully...made it all too clear.
"He's an elf."
"An elf?"
Some guards whispered this to themselves as most of them had never seen a living elf before.
He rubbed the top of his head, right before putting his hood back on. Just as something shot out of the crater and sliced at his chest. He retaliated with consecutive slashes with his sword.
Though blood did spray out, this person landed a kick on his face and jumped back.
With his nose bloody, Mathrafal glared forward at the severely injured and blood covered Sarah Remendis. Even her cute face was a mess with blood masking most of it, and her left side suffering from a black eye.
"Yes, forgive me for asking, but you are an elf, correct?"
"...Sure am, from a tribe of the Vollachian forests."
"I also heard you mention Lust. Yes, that would mean, the Witch's Cult, correct?"
"Right on the gold there. My face isn't like this because of age you know?...That bitch, she did this to me."
His paleness and rough face, with some cracks of aged life, was explained just like that, this man had an encounter with the Sin Archbishop of Lust, and somehow survived. Though his body was changed forever as a consequence. No one ever came out unscathed from such an unlikely meeting.
"I'm not asking you to go easy on me for having a rough past or anything, you know?"
"Yes, agreed, you are still an enemy of my allegianced camp."
She put on a beautiful pose even with blood dripping off her body, showing her determination in facing the combatant in front of her.
So with that, Mathrafal used both hands to hold his Irkalla.
They stared at each other, analyzing when exactly there moment was going to happen. Some of the guards standing there were just trembling from the overwhelming pressure these two opponents were exhibiting. Even the grass underneath their feet stood firm...then a small ladybug landed a blade of grass.
And the two rushed at each other.
Retracting her blades from her forearm armors, she spun and tried to land strikes at his neck, he ducked and aimed to impale her, but she simply kicked the air and began spinning behind him. He stomped on the ground, and skidded on the grassy floor, thrusting himself as he blocked several powerful slices from Sarah. Then, he quickly spun his blade, slicing her three times across the shoulder and chest. Though she hurled out blood, she focused again and with mind-numbing speed, she sliced upward...cutting Mathral's cheek open. He sneered at her and punched her in the face, the crackling sound heard, proved her nose broke from the hit.
So she returned the favor backflipping and using her feet to hit him in the jaw, making him bit open his lips. Of course as she landed, Mathrafal fired another flame shot at her, making her spin dodge it, only for Mathrafal to jump at her, she tried to sweep kick him, but he hopped up, making her do so as well. They traded strikes in the air before Mathrafal made his back sword blade glow red, noticing this too late, Sarah was hit when he swung his sword and the resulting explosion burned her sides and sent her flying down. She struggled a bit, but spun out of there before she could be impaled by Mathrafal. Once she got up, she roundhouse kicked him, but he blocked with his blade hilt, before masterfully using her own momentum, to make her lose balance in the air...using her chance she kicked the air...only for Mathrafal to focus on her foot.
And once the air left her foot...she felt it was gone.
"...Oh…"
Her left foot was cut off.
Once landing, she then rapidly spun with all her might, but just lost her equilibrium from the loss of her foot, so she was unable to dodge another slice at her stomach, and then...she was quickly impaled through her abdomen.
"ACK!"
"It's alright girlie, don't be upset now. You were good, but not good enough, alright."
He grinned at her, as he forced the blade further into her...she gagged and grunted as the pain overwhelmed her mind. Just as fast, Mathrafal kicked her off the blade, she fell, clutching her stomach, hoping to stop the extreme blood loss. And with her pained eyes she looked up as Mathrafal simply stood over her and aimed his blade down at her. So easy, all he needed to do was use minimal force, and the sword was stab through her head.
He smiled.
She panicked.
The blade shined as it was moments away from ending this fight…
Slamming his warhammer down, the large gladiator shot out a massive shockwave at Genau, who hopped away and flew forward. He hissed and howled at the opponent as drool escaped his mouth. Chiron's body flexed and his arm's veins enlarged as he swung the warhammer, blocking Genau's claw constructs. However, Genau glided across the floor and right at the back of Chiron...who used one free arm to aim his palm out.
"FULA!"
"TCH!"
Genau twisted his body in the air, just to dodge it; using the chance, he broke free of the constructs and slammed his warhammer at Genau who flew away and straight into the side of the estate. Chiron hopped in the air and swung around a fishing net, with orbs of steel wrapped with it. He lobbed it, catching Genau, right before he swung down his warhammer.
"GRAGGHHHH!"
The impact of the hammer sent out a huge cutting wave that cut the entire section of the mansion apart, glass and debris scattered everywhere.
