Chapter 98: Conspiracy
Having been five days since leaving the mansion, Subaru and his group arrive to the capital a little late than usual since they were dealing with the random appearance of heartless attacking small villages in the road.
During those five days, Subaru had asked Tiga and Melty about Salum and Pooka's whereabouts since things had gotten out of hand when dealing with the mysterious villain, it had slipped his mind.
"Pooka is taking care of him right now. No need to worry."
"Alright bestie."
Subaru responded with reassurance, happy that at least Salum's alright though he was still concern on how badly did the mysterious villain had hurt him.
Not only was that a concern but also the past five days weighed a heavy burden on him.
This all caused him to be worried for what may the Organization as well as the Witch's Cult be up to in the capital of Lugnica.
Although Emilia felt awkward being around Subaru at the moment as they were entering the capital, she could tell that something was bothering him.
That prompted her to check up on him.
As she approached her knight, she sat next to him and looked only to see that he hadn't noticed her. She tapped his cheek which caused him to break away from whatever he was thinking.
"Subaru?"
"...huh?" Subaru turned towards his right side to finally notice Emilia. "Emilia-tan! When did you got here?"
"You dummy, I just sat down here." She spoke with a smile before curiously asking, "What were you thinking about?"
"Just...worried, it's all."
"Worried about Sora and the others?" She had a feeling that this was the case. Subaru's expression changed for a slight second, giving Emilia the answer she needed, which prompted her to follow up with, "There's no need to worry about them. Sora is strong, he will protect all of them. He also has Roswaal, Rem, and Ram by his side should a villain try to hurt them."
"I know...I'm just concerned about something else..."
"What's troubling you then?" Emilia said as she looked closely at Subaru, causing him to get nervous. He shook his head in order to focus on what Emilia had asked. He looked up as he responded with:
"I'm concerned about what we are facing. I'm not sure what's worse, the Organization or the Witch's cult..."
"Oi Cap'n, no need t'worry! We got th's!"
Garfiel said as he overheard the conversation between Emilia and Subaru.
Subaru and Emilia turned towards the demi human boy, seeing that he's all fired up.
Subaru couldn't help but smirk at seeing Garfiel all ready for combat. Frederica got up before pulling Garfiel's ear.
"Owowowowow!"
"Garf, it's not good to eavesdrop on other's conversations." She spoke to her little brother with a stern voice.
"T's not my fault! We can hear everythin'!"
Emilia and Subaru started to chuckle when seeing this, finding it a little funny their interactions.
Petra remained calm as she tried to keep the urge to laugh in check all the while Tiga and Melty smiled at this interaction.
They always enjoy seeing siblings interact.
Waraki remained silent as he did found it a bit funny however his mind was more focused on the witch's cult, preparing himself for a confrontation with the Sin Archbishop of Lust, Capella.
Beatrice remained asleep in Subaru's lap, wanting to rest up by her contractor's side.
Otto wasn't aware of what was going on due to him being focused on the front, leading Patrasche towards the capital.
As they are arriving, Subaru and the others looked outside as their worries had started to fade away.
The capital looked like it's usual self, indicating that at the very least the Witch's cult or the Organization hadn't caused trouble just yet.
"Subaru-san, it's seems like there's time to warn the others." Otto said, knowing that they can have all the royal candidates and their forces gather to prepare for a war that's coming to the capital.
Subaru nodded when he heard this from his best friend, also thinking the same thing of having everyone gathered to create a powerful defense force for the capital.
'So long as we can reach Reinhard first, we should be able to have a powerful ally by our side.'
"Before we head over and get Reinhard on our side, we need to speak with the council of wisemen first." Waraki said, surprising Subaru since he didn't think that he would know what he was thinking. The knight smirked before continuing to speak, "I figured you were thinking of involving Reinhard first. But before we can get such a power house, we first need to speak to them."
"Aw, why do we need t'get them involved?" Garfiel questioned, finding all of that such a waste of time.
"It's just something us knights need to do when we have a crisis on our hands."
"Still pretty borin'."
As Garfiel and Frederica sat back down, the group waited as they were entering the capital with Otto guiding Patrasche all the way towards the Karsten estate first since there's where Wilhelm's located.
"Why are we going to Crusch-sama's place first?" Petra asked with a curious look. "I thought we were supposed to go to the council of wisemen first."
"We are, but first we'll need some assistance from Wilhelm van Astrea first." Waraki said as he along with Subaru and Emilia started to leave the wagon as they saw that they had arrived.
