"That's 363 yen."
The boy with spiky black hair rummaged through his wallet and paid the clerk with the proper funds. Afterwards, he left the store with a bag of his items in hand.
This boy was named Natsuki Subaru. He was just your everyday forgettable shut in. Today he had the rare opportunity to go out to get some groceries. The only things he purchased were chips and ramen.
As the boy walked out of the store he glanced around and saw weird spirals of sorts through his vision. After rubbing his eyes, his vision returned to normal.
"Guess I'm just tired from playing too many video games." Subaru assessed out loud.
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With a tired yawn, he blinked a few times. As he dozed off, he felt his face get really warm and smelt something burning. After he opened his eyes, there was a house on fire right in front of him.
"W-Whaaa?!" Subaru cried out. "I-I should call the police!" The boy quickly pulled out his phone and speed dialed the police.
"I'm sorry, the number you have dialed is no longer in service."
"Huh…?" His confusion only heightened as he finally took a better notice of his surroundings. It was night time still but the buildings around him were replaced with small cottages. The city landscape had turned into forestry, and every single one of those cottages were on fire.
Subaru stiffened after what he noticed next. All around him, the ground was littered with bloodied corpses.
Subaru panicked. He dropped his bag and ran. He was in the center of what looked like a village on fire and ran straight through what he deemed to be the safest path.
He had no idea how he got here and the sights were definitely not something to behold. As he tried to get out of here, he noticed movement from the corner of his eyes. There seemed to be a large crowd of people off in the distance near a different set of burning houses.
The boy felt relieved as he believed it was some kind of rescue squad. Perhaps they can help him in understanding what on earth is happening.
The spiky haired boy ran over to the group desperately. "Hey! Over here! I need some-" Subaru stopped as he watched in horror to the next sight. These people were in black robes and their appearance definitely screamed evil cultists. Not only that but they were all on top of corpses and they were stabbing them repeatedly as if they were hellbent on making sure they were dead.
The most terrifying part about this was when they all stopped what they were doing in unison and turned into the terrified boy's direction. "W-Whaaa!!!!" Subaru screamed in horror before instantly turning around and ran in the opposite direction, not looking back.
"What the hell is going on?! Why am I here all of a sudden?!" He yelled as he ran like his life depended on it.
It was clear that wherever Subaru was, he was no longer in the city. It looked as if he magically warped into the countryside. He didn't have the courage to inspect the corpses littered on the ground to determine any cultural connections.
Right now, his priority was to run. He ran as fast as he could, going straight to the forest. However, the frightened boy lost his balance as he tripped.
His heel felt as if it was on fire and it hurt a lot. This was perhaps the most pain he had felt in his life. He looked towards his feet and stared in horror as he found a dagger firmly planted in his heel.
After Subaru's brain finally registered the situation he was in, he howled in pain. His screams were cut short as a dagger flew through the air and plunged into his throat.
Subaru's gaze wandered aimlessly, trying to find the source of the thrown dagger. Eventually, one of those robed guys appeared in his sight and got on top of Subaru. He tried to struggle but the robed figure began to repeatedly stab him.
After several moments of excruciating torment, the boy finally met his end.
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Subaru was standing in front of a burning house.
The boy dropped to his knees and let go of his groceries. He took several deep panicked breaths.
"H-Huh…?" The panicked boy managed to speak out as he began to pat himself down. There weren't any cuts or stab wounds on himself. Was that some kind of bad dream? He wondered.
Subaru suddenly jumped back to his feet as the burning house in front of him broke apart, debris dropping from it. Whatever happened had to wait. He needs to get out of here right now.
Heeding what he assumed to be a vision's warning, he ran in the opposite direction this time. Subaru didn't have the time to question what was going on around him as he was far too afraid to feel that excruciating pain again.
Ignoring most of the traumatizing sights, the confused boy finally managed to make it into the forest. Once he made it to the forest, he looked back briefly just to make sure no one was following him. It may of been some kind of vision but the idea of murderous cultists following behind him was stained in his thoughts.
Subaru sighed in relief as it looked like the coast was cleared and ran deeper into the forest. He ran until the burning village was out of his sight to where he finally stopped to gather his thoughts.
"What's going on?" He asked himself. It was like he had magically teleported to a burning village. He also wondered what that vision was all about. Now that he thought about it, that vision felt way too realistic. The boy shivered as he recalled the pain of being stabbed repeatedly.