The sound of the attack echoed throughout the capital, and now...people noticed the rising cloud of debris, with some people now screaming and panicking.
Chiron rested his warhammer on his shoulder, using his other free hand to retrieve a pure steel boomerang.
Walking through the debris was Genau, covered in a red aura, who spat out a bit of blood onto some rubble, never looking away from Chiron.
"Hey now, not too many people can make it out of that...you're alright."
"I will take that asssss a compliment. Ssssso, you know this meansssss you will NOT sssssurvive right?"
"Hey now, making a promise or what? You shouldn't keep them if you ain't going to fulfill em'."
Chiron readied his warhammer.
Genau...chuckled.
"Amussssing. You are amussssing, Chiron Monaton. I will remember you."
"Right back at you, Genau the Wolgarm."
AT THAT VERY MOMENT, GENAU AND CHIRON CHARGED AT EACHOTHER...their eyes shining red.
Genau created spider appendages constructs trying to stab at Chiron, but also tilted his head and dodged the boomerang lopped at him. Chiron used his warhammer to block all the attempts to impale him, Genau growled...but still kept his smile.
Genau hurled out his blood, making Chiron hop on one foot to doged to the side and swing his warhammer shooting out a shockwave. Genau used more of his puked out blood to actually break through the shockwave, saving himself...but got hit in the back of the head with the boomerang, distracting him. Chiron used this moment to hit Genau in the face with the pole end of the hammer before actually punching him away. Genau skidded on the ground before jumping back up and launching javelin constructs. Chiron rolled on the ground to avoid them and rapidly, but forcefully, tapped his his warhammer every time he rolled, shooting out blasts of wind at Genau. He quickly noticed this and zipped around each of them, allowing the grass and ground behind him to form craters.
Genau created his his giant ram horn constructs.
Chiron stood up, using both hands to get his warhammer ready.
"GROOOOAR!"
"URYAHHHHH!"
The two weapons hit, collapsing the ground beneath them and letting out a burst of power, making trees uproot and guards to go flying. A good distance away, a huge explosion was seen, Genau took a moment to look at it, making him soon get hit by the warhammer, then again and again.
Chiron let out a harsh breath as he focused his fist and punched Genau in the snout, making blood shoot out of his mouth. Chiron then used so much strength, the veins in his arms looked as though they would pop. And so, he swung the weapon and slammed it down atop of Genau.
A huge crater was created where Genau was standing.
Chiron breathed heavily, clearly winded from using such a powerful attack.
Then his shoulder was shot, creating a hole through it.
"GUAHHH!"
Genau jumped out of the crater and tackled Chiron away. Chiron backflipped several times, before landing on his feet, carrying his warhammer, one handed.
Genau strolled forward...and smiled.
"You are amussssing, Chiron."
"Man, you are tough! Hey now, I guess you Red Lanterns are no joke then."
"Exactly."
Genau then opened his mouth wide and allowed blood to fall out of his mouth.
"A reward isssss in order for allowing me to experience true combat! So you will be the firsssst tessssst."
"Hey now, for what exactly?"
"...This."
Genau bit down and at each side of his mouth, curved blade constructs were created; long, almost half his body length, within the edge of said blades, were even tinier blades, almost invisible to the naked eye.
Genau growled, as he raspingly muttered.
"Revenga Art 1: OVERKILL!"
Chiron nodded as he readied his warhammer again...only to see Genau dash forward, sending rock and dust to fly up behind him. Chiron's eyes, silver in color sharpened as he swung his hammer, making wind blast behind him, making grass shoot up into the air-
-AND HE WAS SLICED IN HALF, SO WAS HIS WARHAMMER.
Chiron watched as his arms were sliced in half, he was falling forward, but he was watching as his legs were falling backwards. His back hit the ground as he spat out blood in his helmet.
Genau walked over to him, peering down at his defeated opponent. Chiron looked up and heard it, a drilling sound. Gazing at the weapon still in Genau's mouth, he could finally see that the small blades on the edges of these curved blades were moving.
"So that's it….ukkkk, huh?"
"Yessss, my brother and leader once made a weapon I wassss interessssted in, he called it a chainsssssaw. So I decided to create my own verssssion of it."
"Heh, hakkk, ugh, hey now...that sure got me."
Chiron then began to breath out in rapid intervals, until finally….he moved no longer.
Genau dissipated the constructs and moved in to begin sucking out his blood. Once he finished, he tested it out and created the warhammer construct, similar to Chiron's very own.
"Thank you, Chiron-sssssan. I appreciate what your death hassssss done for me."
