Despair, this was the only feeling found that day, as evil lurked in the city, madness and hatred were showing themselves in the form of a man, calling himself sin archbishop, his very presence enough to scare all, the people despaired, knights, merchants, children, fighters, they all shivered, cried and screamed, as the cold of death made his presence known.
And yet, they did not fall to the cold darkness, how was this possible? Even when facing pure Despair, when evil conquered their hearts, how were they still alive? Was it mercy? Did the evil man have mercy on them? No, his eyes called for their deaths, they were going to die, so how were they still alive?
Many wondered, a newly knight with purple hair, he had six spirits with him, but he was far too weak for the archbishop, small children who were playing minutes ago, a small blue haired maid, who almost fell to the cold embrace of death, her senior next to her, a maid with golden hair with eyes filled with dread, they all wondered.
Fire, dancing in the twilight of a setting sun, such has been seen by the people in that square, their hearts wondering, why is this fickle flame rebelling against darkness? Why is it shining with all of its might, when it is not enough?
They could not escape, for all around them, evil men were trying to kill them, but six people were still fighting, among them a boy dressed in green, leading animals all around him.
These seven warriors were giving their all, not backing down, fighting with all their might, protecting all those who stood behind them. Their voices held no fear, with courage and might they hold off their enemies.
The small flame, facing the darkness of the sin archbishop, had the shape of a child, no he was a child, facing a monster, he fought trying to hit the man, but he constantly dodged invisible attacks, as if he knew of them beforehand, while flying around in the sky.
"You, you, you! How can you dodge my unseen hands?!" The sin archbishop put his hands over his head as he convoluted his body, his eyes became red in anger.
The boy did not answer, as he kept dodging and slashing, he could not reach the archbishop, too many invisible forces surrounding him, blocking his light from reaching the darkness.
The boy flew around, his wings of flame making him leap in the sky, he dodged and slashed, as he seemingly jumped in the air, with the sound of an explosion following each jump.
The warriors slew tens of cultist, the green dressed kid sometimes watched the flame with awe, as his animals attacked witch cultist all in unison, masterfully switching between each other, first with smaller animals, such as dogs, biting their arms to wear them down, then ground dragons would go for the kill, smashing their head with their foot, or cats would go for the eyes, for then have another animal such as a small Eagle go for the wrist.
The other warriors were helped by the animals, the four armed warrior protected the boy, with his mighty shield he blocked each blow, all of them shouting with all their might
Then, as the group fought while all others were shivering in fear, a voice sounded in the twilight.
"Help!" A woman, holding a small child in her hands, protecting her baby from a man with a blade in his hands, almost cutting them down, a man with a scar in his eyes tried to get to them, but he was too far away.
"Minya!" The boy shouted as a purple crystal reached the cultist, killing him instantly, the boy smiled, but right after, an invisible force crushed on the boy, sending him flying to a wall.
"You were slothful." The sin archbishop spoke while smiling as the boy fell to the ground, spitting up blood, the flames surrounding him dying out.
"Boss!" "Natsuki-san!" The group shouted together, as they tried to reach the boy, but the cultist stopped them, as the sin archbishop slowly walked towards the boy.
"Ne-ext." The boy spoke as he glared at the sin archbishop, but as he got near, a small blue haired child ran next to him, and a blue light emerged from her small hands.
"Please, don't die!" She shouted with a frail voice, almost breaking down, the boy smiled and the light healed his injuries, the boy looked at her surprised, he laughed as he coughed blood.
"Are you kidding, I don't want to die!" He answered in a carefree voice, while slowly getting up, his clothes tattered and filled with blood, his legs shaking, his breath ragged, but his eyes were still shining, as flames enveloped him once again.
"You are truly determined, why do you fight with such bravery? How are you not desisting?" The sin archbishop asked with anger in his eyes, yet he showed respect to his opponent, who fights even when there's no hope.