As they were getting off, Beatrice woke up from this and quickly realized they had arrived.
She gets off along with her contractor, wanting to be by his side.
Otto turned towards the front of the mansion to see that Crusch and Felix were coming outside.
"Subaru-san, Emilia-sama, Crusch-sama is coming out."
Subaru, Emilia, and Waraki took note on what the merchant had said, prompting them to look towards Crusch and Felix's direction.
Subaru waved at the two before saying,
"Crusch! Felix! It's been a while!"
"It sure has, Natuski Subaru." Crusch said before turning towards Emilia. "Emilia-sama, it's good to see you as well."
"It's good to see you too." Emilia smiled. "How are you doing?"
"Pretty well though I doubt you came here to chat."
"You are right, unfortunately, Crusch-sama." Waraki spoke with a serious expression, giving both Crusch and Felix an indication that something bad is coming.
"Shall we speak in a secure environment?" Felix asked.
Crusch nodded before turning towards Emilia and her group.
"You are all welcome inside."
"Thanks." Subaru and Waraki said before the two bowed with respect.
As everyone was making their way into the Karsten estate mansion, Subaru and Waraki were the first to interact with Wilhelm, who was making his way outside only to see the three enter the front doors.
"Subaru-dono. Waraki-dono. Beatrice-sama. Welcome."
"Wil!"
"Wilhelm-sama!"
"..."
The three approached the butler, both knights happy to see him. Beatrice remained silent though she did her best to show respect to him.
"How have you been?"
"I've been good. Just doing my duties for Crusch-sama. What brings you two here?"
"Others are about to join us, but we are here to speak with you." Waraki said.
"That and we need to tell you all the situation." Subaru added on.
"I see." Wilhelm looked behind Subaru, Beatrice, and Waraki to see that Garfiel, Emilia, Crusch, Felix, Otto, and others were entering the mansion. Seeing the others prompted him to bow at Emilia.
"Emilia-sama, welcome."
Emilia smiled before Crusch and Felix had guided their guests onto the main room in order to have everyone fit as well as discuss in a more secured place.
Once everyone had been seated down and the security for Crusch was outside, Crusch sat down all the while asking:
"What's the situation?"
"The Organization and the Witch's Cult." Emilia answered. "They are going to attack the capital."
"I see. That's concerning. Mind if I ask where's Sora?" Crusch asked, finding it odd that Sora wasn't here with Subaru and his group.
"He's taking care of something else." Subaru responded, trying to keep not show that he's worried for his best friend and master.
Cursch didn't like the response though she speculated that Sora must be taking care of something big considering that he's not here.
"Understood. Though I must ask, why was he with Priscilla's camp the last few months?"
There was a bit of silence from everyone since they were expecting Crusch or any of the other camps asking questions once they heard or saw him with Priscilla.
Everyone turned towards Subaru and Emilia, having a feeling that one of the two would give Crusch her answer.
After a few seconds, Emilia took the chance to respond:
"We made a promise with Priscilla during our time in Vollachia. She helps us out in exchange Sora joins her camp."
"Hm. I see." Crusch said as she began to understand the reasoning as to why Sora was with Priscilla and her people.
"That's quite the predicament." Felix said, feeling a bit of sympathy towards Sora for having to be with that camp knowing how harsh Priscilla can be.
"I presume you require my assistance to set up an audience with the council of wisemen, Subaru-dono?"
"Yes." Subaru responded before turning towards Waraki to allow him to explain.
"We want their permission to have Reinhard on guard should anything happen. We also need them to prepare for an all-out assault."
"Understood. Then allow me to take you to them." Wilhelm turned towards Crusch and requested to assist the Emilia camp in getting an audience with the council of wisemen. Crusch smiled as she responded to this request with:
"That's fine, however I will be joining you as well. I would like to be a part of this meeting with them."
"That's no problem." Subaru said as he got up, seeing that this short conversation was coming to an end. Right as they were about to leave, Otto made a suggestion:
"We should still alert the others about what's going on. From what I know, Anastasia-sama and her camp had arrived a few days ago to the capital. And we all know that both Felt-sama and Priscilla-sama are at the capital."
"It wouldn't be a bad think to let them nyow." Felix added in, thinking that it would be a good idea to alert them on what's the situation.
"Felt-sama and my grandson are currently taking care of business at the castle. We could meet them there while having the audience with the council of wisemen."