Genau bowed his head a bit and then licked his lips. Until he glanced over, and saw Mathrafal about to to impale his blade onto a clearly beaten Sarah.
"SSSSSSISTER SSSSSARAH!"
Mathrafal turned himself and used his sword to block Genau's warhammer construct, but noticed too late that Genau also tossed a boomerang construct, which stabbed into his shoulder. Nevertheless, Mathrafal traded strikes and their weapons clashed numerous times, as the two were the last of their respective camps most capable fighters in that area.
Genau swung his tail, covering it in spike constructs, Mathrafal ducked under it and jabbed up his red glowing blade upwards, resulting in a massive explosion. From the smoke, Mathrafal panted and heaved, bringing his blade back...only to have his foot shot off by a red beam.
"GUAHHH!"
"GROOOAR!"
Genau blasted through the smoke, his body lit by a red aura, jaws open wide for the feast.
He landed down and slashed at the air, the resulting claw marks in the air became constructs and flew forward at Mathrafal. The swordsman spinned his blade effortlessly clashing with the strike. He charged past the attack, not watching as it dissipated, but in time to watch Genau create antler constructs atop his head. He flew forward and Mathrafal spun to avoid them, making Genau stare down at his opponents free foot, left uninjured.
He then dissipated his antlers, and created praying mantis arm constructs and with crippling speed sliced off his other foot, much like scissors.
Mathrafal coughed blood, but stabbed his sword onto the ground and kept himself balanced holding onto his truste blade.
"FUCK!"
"I'm ssssssuprised you lasted the way you did, sssssems Sssssister Sssssarah did a number on you."
"Hahhhh. Whatever you say you mutt."
"...POOR CHOICE OF WORDSSSS."
Genau roared out hideously, sending shivers down all their spines. Genau howled as he charged at Mathrafal, who used his upper body strength to carve the blade towards him, still holding onto the sword for dear life. Carving it towards Genau, the Red Lantern barely dodged and was gliding underneath him, when Genau's eyes shined even redder than before.
Mathrafal looked down and noticed the usual spikes one would find on a Wolgarm...ominously noticing a red glow to them.
"Oh-"
Elongated spike constructs shot out of them, stabbing Matharafl all over his body, practically covering him in shallow holes. Mathrafal felt himself losing his composure as the pain was unbearable.
Dissipating these constructs he then made a spike ball construct at the end of his tail, much like an ankylosaurus, and with all the ferocity within him for Sarah getting hurt, he slammed it atop Mathrafal. A gross snapping sound could be heard mixed in with the sounds of the ground breaking apart and Mathrafal's pained gasp for air.
The man's spine was snapped apart.
Mathrafal tried to crawl out of the crater.
"N-No...C-can't die...not like this...not, uhk, until I get-get, my revenge...on Lust!"
"..."
"Fuck. Ughk! Noooo...I can't…"
The night flashed in his mind, in which his forest village was attacked by the Witch's Cult. The tree houses on fire, the buildings crushed and the countless dead all around him...and that woman, whose face kept changing, laughing down at him, as his own parent burned to death behind him. All this for a flower that they protecte.d which was said to be able to cure any illness, almost as well as the blood of the Dragon itself...Lust, burned it.
Her mocking laughter echoed in his mind and how she grabbed his face and used her Authority to greatly age him.
All his life, to avenge that night.
His family.
His home.
But-
"I don't want to die, not till-"
Genau barfed out a heavy stream of his napalm blood, shooting it at the back of Mathrafal's head, obliterating it.
Only the top of his head and most of his hood was left behind, but all in all, he was absolutely dead.
"Then you ssssshould have not made me angry, Mathrafal."
He went to work chomping on the corpse, getting as much blood into his mouth as possible.
The guards watching were stunned into utter silence, some of them actually began to slowly back away, while a younger one with hardly any experience, simply made a run for it, dropping his spear and sword. They all lost the will to fight seeing two of their strongest warriors defeated by a single enemy.
They knew that if they attempted to attack him, Genau would effortlessly kill them all.
But two guards looked over and saw Sarah still laying there in the grass, still plenty injured by the battle, so they made a choice. At the very least, they could kill the girl without drawing Genau's attention and hopefully run away while he was distracted by her corpses discovery. It truly was a long shot.
So the two made a turn to head there...only to see Genau already there, tilting his head ominously at them, wagging his tail.
"What are you doing?"
"...!"
These men terrified beyond words.
All the while the other guards there, were not only scared, but pissed off at these two for doing something so stupid.