"It hurts, it's difficult, it's scary, it's tough, I want to stop, I want to cry, I want to shout, I want to howl, I want to grieve, I want to scream, I want to resign, I want to refuse, I want to lament, I want to give up." The boy shouted with all of his emotions displayed, his eyes filling up with tears, all the people around him were surprised, as all they saw was a scared child, his flames died down again, they felt a sharp pain, guilt, for having such a small and scared child fight a monster, while they cowered in fear.
"But I won't give up." His voice suddenly changed, the scared child was still there, yet in his eyes an unwavering determination was found, as he looked at the sin archbishop, without a hint of hesitation.
"In a city I don't know, with my brothers looking for My back, with people behind me to protect, how could I ever hesitate?" The boy smiled as all were captivated by his will, even the sin archbishop was silent for a second.
"They're all going to die, and you're too slothful to protect them." The sin archbishop spoke, his words freezing the hearts of all, like a poison entering the body, he smiled as he spoke those malicious words.
"If anything happens to them, it'll be because I'm dead." The boy answered with clear fury in his voice, his smile disappeared as a stern gaze looked at his opponent.
Silence, nothing could be heard as they prepared to face their adversary, the two slowly walked towards each other, a few meters now separated the two, then, in the silence, the boy slashed at his side, and a wall of flames was made between them and the two, as dark hands could be seen burning in the flames, even the small girl was covered in flames, protecting her from the dark hands surrounding her.
"You saw them…" The sin archbishop spoke with a chilling voice, his hatred increased tenfold, as the boy grinned while his legs shaked even more.
"How, how how how?!" The sin archbishop bent backwards as he bit his fingers, the two then began their fight anew, but the boy seemed to no longer be predicting the attacks, but dodging them.
"Why can you see my unseen hands?! Who are you?!" The sin archbishop shouted as the boy sloppily dodged the hands, tiredness clear in his face.
"Fuck you! That's how!" The boy shouted in anger, his fury clear to all as he dodged an invisible force, following up with a slash.
"Her proof of love! You shouldn't be able to see it!" The archbishop attacked as the boy dodged and slashed, the fire around his body was nowhere to be seen.
"He finished his mana…" a young knight spoke with extreme worry, the child was on his last leg, yet he fought with all his might.
He cut down an immense amount of hands, but his tiredness caught up to him, and eventually, yet inevitable.
"Ghaa!" The child was midair, trying to grasp for air as something seemed to have grasped his throat.
"You fought well, but you were slothful!" The sin archbishop screamed as he broke one of the child's arms, but before he could do anything else.
"Don't touch him!" Eight people stood before the archbishop, the brothers of the child, the blue haired maid, and a purple haired Knight.
"Hey guys, took you long enough." The child looked at his broken arm, bent in an unnatural way, as the blue haired maid and the knight immediately tried to heal it.
"Who are you? I can understand the maid, but I've never met you." The boy asked as his arm was slowly healed, he kept his eyes on the sin archbishop.
"Knight of the kingdom, Julius Jukulius! I won't stand still as you fight for us!" He spoke as he held his sword in hand, he was scared, and yet he stood in front of the evil man.
"Wait, who's fighting the cultist if you're all here?" The child turned around, and there he saw some of those he was protecting, now fighting with newfound courage as they held off the witch cultist.
The child smiled, he slowly raised from the ground, the sun hardly visible, his sword losing its light, yet he stood tall.
"Ahhhh! My brain trembles! Who are you?!" The sin archbishop, filled with anger, glared at the child as he bit his fingers, the child smiled and pointed a finger at the sky.
"I am Natsuki Subaru, child of war! And slayer of the sin archbishop of greed." Subaru gave his name once again, a moment of silence followed, everyone's eyes widened, this small child is the fearsome child of war? He was nothing like the rumors! But they all smiled, and a roar came from them.