"Sounds good. Then we should split up." As Subaru suggested this, he turned towards Garfiel and Otto. "I think you two should go deliver a message to Priscilla."
"Wait, why her?"
"Why us?"
Both Garfiel and Otto questioned, not really wanting to speak with Priscilla since her personality does annoy the two.
"Come on, it's not so bad."
"Then why don't you go?" Garfiel rebutted.
"Um no. I have to protect Emilia-tan."
" 'f course, good excuse, cap'n." Garfiel said with an annoyed tone since he knows his captain wouldn't leave Emilia's side, especially when a threat is nearby. "Come on Brotto, let's just get th's over with."
As Garfiel said this, Otto sighed as he knew that they weren't getting out of this.
While the two were heading out, Subaru turned towards Frederica and Petra to ask the two:
"Could you two go and speak with Anastasia and Julius? They will need to know what's going on."
"Understood." Frederica said as she bowed in respect before turning towards Emilia. "Please be safe, Emilia-sama."
"Stay safe as well, Frederica."
As this was said, Frederica turned towards Petra to let her know that they'll start to head off now.
"Let's get going."
"Okay!" Petra spoke with confidence before turning towards Subaru and Emilia. "Stay safe!"
"You two, Petra."
She smiled before going off with Frederica towards Anastasia's place in the capital.
Subaru and his group began to get into one of Crusch's carriage to have everyone be comfortable as they make their way towards the castle.
Once they arrived at the castle, Crusch and Wilhelm led Emilia and the others all the way towards the room leading into the council of wisemen's council room.
Right before they had gone in, Crusch turned towards Subaru and the others to let them know:
"You should stay here. Since we came here without a proper audience with the council, they might be overwhelmed if too many of us come in together. Allow Wilhelm, Ferris, and I to escort Emilia in."
"That's fine." Subaru said. "I trust you all."
He turned towards Emilia to give her a confident smile.
"The rest of us here will guard the entrance should anything happen."
Subaru's smile and confidence made Emilia at first feel comfort in knowing that her knight trusted her and that he'll be fine her though something had come back into her mind that prompted her face to turn red.
"R-R-Right." She turned around towards the door to avoid having her knight see her face. "Just don't get into too much trouble."
"I won't."
After this was said, Emilia and Crusch opened the door and began to enter with Wilhelm and Felix right behind them.
Once the doors closed, Subaru and the others looked around to first make sure the area was safe before they decide to take the chance to rest.
While some of them, Melty turned towards Tiga to ask him:
"Could we explore the castle a bit?" She spoke with a desire of wanting to check out this place since it's their first time being in such an important place. Tiga smiled as he nodded before turning towards Subaru.
"It's our first time being in here so please don't mind us exploring a bit."
"Sure, just be careful. We don't want to cause any trouble."
"We'll be fine." Tiga spoke confidently.
"Before you head off, if anybody asks, just tell them that you are a part of the Emilia camp and that she's having an audience with the council of wisemen. That'll get any heat off of you should people start asking around." Waraki said, having the foresight to tell Tiga what he should do should someone question him or Melty why they are in the castle.
"Got it. Thanks, Waraki."
Tiga and Melty headed off towards the stairs to start their exploration of the castle at the first floor.
While they headed off, Subaru, Beatrice, and Waraki remained at the door to protect it from any possible threats though after a few minutes, both knights had a strange feeling.
"Something's...off."
"I agree."
The two knights got up as they looked around all the while Beatrice looked at the pair, wondering what could've made the two be on high alert all of a sudden.
"What's the matter, in fact?"
"It feels like someone's here. Someone who doesn't belong here." Waraki answered as he prepared to search around on his own. "You two should stay here and guard the door."
Subaru and Beatrice looked at each other for a moment before turning towards Waraki.
"Allow us to join you, just in case this possible intruder is somehow stronger than you."
"Are you saying that I'm weak, newbie?" Waraki said with an annoyed smile.
"Look, I'm just saying you might need some back up."
"Fine but who's going to stay and guard the door?"
"Why should we worry, in fact? Emilia is not weak and that other woman is strong herself as well."
"Not to mention Wilhelm is with them. They'll be fine. We should focus on any potential threats to Emilia-tan and Crusch."
Waraki remained silent for a brief moment before nodding, understanding that the council of wisemen as well as Emilia and Crusch will be fine on their own.