"I assssked you a quesssstion."
"...N-Not-"
"-BE QUIET."
He swallowed his breath and watched as Genau drooled at them, his eyes sharpening and brows furrowing to a frightening point.
"I sssssee, I comprehend, right?"
"...?!"
"...Goodbye."
Genau jumped at them and hurled out a humongous stream of his blood out at all of them, spraying it side to side, just to make sure it missed no one. While most were incinerated, some simply caught on fire and screamed out in utter pain. One guard tried removing his helmet, but when did his skin came off with it, revealing brown charing flesh, he cried out in pain.
"BURN! BURN! BURN! BURN! DIE! DIE! DIE!"
Genau turned away from the inferno behind him, putting u a paw as if to be victorious pose, leaving those caught within it, to flail about as their flesh melted away into nothing.
Genau quickly made it to Sarah, who looked up at him.
"Yes, I'm sorry I...couldn't do more."
"You did more than enough, pleasssse no more talking, ssssave your sssstrength!"
Sarah reached out and Genau allowed her to lean on his shoulder.
"We're getting out of here, hang on!"
"Yes, alright then. Let's get going."
"...You did really good Sssssister Ssssarah."
Genau looked away for a second, his cheeks turning somewhat pink.
Sarah giggled seeing this, putting on a tired but heart skipping smile. Genau turned his head, somewhat grinning at her.
"Yes, that's ac-"
A BRIGHT BEAM SHOT THROUGH HER HEAD.
The attack hit Genau as well, but his aura made him only get knocked back by the beam. He rolled back up and looked over at her…
"Ssssister?"
She laid there, half her head was gone, showing strewn about brain matter and a opened up broken skull, steam escaping it.
"No...S-"
Genau roared out as his red eyes widened.
"SSSSSSARAH!"
Up ahead guarded by newly arriving reinforcements, was the perpetrator. A woman Genau had disliked initially, but now felt unrelenting hatred and rage towards. A person, who killed a fellow pack member. Who started this war…her.
"PRISSSSSCILLA!"
"Do not call out my name so easily you wretched animal!"
She swung her fan, launching another beam at him, he put up a dome construct around himself and the beam separated upon impact, breaking apart trees and nearby buildings, even some parked carriages across the street. Luckily, most of the civilians ran out of that part of the city, fearing getting caught in the crossfire.
From behind her and Al, a beautiful man with sky blue hair, wearing a dark green outfit fired a magical arrow from his silver bow, it broke apart and fired several more colorful shots at him. Genau looked over at Sarah's body and then behind himself...so he decided to raise his paw.
"Damn it! I hate doing this, it makessss me sssso tired!"
Seeing the blasts nearing him, he flew forward and once next to Sarah's corpse he saw the shots feet away from him.
Finally, he slammed his paw down, blood floating out of his mouth as he roared out in frustration.
"DONA!"
A huge earth wall sprung in front of him, the blasts hit, sending a giant cloud of debris and dust everywhere. Everyone covered their faces, before Priscilla became annoyed, and then enraged. So she swung her fan and blasted away the dust...only to see Genau and Sarah were gone.
"THEY'VE FLED!"
Al pointed out to the others.
"Split up! Find them, keep your eyes on the sky, the bastards probably flew away!"
"Yes sir!"
Making their moves they all split up and made their attempts to track down the intruders, others tried to douse the flames they left behind. A couple others were retrieving all the corpses littering the estate.
Priscilla stood there watching all this happen, impatiently.
"Priscilla-sama?"
"Yangtze, you've arrived in time."
The blue haired archer awaited his orders.
"Stand by, just in case they try to come back, but also...assemble the other two you brought with you."
"I understand, please excuse me."
He made his way to gather the ones Priscilla asked for, all the while, clenching her fist, the other hand fanned herself.
"Princess…"
"Al, have all our hired men meet with us at the main estate, we can't stay here any longer."
"...Got it."
Al nodded, watching as Priscilla was not just enraged, but at a point of seething anger, that she looked as if she would lash out at anything.
"You lit the spark Natsuki Subaru."
The sky began turning orange and purple, as the sun began to set…
"Prepare to be annihilated."
Countless guards and attendants began their search throughout the city and kept their eyes to the sky, in search of the two that escaped the Estate.
Even then, no one could find them...some guards followed the alleyways, only to find the busy streets of the capital, packed to the brim with dragon carriages. They turned the corner to search more…
Within that caravan of carriages, was one slightly damaged...and with it, a seemingly sleepy woman at the wheel...it was Sarah mostly hidden by a tarp. Next to her, hidden in a large tarp as well, was Genau. He was using hand constructs to drive the carriage, using the skill he had earlier gained to use.
