I do not own Re:Zero or any of the characters.
Failing
"Looking for something, Subaru?" Ian asked, stepping into the room. "Meili's body, perhaps? Or Wolf?"
Subaru's expression darkened as he turned toward Ian. "How'd you know?"
"Wolf is under contract," Ian said. "He can't defy me no matter what. He couldn't have simply disappeared." He drew his sword but held it loosely at his side. "Now, I'm going to give you a chance to explain what happened. If you lie to me, I'll reset you."
Subaru swallowed hard, eyes darting around rapidly, only to finally stop on Ian again. "I killed her. But it wasn't a conscious decision. I blacked out, and when I woke up, she had been strangled to death. I don't know where Wolf went. I hid her body here, but it's gone. And I had the words "Subaru Natsuki was here" scratched into my arm."
Ian nodded slowly, then let out a long, slow breath. "So, that's it. You're not him at all. Emilia."
Subaru's eyes went wide, and he moved to step forward, only for the loud snap and crackle of the air freezing to echo through the room as a cage of ice rapidly formed around Subaru. He yanked on the bars, but they didn't budge, and a moment later, Rem, Ram, Elena, and Emilia had stepped into the room. They all stared at him with a range of emotions. Emilia was somewhere between worry and denial, Rem's gaze held sympathy but resolve, Ram's gaze was filled with disgust and malice, and Ian's own gaze held cold indifference. Subaru was his friend, but this wasn't Subaru. Subaru was trapped inside of this imposter somewhere, but something else was wearing his face.
"We're here to help you, Subaru," Emilia reassured him.
"Don't waste your breath, Emilia," Ian said. "This isn't Subaru."
"But...he is, though, right?" Emilia asked.
"It's his body, probably," Ian said. "But this isn't Subaru we're talking to. Someone else is taking his body for a joy ride."
"Huh?" Emilia cocked her head to the side.
"He's possessed," Elena offered.
"Maybe pain can force it out," Ram offered.
"I won't rule it out," Ian said. "But we won't start there. From what I've seen, whoever's possessing him may have lost their memories and forgotten that they're not, in fact, Subaru."
"How can you tell?" Rem asked.
"It's a long story," Ian said. "So, where should we start? Where was the last place Subaru was before he started being different?"
"He was normal before we found him passed out in the library, I suppose," Beatrice said, walking into the room and looking around. "It's possible that this is the result of reading the wrong book, in fact."
"And we don't know which books he had?" Ian asked.
"None, in fact," Beatrice confirmed.
"Right," Ian nodded. "So, we'll start with that. You're a spirit of one who's already dead, but you won't remember because your consciousness has fused with Subaru's. Tell me your past."
And so, Subaru did. And it was Subaru's. Everything Subaru had told him about prior to coming to Lugnica. It matched perfectly. But then it simply ended. His memory resumed in the tower, but his description was more vague, which Ian understood to be to avoid his curse's penalty. The story took longer than Ian liked, nearly forty-five minutes. And just as it was finished, as Ian opened his mouth to speak, he froze as a smell registered in his nose. Rem and Ram likewise froze, and Aria appeared at Elena's side, trembling, but looking determined.
"Smoke," Ian announced.
"And the tower is trembling," Ram added.
"What's it mean?" Emilia asked.
"Trouble," Ian narrowed his eyes. "Rem, Ram, with me. Emilia, get the others away from Shaula, without letting her realize. She might transform and begin killing. Elena, go with her. Beatrice, you too. Subaru will be fine here." He blasted Subaru with Wind Magic, knocking Subaru out without hurting him.
Elena nodded, and everyone scattered. Ian and his girlfriends sprinted toward the stairs down the tower, the choking smell of smoke rapidly growing stronger. Then, finally, they reached the top of the stairs and Ian scooped up Rem and leapt from the top alongside Ram. Ian's Magic roared to life around himself and Rem, Ram copying his use of magic as both rocketed down at the floor below where dozens of Hungry Horse Kings were flooding up from the sixth floor. They shrieked their horrible cries, brandished flaming weapons, and made for the stairs. However, before they could get there, Ian and the others landed before them, and Ian and Ram struck with Crusch's Hundred Man Strike, both strikes fading before they reached the wall of the tower. Rem drew Ian's Whip Sword, extending it instantly, and all three extended their horns as most of the wounded Mabeasts began to regenerate, though not all. Several that were split across the major internal organs died.