As the three started to move around the floor they were in, Waraki and Subaru were on their guards since they felt someone dangerous was nearby though they didn't seem like they were making any progress.
"Are you sure there's anybody here, in fact? Perhaps you two are imagining things."
"Maybe, but I rather be sure than to assume that just yet." Subaru responded to his contracted spirit's question and comment. Waraki didn't respond to this since he just wanted to focus on finding the threat, hoping that it's a witch cultist. As he continued to search intensely, Subaru stopped as he sensed something off.
"Are you okay?" Beatrice asked, worried for her contractor as she can see that something had stunned him. Waraki was alerted to this when hearing Beatrice's worried tone question which caused him to turn towards Subaru. He could see that he sensed something off.
"What happened? You sensed something?"
"A darkness...it reminded me of someone...someone I don't want to remember."
"Then let's keep our wits in order."
He turned his attention forward as he prepared for a fight.
He pulled out his sword and continued onward to see where's the threat.
The three continued to walk around until both knights were swiftly sent flying.
"What?!" Both Subaru and Waraki were confused by being sent flying into a wall nearby.
"Subaru!" Beatrice shouted in worry before pausing as she sensed that someone was right behind her.
She slowly turned with a frightened face as she was met with an Organization member concealing their identity.
Subaru and Waraki slowly got back up and saw this.
"Beako!"
"..."
The Organization member didn't move though a dark aura was starting to be created around him, which caused Beatrice to fall on her back.
She was clearly not expecting this, and she knows that any sudden movements from her could spell her end.
Right before the Organization member could do anything to her, he looked up as Waraki was charging towards him.
The Organization member didn't really viewed the knight as a threat.
As Waraki was approaching him swiftly, he swung his sword towards the Organization member only for said Organization member to suddenly disappear.
"What?"
Waraki was shocked for a moment only for everything around the room to suddenly go dark, almost like he lost his hearing for a moment and his body feeling oddly cold.
Once he looked down, he saw that his right arm had been sliced off.
"When...the hell...?"
Before he could say anymore, he collapsed to the ground as he began to cough up some blood, not realizing just how much damage he had received.
"Waraki!" Subaru shouted as he was left in shocked, not believing what he's seeing at first.
After a few seconds, he quickly tried to run towards Waraki's position only to receive a kick to the gut by the Organization member.
"Augh!"
As he was sent onto a wall once again, Beatrice got up with anger on her face.
"How dare you hurt Subaru!" Beatrice moved her hand towards the Organization member's direction while shouting, "El Minya!"
A majority of purple projectiles were created above her before sending them right towards the direction of her opponent.
The Organization member turned towards the projectiles and just stood standing as they closed in on him.
Right before they hit him, all of the projectiles suddenly were destroyed.
"What...?"
"..." The Organization member remained silent as he disappeared from view.
"W-Where did he go?!" Beatrice said with a worried tone as she slowly walked back.
Subaru didn't like this at all which prompted him to quickly run towards his contracted spirit.
As he was trying to run fast, he saw the Organization member appear right behind her.
'No...'
"Beako!"
As he was trying to close the distance, Beatrice tried to use yin magic yet the Organization member was swift in his attack onto her.
"BEAKO!"
"...S-Subaru..."
As she said those words, she began to fade away swiftly before completely disappearing.
Subaru's eyes were filled with sadness as he watched her die so swiftly all the while he wasn't able to do anything but watch.
This caused darkness to surround him with all the hatred in his heart increasing rapidly.
"How FUCKING DARE YOU!"
As he shouted this with anger, he summoned Rebirth keyblade all the while having his free hand be consumed with darkness.
"DIE!"
Subaru threw a dark fireball towards the Organization member despite knowing that he's going to dodge it.
The Organization member dodged this attack as expected before attempting to kill Subaru.
Right as he appeared right behind him, Subaru quickly used formchange with his rebirth keyblade in order to have his darkness sage attire to create a protective barrier.
Just as this darkness barrier was able to protect him from this attack, the follow up caused the barrier itself to break.
This caused him to quickly try to counterattack his opponent by having the darkness from his clothing to try and land a hit.
The Organization member dodged this attack before attempting to land a hit right in front of Subaru only for the boy to barely manage to block this attack with a combination of his formchange, the darkness he's summoned, and the wrath witch factor that had activated.
This allowed him to be able to dodge and block a few attacks from his foe before eventually one of the Organization member's attacks managed to land onto his chest.
'Shit! This bastard got me!'