"We're almosssst there, Sarah."
The silence within the carriage, made Genau glance over at her lifeless eyes and then moved a but, revealing the documents she retrieved in his care. Keeping his eye fixed on her, he noticed her hand...so slender, yet covered in dry blood and sut. He licked it and nuzzled it quietly...seeing for just a second a memory of her snacking on a piece of cake, happily.
"You're death will not be in vain."
The carriage would later make it to the gate, where they would abandon it, only being found two hours later by royal guards.
They had escaped.
The documents were stolen. Forty four enemy combatants were killed.
Their mission, in hindsight, was a success.
In the forests outside the territory of the Roswaal Mansion…
Tivey fixed his monocle as he was meeting with several of his men and Conwood. They all tried to decide on what should be done about the girl they had found.
"She might be a spy for the Emilia Camp, Tivey-dono."
"Our information gathering never said anything about little girls being in their employment, except for one in a red dress with blonde hair."
"She could've dyed it."
"Possible, but it seems she is barely even speaking, as if she has no comprehension of such a thing."
"Then a real runaway?"
"I'm just not sure. Let's keep a close eye on her just-"
As he was about to speak, a wolf demi-human ran out at them, in a shocked hurry.
"Captain! We got trouble!"
"What is it?!"
"The kid! She's gone!"
"I told you to keep an eye on her!"
"We did, but this blue jewel necklace she had on began to glow and she just, poof! Vanished!"
"...Take me there now!"
Doing as told he took them all to the carriage where they were keeping the girl, showing it was indeed empty.
"Maybe she was a spy! Here to get information on our whereabouts-"
"-Tivey-dono! Look, was that sack at the corner always there?"
Conwood pointed and sure enough there was a sack, right at the corner of the interior.
"Check it out!"
Tivey ordered a nearby mercenary and the young cat demihuman went inside and inspected it carefully. Once he opened it, he found out it was-
"EVERYONE! GET OUT OF HERE NOW-"
The sack was filled with blue magic stones.
They began to glow.
Everyone leapt back-
The thunderous explosion of energy destroyed the carriage and sent a shockwave that caused pieces of earth and wood flying out, actually striking several of them and killing at least two of them.
Tivey shook his head, seeing he was yards away from the blast, with a spared carriage next to him. The men inside riused out an helped him up.
"What th' heck was that!?"
"Magic stones...this was a trap."
Just as he said this, looking ahead, where everyone else was a blue mist like effect was happening. As if it was clear blue dust being blown at them…
"Captain! What do we do?!"
"...R-Retreat…"
"Wha-"
"-YOU HEARD ME RIGHT?! WE HAVE TO LEAVE AS OF THIS MOMENT!"
"O-Okay!"
He grabbed Tivey and they all got in the carriage, the only one to be outside of the effect going on ahead of them. They whipped the reins as they made a dash for it away from the sudden surprise attack, leaving everyone else behind.
Once that happened, the men left behind were in an illusion; trapped in a copy of the forest, but covered in blue mist and with no end in sight…
Rem and Ram arrived, with the pink haired maid holding the blue flower that helped with this illusion. As she flicked it away she cracked the bones in her neck and fixed the white robe she was in…
"FULA."
She sliced at the air and the wind magic cut through several of their heads.
"Is this alright Nee-sama?"
Rem held her chest, somehow feeling conflicted about what they were doing. Her white robe having blue lines instead of her sister's pink...her sister nodded.
"They would easily do the same to us, that is something we should both be aware of."
Rem sighed as she took out her Morningstar and swerved it into the air, smashing apart more of the defenseless adversaries. Ram then took out her trusty wand and twirled it, before swinging it several times, cutting apart more of these trapped men with her wind attacks.
"Huma!"
Rem fired several ice spears, killing a few more, before hopping over and punching apart another man's head.
Then she leaped over and saw an older man, she didn't this was Conwood, that in some way, he could've been their potential ally, had things gone differently. All he wanted was to help avenge old friends, to have his life feel complete and have his duty fulfilled.
Now, his head came clean off with a strike from Rem's favored weapon.
The two sisters continued what had become a utterly simple mop up operation, killing off the assembled men, which numbered thirty seven.
"Is it alright we let that other carriage get away from here?"
"Barusu said that they needed one to get away, to spread news of this attack, merely as a warning."
"To Priscilla-sama?"