Ian nodded to himself, as did the twins. That was good. Complete obliteration wasn't the only method. With that established, all three shot forward. The demonic centaurs shrieked and charged forward in a thunder of hooves and roar of flames, only for Ian and Ram to evade the first pairs strikes and strike in return while using their magic cloaks to fly. Ian jabbed his blade into one of the centaur's hearts and slashed out through the side, then slammed a kick into its chest, a pulse of Wind Magic sending it exploding backward into the oncoming hoard. As he did, Ram's stone scythe split her prey's torso at the center of the chest as easily as a metal blade through grass. A barrage of Wind Blades from her left hand shredded several more as Rem bound another with her borrowed sword, then yanked the hilt, the blade ripping through its torso, shredding its internal organs beyond recognition. She collapsed the sword in time to sidestep a charge and slice of the legs smoothly, then sent several spears of ice through its back to pierce its organs. Ian spun himself, slinging a compressed blast of Wind Magic into a pair of the monstrosities, and the blast blew chunks out of their sides as blades of Wind Magic ripped into them from within the sphere. Ram streaked through the hoard, spinning and whipping her scythe around, the scythe and blades of magic alike felling the Mabeasts rapidly.
"Careful of the tower, Ram!" Ian reminded her as he flew past several centaurs, splitting them from the side to the heart each time.
"What a truly hopeless man to think Ram would be so pathetic as to be unable to kill vermin without damaging the room around her," Ram defended herself as she sent a barrage of Wind Blades into a Mabeast, shredding it.
Ian smirked, flipping over Rem's sword as it swung a Mabeast into another, shredding the first and sending the other crashing sideways into a group. Ian slashed down the first's front, bisecting its heart just as Julius arrived, slashing off another's front legs and stabbing its heart before continuing into the onrushing horde. Ian glanced around, realizing more must have arrived from below, because if those alive and dead both were counted, more were present than when they'd began. He shook his head and shot forward into a group of the massive beasts, carving into them rapidly, mangling their torsos and killing them all. As he finished, one of the centaurs off to the side hurled a massive fireball at him and he retreated from it, landing beside Rem just as she used his Whip Sword to tear a Mabeast's torso to shreds.
"There are a lot of them," Rem commented.
"And without being able to leave the tower where we have room to use bigger attacks, we've got our hands tied," Ian nodded, just as Ram formed a massive cyclone of Wind Magic, pulling in more than a dozen of the creatures and ripping them all apart. "Well, most of us."
Rem smiled, nodding. "Sister is amazing."
Ian nodded in agreement. Then, just as he streaked forward again, Reid Astrea exploded down on a Centaur, crushing it before using his chopsticks to effortlessly kill another, its body actually bursting apart with the simplest of movements. Ian shook his head. He was jealous. And then, he was fighting. No one stopped moving, no one but Reid had time to rest. Reid alone was not only so powerful that the centaurs were less of an inconvenience to him than rain, by his own description, but was so powerful that he felt comfortable enough to kick Julius in the back and challenge him to a fight.
Ian raced past Julius as he struggled back to his feet. He killed a centaur wielding a flaming claymore, then slung a ball of compressed Wind Magic into another group.
"JULIUS, BEHIND YOU! ! !" Subaru's voice roared from above.
Ian spun just as Julius narrowly avoided a massive blast of flames. It ignited his coat, but he hurled it off instantly and looked back up at Subaru.
"I leave Miss Anastasia to you!" Julius shouted up to Subaru.
Instantly, Subaru turned and retreated from the stairs.
"Jus' no helpin' their nature, I guess," Reid sighed, carelessly killing a Mabeast as if it were nothing.
Ian shook his head just as more emerged from the stairway, this time including one that was more than double the size of the rest. Ian's jaw dropped before his magic roared to life around him again. As he exploded forward, Rem's sword whipped out at the largest of the monsters, only for it to catch the blade, instantly whipping her sideways into a wall, cratering it. Ian skipped backward instantly.
"Leave the big one to me!" Ian ordered as his magic roared to life.