"Win!" "Kill him!" "Defeat that scum!" "Go! Child of war!" They all shouted with a smile, as a wave of hope made its way in their hearts, as Subaru held his sword towards the archbishop, as from the people behind him a faint light could be seen converging Towards his sword
"Let's go." He murmured at his friends, and they ran, Subaru leading them all as he raised a cloud of dust with his sword, making his friends see the hands, as their weapons were ignited by his flame, and he himself was covered in fire.
"No, impossible, impossible, impossible! You can't have that authority!" Petelgeuse shouted as his eyes were filled with dread, as he noticed how the mana from the people around him gave new strength to him.
"What's the plan boss?" Gustav asked as he bashed away three hands, which burned away., Subaru, who was hardly standing up, took a deep breath and grinned.
"We make an opening and kick his ass!" Subaru shouted as the other smiled, they immediately began to cut a path towards the archbishop, as Subaru was protected by all of them, while he coughed blood.
"Al clauseria!" Julius shouted as a white light enveloped his sword and the light was directed towards the archbishop destroying the hands on its path, together with the flame of war.
"Too slothful! Ul dona!" A sphere of dirt covered the archbishop as the light met the rock, damaging it, with it Rem used her morningstar to cause further damage together with Weilz.
"El goa!" Idra shouted as the fireball destroyed the remaining rock, the sin archbishop fell on the ground, he immediately tried to stand up and escape with his hands, but a short katana appeared from behind him, stabbing his leg and pinning him on the ground.
"Ghaa, damn you!" Petelgeuse shouted in anger and pain, as the flame burned his flesh, he saw a lizard man with angered eyes, and a ground dragon charged at him, sending him back.
"You got tricked by the unseen, uh?" Hiain said as he leaped back, as Petelgeuse tried to take the sword away from his leg, but there was Subaru, swinging his sword.
"Be consumed by the flames of war!" Subaru shouted as the flames enveloping him died down as the sun could no longer be seen, the head of the sin archbishop fell on the ground, as a moment of silence followed.
"Whooooo!" A shout of victory followed soon after, all the people around cheered as the witch cultist backed away, trying to not get caught.
"Alright, another victory for the Pleiades battalion!" Hiain shouted as they turned towards Subaru, who slowly closed his eyes and collapsed on the ground.
Subaru was deep in thought thinking of the fight against sloth, he faced greed already, but this time, it felt too easy, midway through the fight he was capable of seeing the hands, and Petelgeuse lacked strength, and worse of all, he couldn't feel that darkness crawling on his back, entering his body, slowly he opened his eyes.
"I don't know this ceiling…" Subaru looked at a decorated ceiling filled with ornaments of gold, he was in a great bed, he turned around, there he saw a small girl with cat ears, surprised and somewhat scared of his awakening.
"Humm, hello?" Subaru titled his head as he looked at the scared child, who took a few steps back, Subaru chuckled at the scared kid.
"I'm not going to hurt you, don't worry!" Subaru raised from his bed and crossed his legs, the kid calmed down and took a step near the bed.
"Hum, I am Felix Argyle, pleased to meet you, sir." The child presented herself with a bow, Subaru looked at him annoyed, which made the child worry once again.
"My name is Natsuki Subaru! Please just call me Subaru." He smiled as he got down from the bed, he was shirtless and filled with bandages, especially one around his left arm.
"Guess I'm all patched up, thanks for healing me!" Subaru gave a thumbs up to the boy, who scratched his cheek.
"Please don't move too much! You still lack blood from the fight!" Felix shouted as he noticed Subaru moving around.
"I can feel that, but still, I don't want to stay still, damn I want to fly again, it's always so much fun!" Subaru spoke with himself as he jumped around.
"Please don't! Your gate is damaged! If you stress it too much it might break." Felix spoke up with concern as Subaru turned around in confusion.
"Damaged? But I've used magic just fine." Subaru tilted his head while looking at Felix.
"Did you use some powerful magic? It was damaged around a few months ago, probably because you used a spell too powerful." Felix explained as Subaru started to think about it, he then snapped his fingers.