"Correct. Though this will make her change tactics a bit, either by going all out with an invasion, forgoing it, assassins...or well, even trying to work things behind the scenes in financial sabotage. Either way, she will take us more seriously."
Rem looked down at some of the dead men, including a sloth demihuman, who was dismembered.
Noticing their white and yellow outfits.
"Nee-sama, aren't these? Karagarian silk?"
"...Why yes they are."
"Do you think this means the other candidates are financing our enemy like Roswaal-sama and Subaru-kun explained?"
"Their hunch was indeed right. But with this, didn't Roswaal-sama also say that they could potentially lessen their aid to the enemy?"
"You're right as always, Nee-sama."
With the killing done, they noticed the sun had begun to set, and up above, a red streak of light flew over them.
"That was-!"
"-Genau and Sarah-sama must've come back. Let's head back Rem."
"Okay, let's gather what we can…"
After pilfering anything they could use they dumped their bodies into the forests deeper into the woods, where they buried them in a several holes in the ground.
They could at least do that for the enemy.
Rem and Ram had finally arrived at the mansion, seeing Genau sitting there, next to a tarp covering something, next to him. A breeze blew by...showing them for a moment, exactly what was inside.
Both of their eyes shrank seeing this.
"No…"
"S-Sarah-sama…"
Rem fell to her knees, droplets of tears falling from the corner of her eyes, while Ram stepped closer and kneeled down next to the covered up corpse.
"Did she, at least-"
"-Sssssarah wasssss able to get usssss the documentssss."
"Th-That's good."
She had her hand gently pet the top of the tarp, while looking exhausted from it all.
Even in the few days that they knew her, everyone in that mansion felt quite connected to the calm but smiling woman. Having it end like this, was the purest example of infuriating. They had grown to like her...now she was gone.
"Barusu will be upset by this."
"I know."
"Emilia-sama will be heartbroken."
"...I know already."
Genau walked away before laying on the ground, gazing up at the sky, awaiting Subaru to return from whatever it was he had going on.
Yet…
"How do you think I feel?"
For the first time in Genau's life...he felt the sense of loss.
And the anger, that accompanied it.
Subaru landed by, with Beatrice in tow, seeing everyone there, they both floated over.
"Hey, what's happening-"
Both now saw the tarp, but it was Beatrice who walked over cautiously. She took a deep breath and folded the top part of it open, seeing exactly what she silently dreaded.
"It's Sarah, I suppose."
"...Oh no."
Subaru rushed over and squatted down to touch her face.
"Oh shit...Oh nooooo."
Subaru shut his eyes, before opening them again in an absolute fury.
"Genau! What happened?!"
"...We got caught. That whore Prisssscilla sssssent ssssome of her warriorssss to stop usssss."
"And?!"
"We killed most of them, but Ssssarah was hurt. Ssssshe couldn't dodge it...that whore sssshot her."
"...Was her knight there?"
"Yeah, couldn't kill her because of that."
"Damn it...You tried."
He kneeled over to him, and began to pet his head.
"Subaru? What is- Oh no…"
Emilia had come out, seeing them from her window...but now she regretted it, seeing the tarp with Sarah underneath it.
"No. NO! Sarah! What happened!? Subaru, what happened?!"
"Priscilla killed her, I wish I was there to do something...but I'm afraid there's nothing we can do about this horrible outcome."
"No, but she…"
Emilia began to cry right there, making Rem look at her with sorrow and Subaru to look away out of guilt.
"She said she wanted to talk more, learn more about me...she was, starting to be another friend. A good girl, who was soooo nice to me...why did this happen?"
Subaru walked over to hug Emilia, just to stop her from falling over.
"It's okay, I know, I know, shhhhh."
Subaru hug her tightly, all the while looking over at Roswaal, who had just arrived.
"Roswaal, as you can see-"
"-Yes...I can see what has happened."
He lowered his eyes, putting on a sad expression.
"It's disheartening seeing the outcome to this."
"We won't let them get away with this, mark my words Roswaal."
"Of course."
"One...other thing."
"Hm?"
Subaru, had his breath stop for just a second, but relented and licked his lips, nervous about what he was to say next.
"We'll need to inform the family."
Slaving away at getting papers in order, the grey haired woman worked diligently even at her age.
This was Carol Remendis.
Long gone were her days of fighting and going out on missions. Now were the days of serving the Astrea House and helping to make Felt the King of Lugnica.
And in the halls of the mansion, was her husband, white haired Grim Fauzen, who also served to make things easier for these residents...and yet, everyone in that mansion felt a strange unease, but no one was close as to why.