Just to make sure of things, Subaru pulled his phone back out and tried to call the police again. Much to his misfortune, there wasn't any signal like the last time he called.
"Ugh… What on earth do I do…?" He complained.
Subaru jumped to his feet as bushes all around him began rustling. "H-Hey! Who's there?!" He called out.
Just then, a bunch of wolves showed themselves and rushed their way to the terrified boy. These wolves were definitely different to what he knew as they had horns over their heads.
Subaru didn't have any chances to react as the pack of wolves pounced on him and began mauling him. The boy tried to struggle but he was overwhelmed as razor sharp teeth began tearing away his flesh. This pain hurted much more than getting stabbed repeatedly. He screamed and pleaded for some kind of help to swoop in and save him but it never came.
The pain finally ended when one of the wolves bit down on his neck, finally putting the poor boy out of his misery.
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Subaru was standing in front of a burning house.
"H-Huh…?" Subaru muttered out in horror. He placed his hand over his neck and felt around. It was just fine. No cuts, bites, or tears were on him. "Was that another vision…?" No, that felt way too real to be a vision. He was sure visions didn't give off this sense of dread and pain when they happened.
The confused boy flinched as the house before him broke down. However, he didn't start running as he was still way too confused. He died, didn't he? And then he was brought back to life?
He had no idea what was happening nor did he have the time to really test and figure it out. What he had to do was to first get out of this situation he was in. Since the forest had very dangerous wildlife, he surmised that his only option left was to hide.
Very quickly, he gathered much of the rubble around him and began to pile it on top of himself. He was sure that he was well hidden by the time he buried himself. Now, all he had to do was stay still and quiet until the sound of burning was gone.
He waited there for what felt like hours. There weren't any screams as he was pretty sure that whatever inhabitants used to be here were already dead. Eventually, the sounds of burning died down and what was left was a lot of foot traffic. Despite that, Subaru stayed put. He had a feeling it was those cultist looking people and the fear of getting stabbed to death again didn't sit well with him.
Luckily, his hiding seemed to be working as he wasn't caught. Eventually, he did hear something from beneath the rubble.
"You all did excellent work, for lowly meatbags that is." The person speaking sounded feminine. There weren't any responses to that as the feminine voice continued, "Stop gawking! Your job isn't done yet, you miserable maggots! This lovely lady would be very disappointed in you all if she finds any survivors."
A lot of the foot traffic seemed to vanish after that was said. Based on those words, it was apparent that the speaker was most likely the leader. As much as Subaru wanted to see who it was, he couldn't risk giving away his location so he stayed still.
Eventually, there was a thud as all the rubble above the boy felt a lot heavier suddenly. As the weight pressed down on him, the feminine voice could be heard giggling sadistically. "Nice try, meatbag."
After those chilling words, the pressure became much worse and caused Subaru to scream out in pain. It wasn't long before the pressure became so strong that the boy's body splatted beneath the rubble, killing him in an instant.
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Subaru was standing in front of a burning house.
He wrapped his arms around himself as he shuddered. Subaru couldn't see what happened but he knew all too well that he was crushed.
After collecting his bearings, he let go of his groceries and ran off. He was going to try hiding again but this time he was going to try to find movement patterns.
Whatever that was happening, the boy realized he was coming back to life or something like that. He didn't understand the specifics since everything was happening way too fast.
Subaru rushed off into a different direction and began to survey his surroundings of the area a lot more seriously. As much as it made the boy want to vomit, he took a closer look at the fresh corpses around him.
Upon closer inspection, he noticed that these weren't human. Well, not full human. They looked like people with a bunch of animal characteristics. They looked like a bunch of wolf people.
"Wait… Am I in another world?" Subaru asked himself. That would explain why those wolves had horns on their heads.
Subaru shook his head and dismissed the thought immediately. Right now, he had to focus on finding a way out of this mess. He continued to sneak around to the best of his abilities around the burning village.
As he ventured, he didn't find a single survivor. If he could best describe it, whoever was raiding this village seemed to be searching the place for survivors despite that being pretty unnecessary.
Before the boy knew it, he stopped dead in his tracks as he found the cultist looking people again stabbing corpses like maniacs. Subaru tried to tiptoe away but he stepped on some debris and it made a loud stapling sound.