Rem targeted a smaller centaur, but before anyone could react, the larger Centaur formed a flaming sword and slashed the blade off. Ian skipped backward again, this time slinging a ball of Wind Magic into the massive Mabeast before charging, allowing Rem to capture a small one. Then, Ian reached the large one, slashing it across the chest. He slammed a kick into its chest, and a pulse of Wind Magic sent it exploding backward. Two leapt at him and he spun, a Hundred Man Strike separating both across the heart and lungs. Ram flashed past below him, carving through several Mabeasts before flipping, scythe blurring around her as she severed the massive one's arms at the elbow, allowing its flaming sword to spin through several Mabeasts before fizzling out. Ian exploded forward instantly as the thing began to regrow its arms. Then, just as it finished, Rem's blade wrapped around its arms before shredding them, giving Ian the chance to drive his blade deep into its chest then rip it out a split second before blades of Wind Magic erupted from its body.
As it collapsed, one of the smaller ones caught Ian from behind, its arms binding his own to his side, his sword falling away. He was about to skip backward when Ram passed behind the Mabeast, splitting it in half at the chest, freeing him. A moment later, a pair of the remaining Mabeasts hurled spears of flame at Rem and Ram. Ian's gut clenched as the spears pierced the cloaks, only for him to realize they'd already shed the clothes, already back to tearing through the Mabeasts. Ian dropped, grabbing his sword, then exploded forward again, ripping through the Mabeasts again. More began to emerge from the stairway to the sixth floor, but Ian and Ram sent a pair of spheres of Wind Magic into the coming horde, slaughtering the front half without damaging the tower.
"IAN!" Elena shrieked from above. "SHAULA TRANSFORMED! ! !"
Ian swore harshly. "Rem, with me! Ram, help Julius with the rest! Don't worry about the tower!"
Rem nodded, immediately sending a blast of Wind Magic into the new arrivals that blasted apart the tower around the stairs. Ian scooped up Rem and exploded up the tower to the top of the stairs, then chased after Elena. After a few minutes, they skidded to a stop as they found a section of the floor collapsed. Beyond the destruction was a spot that looked like the result of an explosion followed by a trail of blood. Ian picked up both Elena and Rem and leapt across the gap and they all hurried down the hallway, finding Subaru, wounded heavily and dragging his left leg, standing beside an even-more-heavily wounded Anastasia, whose legs had been blown off at the hips and who had nearly finished bleeding out.
"Subaru," Ian said, regarding him coldly for a moment before looking around. "Shaula attacked? The giant scorpion?"
Subaru nodded tiredly. "So, it was Shaula? We thought we drove it...her...off, but she left her tail behind and it exploded. Beatrice..."
He trailed off, and Ian nodded, tightening his hold on his sword. He needed to reset Subaru, but first, he needed to know what had happened.
"What happened to transform Shaula?" Ian asked. "Did someone leave? Or damage the tower?"
"Damaged the tower," Subaru said. "By why would that change Shaula?"
"Long story without your memories," Ian said. "What was the damage?"
"Someone carved the same words as from my arm into the walls," Subaru said. "Everywhere. Hundreds of times, at least."
Ian nodded, his arm tensing.
"Please," Echidna pleaded, eyeing the sword. "Do it."
Ian let out a long breath, then nodded curtly and turned, jabbing his blade into her head, granting her an instantaneous, painless death. Subaru went stiff, then sighed, saying nothing. Elena let out a single sob into her hand, and Rem set her hand on Ian's shoulder comfortingly.
As Ian withdrew his blade, Emilia rounded a corner up ahead with Frederica and both froze. They stared at the scene before them.
"Who killed Miss Anastasia?" Frederica asked.
"Shaula," Ian said. "She asked me to make it easy, so I did."
Frederica nodded. "What now?"
"Subaru, show me the damage," Ian instructed.
Subaru nodded, but before he could go anywhere, Ram reached them, several burns and cuts marring her exposed skin, but seeming fine otherwise.
"The Mabeasts and that despicable man are coming," Ram said. "Julius is dead."
Everyone stiffened. Finally, Ian sighed.
"I was really hoping to learn more, first," Ian said. "Subaru, it's time."
"W...Wait!" Subaru stammered, backing away. "You can't just..."
"Emilia, Subaru needs you," Ian said, turning back the way they'd come. "Subaru, explain what happened to her. Elena and Frederica, go with them. Rem and I will stall Reid and the Mabeasts. Ram, track down Shaula. Elena, I won't use it, but Subaru needs to, when the time is right."