As he was stunned by the hit, the Organization member managed to land another hit which was enough to break him out of his formchange.
"Fuck!"
As he collapsed to the ground while also coughing blood.
While on the ground trying to get back up, he started to shout with anger all the while the Organization member was slowly approaching him:
"I'll make you pay...You Bastard!"
"..."
"I promise you, you WILL PAY FOR THIS!"
"..."
The Organization member stood over Subaru as he paused for a second, looking at the hatred in the boy's eyes.
He moved his hand up as he prepared to take down the boy with one more hit, aiming at the boy's neck.
Right as he was about to slice his head off, the Organization member received a stab from his back.
"Huh?"
Subaru was caught off guard by this and quickly noticed that Waraki was still alive despite being injured badly.
The Organization member looked down for a moment at the sword piercing his chest before grabbing it with its left hand to break the sword with ease.
"...Wha...?"
"I was careless with you." The Organization member said before swiftly turning around and ending Waraki's life with a swipe of his hand which caused Waraki's head to fall to the ground first before his body collapsed to the ground.
"W-Waraki..."
"What troublesome knight." The Organization member turned towards Subaru. "You all are nothing more than dangerous men."
The second he finished speaking, Subaru's world suddenly went black.
'I'll get this bastard...'
Everything felt disorienting at first, feeling nothing for a moment before his vision was blurry for only a moment before he could see where he ended up again.
"Could we explore the castle a bit?" Melty spoke with a desire of wanting to check out this place since it's their first time being in such an important place.
Tiga smiled as he nodded before turning towards Subaru.
"It's our first time being in here so please don't mind us exploring a bit."
"..." Subaru was silent as he seemed like he was staring off into the distance. This caught everyone's attention which prompted Tiga to ask,
"Are you okay?" As he asked this, he tapped on Subaru's shoulder which caused Subaru snap back into reality.
'Huh? What? I'm...back here again.' Subaru looked around and noticed that this was around the time Melty and Tiga had gone to explore the castle.
He looked around and the first thing that had his attention was seeing Beatrice.
Recalling how easily she was killed by the Organization member as well as how she was killed mercilessly prompted him to quickly go and hug her.
"Beako!"
"What?!"
She was not expecting this and was just spooked by Subaru's sudden affection.
Not that she disliked it though she wished it wasn't just so sudden.
"S-S-Subaru!"
"Sorry, you just look so huggable!" Subaru spoke with a positive tone which caused Beatrice to remain silent.
She just let her contractor do has he pleases all the while hugging him back, feeling happy at this moment.
After a few seconds, he gets up all the while holding onto one of Beatrice's hands.
Once up, he turns towards Tiga to apologize to him by saying:
"Sorry, I guess something was on my mind."
The moment he said that, he once again was reminded that the Organization member is waiting around in the second floor where he and Waraki were attacked in the previous loop.
Remembering this prompted him to ask both Waraki and Tiga,
"Could you two come with me for a moment? I want to speak, just the three of us."
As Subaru said this, everyone was a bit taken aback from this.
Beatrice didn't like this since she didn't want to leave Subaru's side.
This was something he expected to happen, so he turned towards her to ask:
"Could you and Melty wait here for us? We won't be long."
"You better not." Beatrice said with an unhappy tone, not liking this at all.
Subaru knew that she wasn't happy by this, yet he needed to do this since he can't afford her to get killed again.
He wouldn't live with himself if he watched her be struck down again.
As the three were leaving onto the next room nearby, Tiga and Waraki both turned towards Subaru with the knight asking,
"What's this all about?"
"You sensed something wrong, no?" Subaru questioned, wanting to see if Waraki at this moment sensed the Organization member.
Waraki remained silent for a second before responding with:
"At the moment, everything seems to be fine."
"Yes, I doubt there's anything to worry about right now." Tiga added.
"..." Subaru was silent as he started to worry then with the answer he received that perhaps it was around the time Tiga and Melty had headed off to explore where the Organization member had entered the castle. With that information being thought of, he looked at the two with a serious expression while telling them, "I think there's someone here."
"Are you sure about that?" Waraki instinctively questioned as his attitude had change from calm and collected into a more serious one.
"I believe we should be on guard."
"If that's the case then I need to stay by Melty-sama's side." Tiga said as he was going to leave the room and return to where Melty and Beatrice were at.
"We need to work together in finding the threat."