Despite the loud sound of burning from the houses, it was enough to catch the cultists' attention and swiftly surrounded the poor boy. They were fast as Subaru was surrounded in a mere second.
Subaru's life flashed before his eyes as he found himself surrounded. As he dreaded the prospect of being stabbed to death again, the cultists all bowed in unison and swiftly left the boy alone. All of them getting back to what they were doing.
Subaru blinked a few times. "Eh?" Did they just leave him alone? This brought up so many questions to the clueless boy at this point. They definitely stabbed him to death the first time so what's different?
Before he got caught up in his thoughts again, Subaru approached the closest robed figure who was currently stabbing a corpse. It was unsettling trying to talk to him considering the situation but he stomached that feeling and went on, "Hey, would you tell me what's going on here?"
The cultist looking person stopped and briefly turned to Subaru. They were wearing a hood that covered their entire face so he couldn't get a solid read on them. There was a moment of silence before the robed person turned their attention back to the corpse and resumed stabbing.
Subaru shuddered at the pressure he felt from that. He wasn't brave enough to try and say anything else. Instead, he got up and headed over to a different robed figure. Eventually, the boy stopped as he heard a familiar feminine voice.
"Hey! What are you doing here?!"
Subaru quickly turned towards the direction of the voice and found a short petite girl walking over. The girl had golden hair and crimson red eyes. She was wearing very revealing clothes. Well, if you call what she was wearing clothes and not straight up underwear. She wore a purple bra and what Subaru could only describe as black bikini bottoms. The girl had tight black leggings on with a purple pattern as well as tight black sleeves. The only other noticeable feature were large veiny juggs hanging from the girl's hips.
Subaru stared at the girl in shock. Was this person really the one that killed him while he was hiding last time? Before he could ponder any further, the petite girl spoke out as she was now standing a few feet away from the confused boy. "I don't remember you… Are you Pride?"
"Pride?" Subaru asked. His eyes lightened up as he suddenly realized that this was his out. He could use this to finally get out of this mess. The black haired boy stood tall and confidently before saying, "Yes I am! I am in fact Pride!"
The golden haired shortie let out an annoyed sigh. "Great, another pain in the ass to deal with…"
Just as Subaru was about to celebrate internally, the girl continued, "Show me your gospel so we can get this over with."
"Gospel?" Subaru asked, tilting his head in confusion.
He immediately realized that he made a mistake when the girl gave him a wicked grin. "Oh?~ So you're not Pride then?~" She sounded very happy now and her tone was pretty seductive.
"N-No! I am! I just forgot to bring my gospel!"
The girl didn't seem convinced one bit as she licked her lips. "What do you hope to gain by lying to this lovely lady? Do you perhaps think I'm a fool?"
Seeing that his facade was up, Subaru slumped his shoulders in defeat. "Alright, you got me. I'm not Pride."
The little girl giggled as she took a step closer. "That's better." She then extended her hand to Subaru with a smile on her face. "Give this lovely lady your hand."
Subaru flinched at this. He was hesitant for obvious reasons but considering the position he was in, he obliged. After all, he didn't want to get brutally killed again.
That was perhaps the biggest mistake of his life.
Suddenly, the boy groaned as it felt like his whole body began to mangle and shift around on its own. After a moment, his arm looked like his skin was completely removed. Actually, his whole body was in pain.
Subaru screamed in agony as the girl suddenly pushed him onto his back. Upon contact with the ground, everything he touched gave him the most pain he had ever felt in his life.
"W-What did you do to me?" Subaru managed to say through all the pain.
The sadistic girl laughed as she stepped her foot down on his chest and of course that caused Subaru to scream in agony as every contact he made caused excruciating pain.
"This lovely lady deemed that you should be punished for lying so I removed the skin from your body." The girl cheerily explained.
Before he could get in another word, the petite girl dropped down, sitting on Subaru's stomach. He howled in pain and flailed around helplessly.
Every second of this was agony. All the pain from the other times he died doesn't even come close to what he was feeling now. It was so bad that he actually wanted to die.
The golden haired girl laughed maniacally as she dug her nails into his fleshy body. She seemed to get some kind of thrill every time the boy screeched.
Eventually, the girl got off, leaving Subaru twitching on the ground. He was in far too much pain to get up on his own as every movement he made was pure agony.