"Oh! When I used that giant fire magic, I probably didn't notice back then." Subaru answered as he thought back to when he won the war, against Goz he used an extremely powerful attack, even melting the wall.
"Boss!" Suddenly the door swung open and seven people rushed in, all checking on him.
"No fair boss! You stole the spotlight from this leading actor!" Cecilus shouted in his ear slightly annoyed, Subaru laughed as he put his arm over Cecilus' shoulders.
"That guy was far too weak for you, don't worry." Subaru had a cheeky smile on his face as he walked towards the door.
"Alright boss, at least I had fun with Rein~."
"Boss, you can't get out like that." Hiain spoke while handing him his clothes, which had been repaired from the last battle.
"Why are nyeu changing while everyone is here?" Felix asked, a bit surprised, Subaru stopped for a second, as he almost began to change.
"Right, you're a girl, right? Get out."
"No, I'm a boy, but the question stands."
"When you get too worried of being destroyed each night and day, you stop caring about these things." Subaru spoke in a more serious tone as even his friends had a somewhat serious expression.
"Brother, is everything alright? You were in quite terrible shape." Weilz asked as Subaru finished dressing himself, he smiled with a thumbs up as he walked to the door.
"Yep, never been better, anyway, how long have I been asleep?" Subaru opened the door while looking at the group, Cecilus standing next to him, while the rest was behind.
"Three days, you completely exhausted your mana and suffered blood loss, in the meantime we already spoke with the council, we managed to force them into being more lenient with us." Gustav explained the situation as Subaru smiled at his friends.
"Great job, now I just need to get the favor back." There he noticed a small girl in a beautiful dress, with green hair and almond eyes, and a boy with blonde hair and red eyes, trying to hide behind a wall.
Subaru and Cecilus exchanged gazes, a malicious smile creeped on their face, and they vanished, the girl was surprised as she took a step back, and she stumbled on someone, while the boy had a scared gaze.
"S~up. Whatcha doin'?" Subaru seemingly appeared behind them, with Cecilus next to him, the girl went pale as she looked at the two, the boy quickly stood in front of her, while she held a small knife with the symbol of a lion on it.
"Please put that away before I melt it." Subaru kindly asked as he looked at the knife, the way she held it made it seem something special, especially the lion crest.
"Wh-who you may be, sir?" The golden haired child asked in a scared tone, both of them were quite terrified by the two, and they were showing some politeness due to their status.
Subaru pointed a finger at the sky with a smile brighter than the sun, Cecilus too struck a pose next to Subaru.
"I am Natsuki Subaru, child of war!"
"Cecilus Segmunt, the blue lightning! Leading actor of this world!" The two presented themselves in a theatrical manner, leaving the two children confused and dumbfounded.
"Now, I have given mine name, it is polite for thee to give your own." Subaru bowed, still being as theatrical as possible, even speaking in a polite way, clearly mocking the two children.
"You stand before Fourier Lugunica, fourth Prince of Lugunica." Fourier managed to bring out some courage and speak his name, Subaru noticed how he glanced a lot towards the girl, making him grow a smile.
"I am Crusch Karsten, pleased to meet you, child of war." Crusch presented herself with a small bow, having found courage after Fourier, Subaru giggled at the two.
"So, as I said before, whatcha doing?" Subaru asked again, the two looked at each other and then answered.
"We were looking for our friend, he is a small boy with cat ears and a blue dress." Crusch answered with a calmer expression.
"Oh, Felix, he's there." Subaru pointed behind him, at the room where he slept, there the cat boy peeked his head out, and upon seeing Crusch, he hurried to her.
"Alright, what do we have to do?" Subaru asked as he turned towards Gustav, who took out a notebook and started reading it.
"For now there are those two kids who helped us who wants to see you, one is Julius Jukulius, a knight of the kingdom, wielding six spirits and is considered quite promising, the other is a maid of the Mathers domain, we had the… pleasure of meeting lord Roswaal L. Mathers, he too wished to meet you." Gustav explained while checking for the things they had to do, Subaru raised an eyebrow at the short pause he took.