"But what about Melty-sama? What about your contracted spirit? We can't leave them out on the open—"
"The problem with that Tiga is that if the threat Subaru's mentioning about fights you, your attention won't be all there. Melty will be distracting you and might cost you your life."
Tiga took into consideration on what Waraki had said, seeing that he does make a point.
Should a threat attack him and Melty, he would most likely give away that he's doing everything in his power to protect her.
"Then what should we do? We can't leave them on their own."
"You underestimate Beako. She can handle herself."
"She is a capable spirit, though it is concerning to leave her to defend Melty all on her own. I think you should stay with the two, Tiga."
"Alright. Then I presume you two will search around for the possible threat?"
"Yeah, me and Subaru got it co—"
"No." Subaru interrupted. "The three of us need to go together."
"Why?" Tiga protested.
"Because..." Subaru paused as he didn't want to give away too much without getting some suspicion from the two. All he could come up with was, "If this threat is say a Sin Archbishop, we might need all the help we can get."
"If we are going there, then you will just need me." Waraki spoke with a hint of hate in his voice. "Having more of us might be a hindrance."
"Not to mention if this threat finds Melty-sama and the great spirit first, they might be in even more trouble." Tiga added.
Although Subaru would want to have both Tiga and Waraki by his side when facing the Organization member, they make a point. If the Organization member somehow finds their way towards the door leading to the council of wisemen, it would be a problem if only Beatrice was there to face such a threat alone.
"You make a fair point...then I guess it'll be Waraki, me, and Beako going out to check where the potential threat is located."
"I thought you didn't want her involved?"
"I don't but when me and her work together, we are a lot stronger."
"Well, if that's what you want to do, I won't stop you. Though what would you like Melty-sama and I to do if we end up encountering the threat first?"
"Then alert the others. If things get tough, enter the room Emilia-tan's at."
"Okay."
With that in mind, the three returned back to where Melty and Beatrice were located with those two noticing a sudden change of attitude from the three.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, Melty-sama. We are just changing our plans."
"What do you mean?" She asked in confusion. Tiga didn't respond with words though he gave a smile to make sure she didn't start to worry. While they were discussing, Subaru turned towards Beatrice to tell her,
"Beako, follow us."
"Okay..."
Beatrice had a bad feeling when Subaru asked her to follow him and Waraki, almost like something's going on though she was happy to assist her contractor in any way she can.
As the three were heading off, Melty turn towards Tiga with concern.
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, they just went to check something out."
Melty looked at him with an uncertain expression before turning towards Subaru, Waraki, and Beatrice's direction.
All she could do if something was going on was to pray for them to be safe from whatever danger they might be heading into.
While she did that, Beatrice looked at Subaru to ask him:
"What's going on?"
"...At the moment, I suspect something's up." Subaru responded, "So let's keep our guards up."
"Understood." Despite little information was given, Beatrice could tell with that her contractor had suspected either a witch cultist or one of Sora's enemies to be in the castle.
As the three were exploring the second floor, the same floor Subaru had suffered death at the hands of Return by Death, Subaru had his keyblade out in case he needs to be ready for battle.
'I'm not letting that bastard get the jump on us again!'
As he thought of this, he and his small group walked around the floor only to find nobody there.
'Hm. That's odd. Where the hell is this asshole at?'
He knew that something was up since this was the exact spot they were attacked in the previous loop, prompting him to think that perhaps they are too early.
This made him nervous since he doesn't like that things are going different right off the bat.
The three continued to look around the second floor they were in only to find themselves empty handed.
"It seems like nobody's here, I suppose."
"Yeah, guess I was wrong." Subaru said with a bit of hesitation. "Let's head back—"
"Hold on." Waraki spoke in a serious tone, catching Subaru and Beatrice's attention.
"What?"
"The Great Spirit has a point, there is nobody here."
"What do you mean?" Subaru questioned as he crossed his arms.
"Look around. Where's the guards? Where are the nobles that are usually in the castle roaming around? Where is everybody?"
The two looked around and realized that Waraki had a point.
When they had entered the castle, it was very lively with Melty greeting every noble or knight that was around and a few knights recognizing both Waraki and Subaru which prompted them to at the very least welcome them to the castle.
Noticing this detail had made Subaru realized that in the previous loop, there was also nobody around.
'How didn't we notice it last time?'
This was something he's now taking into account, making him think that this Organization member must've been on their tail since they had entered the castle.
"We need to go back."