"As much as I'd love to play some more, this lovely lady is very busy. Feel grateful that you had the opportunity to get my attention for as long as you did." The girl let out one last giggle as she began to walk away.
"W-Wait…" Subaru managed to call out which caught the crazy girl's attention. "P-Please… K-Kill me…"
The girl had a big grin on her face before laughing like a lunatic. After her laughing fit, she approached the agonizing boy. "This lovely lady happens to be in a good mood so I will grant your wish."
Suddenly, her left arm shifted and contorted until it turned into an enormous black claw. It was bigger than the girl's whole body. Without a second being wasted, she slammed her fist down onto Subaru, killing him in an instant.
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Subaru was standing in front of a burning house.
"AHHHHHH!!!" Subaru screamed out as he dropped down to his knees. All the pain was gone but the memory of it all was stained to his memory. He had thought such torture was possible.
The black haired boy breathed heavily as his mind was only now realizing that he was fine now. "T-That girl is a monster…"
This was hell. He needed to find a way to get out of here.
After several long moments of recovering, he got up and ran as fast as he could.
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Subaru was standing in front of a burning house.
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Subaru was standing in front of a burning house.
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Subaru was standing in front of a burning house.
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After dying a dozen times, Subaru came up with an idea. If this works out, this living nightmare could finally end.
While carrying his groceries, he calmly walked to the place where the cultists were gathered. They were stabbing the corpses like they had been in every loop.
The scary eyed boy didn't acknowledge them at all and stood in the center of them all without uttering a word. The cultists got up and bowed to him before returning back to their thing.
Subaru learned that those cultists won't say a word to him. They only bowed to him before going back to their corpse stabbing party. The horrifying sight in itself was still unsettling to look at but he was able to stomach it.
After standing there waiting, the little monster herself finally made her appearance.
"Hey! What are you doing here?" The golden haired monster yelled out as she approached.
Subaru stood still as he mentally prepared himself for what came next.
Eventually, the girl was a few feet away before continuing, "I don't remember you… Are you Pride?"
The boy shook his head. He couldn't lie about being whoever Pride is otherwise she'll torture him. "No, I'm not." Subaru saw a smile form on the deranged girl's lips. Before he could give her a chance to speak, he continued, "I'm actually a traveling merchant and I would like to make a trade offer with you."
Normally, the girl would've killed him by now but thanks to Subaru's quick speaking, she actually stopped and looked at him with interest. "A traveling merchant you say?"
The petite girl placed both of her hands over her hips as she took a second to ponder the offer. Eventually, she grinned. "Since you have excellent taste for clients, this lovely lady will listen to what you have to say."
Before Subaru could say another word, the golden haired girl leaned in uncomfortably close. "If your offer turns out to be boring, I'll stomp on you like the insect you are."
Subaru gulped before pulling out his phone and starting his piece. "What I have here is a magical device that can freeze a moment in time." Quickly getting to the point, Subaru aimed his phone at the girl as a flash went off in her face.
This surprised her as she rubbed her red crimson eyes and began growling. "You dare trick this lovely lady, you miserable pile of meat?!"
Before the insane girl could attack, Subaru quickly turned the phone around and presented the image of the golden haired girl. The girl blinked a few times as her rage instantly vanished. She stroked her chin as she took a good while inspecting the image on the phone.
After a while, she smiled and licked her lips seductively. "So that's what you mean by freezing a moment in time."
The girl turned her attention back to the now nervous boy with that same chilling smirk on her face. "I will accept your metia as tribute. You should feel grateful that I'm such a generous lady."
Subaru felt relief wash over himself. He was finally overcoming this hell. He happily handed his phone over the girl and instantly began to walk away. "Glad you like it. I guess I'll be on my way then."
Before he could get far, the girl snatched his wrist and that drove the boy in place. "Not so fast." Despite her words sounding gentle and sweet, Subaru felt a chill run down his spine as he was already awaiting what torture was going to fall upon him. "Since this lovely lady is so kind and generous, I will point out that your deal is very unfair for yourself."
Before Subaru could reassure her that it's fine, she continued, "Instead of simply letting you go, I shall grant you the absolute privilege to become this lovely lady's pet."
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"P-Pet…?" Subaru asked meekly.
The golden haired girl nodded. "Yes. I, Capella Emerada Lugnica, will be taking you in as my pet."
It was now that he realized that this was the absolute worst possible decision.