Grimm turned his head and saw Roswaal float down to their grounds. He hurried out, just to make sure nothing bad occured.
Once outside, he met with the sorcerer.
"Hey Roswaal!"
"Hello, Grimm-san."
"What are you doing all the way out here-"
Now he too saw it.
"Crap, what happened to your arm?!"
"A loooong story to tell from that, but that is not why I am here, unfortunately."
Grimm was confused as to her melancholic expression.
"Grimm-san, the truth is-"
Carol noticed her husband was with Roswaal outside, having not seen anyone in the Mathers family in such a long time, she headed out to speak with him.
"I bet this one is just like all the others, um, egocentric."
She sighed to herself before making it outside, and getting a good look...at her husband, his race frozen in disbelief and tears streaming down his wrinkled cheeks.
"Honey?"
"...C-Carol."
He creepily turned his head, making eye contact with her.
'Carol-san."
"Roswaal...what is going on."
"...Would you like me to tell her?"
Grimm wiped away his tears as best as the man could...taking a deep breath.
He wearily walked over to his wife, lightly grabbing her shoulders.
"Hey, you're scaring me, will you both, k-knock it off."
"Listen to me, very carefully...something just happened."
"What is it?"
"It's-...-honey?"
The words did not register in her head, no, she didn't want them to.
For her, everything seemed so wrong at that moment, nothing her husband was saying made sense, and her world was titling, like she would fly off to some place unknown...in reality though…
"What did you say?"
"...Honey, It's Sarah...she's gone."
"Gone?"
"...She's dead."
Sarah began backing away, before Grimm rushed over and held, just before she could fall.
"Carol.''
"This is impossible. This is not, I mean, nooo."
"...Carol."
"We saw her a few days ago, how can this….NO."
She held her husband tightly, beginning to cry.
"I just….I didn't want her to go! I wanted her to stay here!"
"I know."
"She was going to be something great...she was...our little flower."
"...I'm sorry."
Carol cried into his chest, he continued to comfort her, but dreaded the fact he was to contact his next of kin, to inform them of the tragedy.
Roswaal, finished silently speaking into his conversing mirror.
"Then, we'll be bringing her home."
Subaru, Emilia, Genau and Roswaal were inside the estate, there to see the family of Sarah huddled around her, as her body laid atop an elegant table, waiting for her casket to arrive. Sarah's mother in particular was on the ground, crying uncontrollably. Half of the lost daughter's head was covered with the finest of tapestry, to cover her hideous wounds, out of respect.
The sounds of their weeping swept through the mansion, making servants tear up, as well as Emilia.
She put her head on Subaru's shoulder, while using both hands to hold his own. But Subaru saw Genau walk over to them…
"Excusssse me."
"...!"
The family almost screamed in horror, but watched as the Wolgarm bowed his head. Now they were simply drained of emotions today.
"I am sssssorry that your nice daughter has passssssed away."
"..."
"But resssst asssured, we...WILL AVENGE SSSSARAH."
He nodded before walk-
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT!"
Genau turned his head, while Subaru and Emilia watched on in surprise. Sarah's mother glared at the Wolgarm, still crying her eyes out.
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT! IT WON'T BRING BACK MY LITTLE FLOWER BACK TO ME! SHE SHOULD HAVE NEVER GOTTEN INVOLVED WITH YOU PEOPLE! EVEN AFTER AFTER ALL THE WARNINGS! WHY!? WHY IS SHE DEAD?! WHY DIDN'T YOU ALL TAKE CARE OF HER?! WHY?! WHY?!"
"...I tried. I really did. But SSSSSarah was a warrior to the end, and ssssshe died asssss sssssuch.
"Meaningless words."
"Her actionsss weren't."
"...A mongrel like you wouldn't know anything, about the pain of all this."
"...Probably not, but I liked her enough, that I wissssh to ssssee her avenged."
The mother glared to the floor, seemingly annoyed with his simple way of thinking.
Genau sighed as he strolled away, Subaru looked down at him as he passed by.
"Genau-"
"-I failed thisssss. Ssssso it fallssss to me, doesssn't it?"
"If you work on having that woman being paid in full, then focus on that Genau. It's all we can do."
"Right."
Right before Genau used a hand construct to open the door to the halls…
"Did you say your goodbyes?"
Genau didn't answer and he walked out of the door, closing it behind him.
"...Okay then."
It was some time later, Subaru sat on a bench in the main gardens of the Astrea Estate, gazing at Emilia sitting on the grass, letting Genau rest his head on her lap, she quietly petted him.
"Subaru."
"...Reinhard."