Waraki and Beatrice nodded as they also had a bad feeling about this and for what might be going on with Melty and Tiga.
Subaru picks up Beatrice before he and Waraki start running towards where they had left Tiga and Melty.
As they were running for a minute, they eventually arrive to see the floor having a large pool of blood.
"We are too late." Subru said as he was shocked by the amount of blood around the door and on the floor.
"They managed to escape, though I could believe that Tiga was left badly wounded knowing him."
"Then where are they, in fact?"
As Beatrice asked this question, Subaru and Waraki sensed something to which the keyblade wielder was prepared for this time.
He quickly used Reflect in order to create a barrier around himself, Beatrice, and Waraki to protect the three from the Organization member's surprise attack.
At first the two were confused until Subaru turned behind him while also setting Beatrice down.
"It seems the one responsible for this hadn't left the crime scene." Subaru pointed his keyblade directly towards the Organization member who was standing in front of him, having been pushed back by the shield. The second the shield went down, a couple of energy light balls appeared around him before exploding.
'This time, you will pay.' Subaru thought to himself as he did his formchange with his Rebirth keyblade, sticking with his darkness sage attire portion of his formchange for this fight.
Understanding full well who they are dealing with, Waraki had his sword out and ready for combat while Beatrice had her yin magic ready for battle.
The moment the Organization member moved, Beatrice summoned a barrage of purple projectiles before shouting,
"El Minya!"
The purple projectiles were sent towards the Organization member's direction, trying to catch him while he was off guard though the moment they were about to land onto the Organization member, he disappeared and avoided the attack.
"What?"
Right as Beatrice was caught off guard by this, she suddenly was surrounded by a darkness barrier.
'As if I'd let you hurt her again.' Subaru angrily thought to himself as he used his darkness from his sage attire to protect his contracted spirit.
The Organization member turned towards Subaru's direction, seeing that he's been a problem the second he decided to attack them.
Before the Organization member was about to attack Subaru, Waraki took this chance to swing his sword at him.
The Organization member noticed this and was able to block away the attack right on time before it could even hit him.
Waraki saw this and angrily swung his blade once again.
The Organization member once again blocked away the attack though he went for a counterattack to try and finish off the knight with one attack.
Using his sword skills, he was able to keep up with the Organization member's attacks.
Subaru looked at this and was surprised by how Waraki was doing better this time around than in the last loop.
The only thing that he can think of is that perhaps he was badly hurt when the two were attacked by the Organization member in a surprise attack, which didn't allow him to fight properly.
It didn't matter, right now they need to beat this Organization member before he has the chance to take anyone else down.
"Fira!"
Subaru shouted as he created a fireball and fired it towards the Organization member, wanting to help Waraki out.
His assistance allowed Waraki to try to land a hit all the while the Organization member had left himself open for a second when he dodged Subaru's fireball attack.
The Organization member at first attempted to dodge the attack, however seeing that it won't work, he decided to just tank the attack in order to throw a counterattack.
As a part of his face was hit, his attack did much more damage by slicing off Waraki's left arm with a single swing.
The two knights and the great spirit were just completely shocked by this, prompting Subaru to quickly run towards Waraki to protect him from the Organization member's secondary attack aiming for the knight's neck.
Subaru using his formchange was able to move fast enough to block away the attack from the Organization member.
As he was able to pull this off, the Organization member quickly managed to land a kick onto Subaru's stomach area before cutting a bit of hist face with a simple slice.
Subaru was pushed back by this, stepping back as his face was cut though not as badly as it feels.
Before he could try to attack back, Waraki with his remaining hand swung his blade with all of his strength with just his one remaining hand.
The Organization member managed to block away this attack before dodging Subaru's attack, having sensed the boy trying to attack him while he was distracted.
Both Subaru and Waraki jumped away from him to allow Beatrice to once again try another yin magic attack.
Right as she creates another barrage of purple projectiles to fire directly towards their opponent's direction.
The Organization member looked at these projectiles before waving his hand around, destroying all of the projectiles with ease.
This forced Subaru and Waraki to try another combined attack onto their shared opponent only for said opponent to teleport away.
The moment this happened, Subaru quickly created a barrier around Beatrice with his darkness from his sage attire to prevent their opponent from trying to attack her.
As suspected, the Organization member appeared right behind the barrier where Beatrice is at and attempted to not only destroy the barrier but also eliminate her as well.
Subaru smiled confidently as he saw that the attack the Organization member attempted failed as the barrier was able to protect Beatrice.