Elena nodded in understanding, and Ian and Rem took off, horns extending again. Within a few seconds, they found the Mabeasts, followed by Reid, who was walking at a calm stroll, the Mabeasts seemingly fleeing from him. Ian and Rem shot forward as the Mabeasts formed flaming weapons. Rem began with a barrage of icy spears, felling a few of them, and Ian followed it up with a pair of Hundred Man Strikes. Almost a dozen Mabeasts' corpses were trampled by those that remained, but more than double that remained. And then, they were fighting in close combat. Ian flipped past a blade, using his magic to extend his blade's reach and slashed several of the Mabeasts as he passed, Rem using her sword to smash one Mabeast into two more as she shredded the first. Those two died to a pair of deft strokes of her blade before it whipped outward into another. Ian swept a duo off to his left from the battle with another Hundred Man Strike, then slung a ball of Wind Magic into a group, wounding them but not killing them.
He shot forward, finishing the group just before Rem screamed. He spun, seeing her holding a cauterized gash in her side, his whip sword broken. She cast it aside and withdrew her flail from her skirt, sending it exploding into a Centaur's chest, the mourning star blasting through entirely before she flicked the chain, ripping it out through the aide and using the mourning star to crush another against the wall. Three leapt at her, but Ian blasted them with a pulse of Wind Magic, killing them all and hurling their corpses past Rem. He spun just in time for a sword to catch his own cloak, igniting it. He tore it free, hurling it aside, then exploded forward, carving through several Mabeast. He dropped to the floor just in time for Rem's flail to sweep from his right to left, ripping through two of the centaurs' chests before using one of the next two to crush the other into the wall. Ian focused and sent a trio of Hundred Man Strikes forward, mowing down the last of the Mabeasts. Finally, it was only Reid left.
Reid nodded to himself. "Yer not to bad."
And then, Reid exploded forward. Ian spun, only narrowly avoiding his first strike, but as he moved to strike, a kick slammed into him, sending him exploding into the wall. He struggled to his feet as Rem's flail flashed down at Reid. He jabbed a chopstick up into the mourning star, and it exploded. Ian shot forward, slashing at Reid rapidly, and Reid laughed, deflecting and avoiding the strikes, then finally jabbed a chopstick into his chest. Agony immediately seared through his entire body as his heart clenched and stopped. He crashed to the ground, writhing in agony, and Rem began to rapidly whip her broken chain at Reid, only for his chopstick to effortlessly shatter the links one by one starting from the end. Finally, just as Ian's heart began to beat again and he was able to push himself up again, Reid hurled a chopstick as straight as an arrow into Rem's left eye, killing her instantly. Ian roared in rage, his left hand snapping up.
"AL FURA! ! !"
Reid hummed interestedly as the tower between them vanished, replaced by a cloud of dust too thick to see through. Reid crouched, focusing, and pulling his remaining chopstick back at his side like a katana, then slashed and unleashed a similar windstorm simply from the speed of his slash. However, when the two strikes met, Ian's instantly multiplied in power by absorbing Reid's, then exploded into a hell of Wind Magic explosions and slashing Wind blades. Finally, it ended and Ian fell to his knees, gasping and panting for breath, watching the dust. For nearly ten seconds, there was no movement. Then, Reid burst from the smoke and landed before Ian. His kimono was ripped and tattered above the waist and into a short skirt below a little above his knees, his eyepatch was just finishing breaking off, his hair was a mess and bits had been cut off, and his left shoulder bore a cut that was barely an inch deep but was bleeding fairly well, though it was far from lethal.
"I gotta give ya credit," Reid smirked. "Was th' strongest attack I've felt 'n a long time."
"You...let it...hit...you," Ian panted.
"I was curious," Reid shrugged. "'S a shame yer outta power."
"Don't kill him!" Elena's voice shrieked. "Please!"
Reid watched her for a moment, then swept his arm upward. Ian shrieked in agony as his horn sailed into the air, then keeled oved backward.
"He'll live," Reid said.
"You bastard!" Elena shrieked, tears streaming down her face.
"You wanted him to live, and now he-" Reid was cut off by the walls around them exploding.
Darkness in the form of coutnless hands, a sea of them, flooded from them. Reid became a blur, shredding anything that approached him, but Ian and Elena were swallowed instantly. Elena ttied to scream at first before her consciousness was separated from her body. Cold unlike anything she'd felt invaded her as her body began to be swallowed by the darkness, dissolved away to nothing. And as it did, so did her awareness. She lost the ability to recall exactly what had been happening, where she was, and even who she was. And then, there was simply nothing.
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