Reinhard Van Astrea now had arrived.
He sat next to Subaru, both not saying anything to the other for awhile.
"I liked Sarah-san you know?"
"Subaru?"
"She was a good girl, loyal and diligent. But she had her softer sides as well. Got along with the others, especially Emilia and Genau."
"...I knew her like that as well. We grew up together. We trained together, studied together. She was one of the only children who played with me, even with all my Divine Protections."
Reinhard touched his cheek.
"She planted a kiss on me right here, when ."
"..."
"The first woman outside of my family to do so."
He smiled, but it faltered.
"We were good friends, even after I became the Sword Saint. I...will miss her."
"I'm sorry you lost her Reinhard."
Reinhard then glanced over to Subaru.
"Then please, end this."
"This? Be more specific."
"This war, this very conflict that costed Sarah her life!"
"...Doing it now would make her death meaningless."
"Don't say it like that, if you do proceed, it makes it sound like this will be a never ending cycle of revenge!"
"It's more than that Reinhard, we both know that either side can't back down at this point."
"...I can't accept that."
"Regardless of what YOU want, this fight between our camps will continue, until one side is on top. I promise I'll try to contain it as best as I can."
As Subaru got up, Reinhard grabbed his arm.
"Subaru, please! Don't let this continue, I beg of you."
"...Then, go kill Priscilla."
"...YOU KNOW I CANNOT."
Subaru and Reinhard were now glaring each other.
"Well, if not, then would you kill me?"
"You're my friend, of course I wouldn't."
"Just stay out of this then. Keep Felt safe, that's all we can do for now."
Subaru freed himself from Reinhard's grasp, giving the knight a gentle smile, even with blood floating out of his lips. So he began to walk over to get Emilia and Genau, ready to leave.
"Subaru!"
"Hm?"
He turned his head, seeing Reinhard stand up off the bench, the two men just stared at one another.
"..."
"Take care, Reinhard."
Subaru opened the blood portal and led Emilia and Genau away, back to their home. As it closed...
"I am sorry Reinhard."
The portal finally shut, leaving Reinhard there, alone with his swirling thoughts. The death of his childhood friend, filling up his heart with, sad sensations.
Now they were back home, as Emilia was escorted by Rem and Ram inside their home. Roswaal floated over as well, leaving Subaru and Genau to stay put. Their patience was paid in full as Beatrice arrived.
"How was it, I suppose."
"It was upsetting."
"True, I will miss that girl, I suppose."
A long drawn out sigh later, and Beatrice looked up at her partner.
"With the information handed to us…"
Beatrice held onto the documents Sarah was able to pilfer from the estate earlier that day…
"We now have the papers to Priscilla's contracted ventures. All we need to do is locate them and strike."
"With this, she'll lose considerable financing to her side, I suppose. She will still have her territories still, but in the end, it'll be a warning."
"Yeah, she'll see we can strike from anywhere and anytime. Which will go along with the second phase."
"Of course, and the operation, I suppose?"
"Bombshell, right?"
"Yes, will that still be implemented?"
"...Actually, yes it will."
Subaru frowned, but a smile crept out, matching his vicious eyes.
"Everything will put to the test soon, until then, everyone here knows the plans right?"
"Naturally, I suppose."
"Us three, in Revenga, are the only ones that know about it, so keep it a secret from everybody else. As far as they are concerned, they merely think we're trying simply to sabotage some business ventures here and there."
"It's more than that isn't it, I suppose?"
She held his hand as Subaru nodded.
"Yup, now's the time. Sarah's death...is the spark to turn this all around.
Priscilla looked out the window, watching the sun set fully.
"Princess, the other three warriors are here."
"Have them wait, I desire to witness the sun set."
"Why?"
"Because starting tomorrow, we turn this around."
"Priscilla, just you wait-"
Subaru clenched his fist.
"Natsuki Subaru resolve yourself-"
Priscilla gritted her teeth in absolute fury.
Both of them stared up into the sky, ready for…
"-YOU ARE GOING TO DIE."
...total war.
And these opposing forces would chase after that victory, with overwhelming tenacity in their hearts and vengeance on their minds.
Blood for blood.
All tactics implemented, regardless of them being fair or not.
Until death befell one.
To chase after it, that bright rose which stands enchantingly, upon the rising mountain of corpses.
A Crimson Red Triumph.
Hidden within the Sanctuary, several drum barrels sat there, hidden in a cellar deep below the town. All of which, were glowing ominously in the darkness.
A project that was hidden by most prying eyes, would finally be put to the ultimate test...
TO BE CONTINUED...