"What's the catch with that lord? Did he seem suspicious?" Subaru asked as the three children watched him surprised, as he talked about various things in front of them.
"He seemed… off, not taking into account his eccentric behavior, he gave a strange feeling." Gustav spoke about the Lord while scratching his chin.
"I would rather make sure you're never alone when you're with him, always have either Cecilus or Halibel at your side." Otto spoke up with a concerned tone, the group then turned around.
"Regardless, we only allowed the girl to see you, so we can go." Weilz added as the group walked towards the hall, they were currently in the castle, where they healed Subaru.
"Hey, you three want to join?" Subaru asked as he looked at the three kids, surprised by his sudden request, they thought about it for a second and nodded.
"We shall accompany you around the castle, it would be a shame for the Royal family to not treat their guests with the utmost respect." Fourier answered in a regal way, Subaru narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms.
"Stop speaking like that, you seem like an idiot." Subaru spoke annoyed as the trio was entirely surprised, he spoke in an extremely casual way to a Prince.
"Mind your tone, you're speaking with the Prince Fourier Lugunica!" Crusch shouted annoyed at the boy's words, Subaru merely smiled as the others turned around, no anger or ill will coming from them.
"And you speak with our glorious leader, Natsuki Subaru!" Hiain answered in a stern tone, yet the only emotion conveying was admiration and trust, as the three children were reminded that Subaru was above them in status.
"That's why I hate nobles, always bragging about the fact they were born, and had the luck of being wealthy, yet, children who have never seen war think very differently from children who have never known peace." Subaru spoke with pure conviction, the three children listened shocked, among them, Crusch was the most intrigued.
"Only when you have your back on the ropes, shall your true valor come out, I wonder, if when the moment comes, will you have the strength to face everything that comes your way." Subaru finished speaking, Crusch smiled at his words, while his brothers all looked shocked.
"Brother, what the hell?! Since when were you a philosopher?" Hiain shouted as he patted Subaru's back while laughing, the group laughed as Subaru hit Hiain's leg.
"Shut it lizard, at least I say cool things, unlike someone else." Subaru smirked at the lizard man who held his knee in pain, as the rest laughed even more, even the three children laughed at them.
"Alright, now let's go see those two, it'll be fun with the Prince here." Subaru spoke as the group walked away, they were in one of the many corridors of the castle, and now they were heading to a hall to meet with the two children.
The group entered the room, in which they found five people in total, all of them familiar faces, Subaru gave a small wave with his hand, and all those in the room smiled.
"Subaru! I'm glad to see you in good health." The first one to talk was Reinhard, getting closer to Subaru with a smile, the others came close too.
"Yep, I'm all in one piece, not like that guy could ever manage to be a serious threat." Subaru smiled as he looked at the others in the room, who all kneel in front of the Prince.
"It is a pleasure seeing you, your majesty." Julius spoke as Reinhard too kneeled down, Subaru rolled his eyes and walked past them.
"Yeah yeah, dumb aristocratic things, hey, how are you two doing?" Subaru shouted as he looked at the two young fighters who helped him out.
"We are doing fine, sir, we greatly appreciate your concern." Julius answered once again, Subaru chopped his head with his hand, making him look up confused.
"Stop speaking like that! It's annoying, I feel like I'm talking to a grumpy old man." Subaru groaned as his eyes landed on a small maid with pink hair, looking exactly like Rem.
"Oh, you two are twins, pleased to meet you, I'm Subaru." He looked at the two with a smile, as they gave a small bow.
""Pleased to meet you, Subaru, this is Big sis/Rem."" The two spoke in unison, Subaru looked at the two and then turned around, pointing at the door.
"Well, we have a lot to do, let's go! We'll continue as we go." Subaru walked forward as he noticed Heinkel and gave a nod with a smile, the group walked out ready to face the day.