'Got you, asshole!'
Right as he was approaching his opponent, he was surprised when he threw away what appeared to be an axe before suddenly the Organization's right arm turned into a giant wolf like arm.
'The hell?!'
Worried for Beatrice's sake, he quickly attempted to block away the Organization member's attack only to be send flying back while still being able to protect her.
"Subaru!" Waraki shouted as he saw his fellow knight friend being send flying.
This prompted him to charge directly at the Organization member while having his sword ready to swing only to be killed with one of the Organization member's attacks.
"No!" Beatrice shouted as she was stunned by seeing Waraki's lifeless body collapse to the ground.
Subaru was trying to get up, yet he looked and saw that his chest was badly wounded.
"What...? *Cough*"
He started to cough some blood, seeing that this wound he had received from the Organization member was more lethal than he thought.
'Well...Shit...'
Subaru tried to get back up only for the Organization member to stomp on him, putting him back onto the floor with his back on the ground.
As he's pinned, he looked up and saw that the Organization member was looking down on him.
This pissed him off since there's nothing he can do now though something had his attention.
He turned towards the direction the axe was sent off.
Once he spotted it, he could tell that it looked very familiar which had him question this Organization member since he knows from what his master had told him in regards to the Organization that none use an axe.
'Who the hell is he then? Can...Can it be...?'
Right before he had a chance to recognize the Organization member, he hears Beatrice shout:
"LEAVE BETTY'S SUBARU ALONE!"
As she shouted this, she used the remaining of her mana to try and save her contractor which distracted the Organization member.
This distraction allowed Subaru to use his sage attire to quickly land a hit onto the face of the Organization member.
This gave him three seconds to see who's behind the hood and once he saw, he was left shocked.
The Organization member realized this and didn't hesitate to kill Subaru, viewing him a threat despite being pinned to the ground.
With a swipe of his hand, he sliced off Subaru's head, killing him in an instant.
Returning once again, Subaru closed his eyes as he knew what he saw in the previous loop. He didn't expect that he was going to encounter him.
"Could we explore the castle a bit?" Melty spoke with a desire of wanting to check out this place since it's their first time being in such an important place. Tiga smiled as he nodded before turning towards Subaru.
"It's our first time being in here so please don't mind us exploring a bit."
Recalling this encounter, he quickly responded to Melty and Tiga's request by saying:
"Could you all stay here for a moment? I'm going to let the other knights know about you two wanting a tour. Wouldn't it be better to have a proper tour of the castle?"
Melty and Tiga looked at each other, at first uncertain though considering what Subaru is trying to do for them, they turned back towards him with Melty responding:
"That's very nice of you, Subaru. Thank you."
Subaru nodded with a smile before preparing to head off on his own though both Beatrice and Waraki weren't going to allow this.
"Where are you going without Betty?"
"It shouldn't take too long, Beako. I promise."
"...Hmph." Beatrice didn't like this however she trusted that her contractor isn't going to get himself into any trouble...for now. While she was going back to her spot, Waraki approached Subaru to say:
"I could assist you with that."
"No need. I can handle this. It's not the toughest thing in the world. Besides, one of us should remain here in case other knights or nobles come around and start asking questions."
"Then allow me to go. I do know the place more than you."
"I know but allow me to do something."
"And let me stay here and do nothing?"
"What? Afraid of guarding the big bad door?"
"I'm not afraid!"
"Then you'll be fine guarding the door without me for a few minutes."
"Now hey!"
As Waraki tried to stop Subaru, he took the chance to run down to the second floor to be on his own.
Granted though he would've preferred that Waraki accompany him if it were just a simple task of getting Melty and Tiga a guide...though before being able to do this, he first needed to confront someone alone.
He walked around the second floor and noticed that there were some knights and nobles roaming around, seeing that there are indeed people which gives him the idea that the Organization member was responsible for the sudden disappearance of the other knights and nobles.
Being sure about this, he walked towards a place in the castle where he was secluded and alone, knowing that this would be a waste of a loop...however, he's confident that alone he could keep him distracted long enough to gather information before attempting to escape.
Once he was sure that there wasn't anybody around, he remained still for a moment before shouting:
"I know you are there, show yourself."
The atmosphere at first felt nothing but emptiness before there was a looming darkness that nearly overwhelmed him.
He turned around and saw the Organization member appear, slowly approaching him with a menacing aura.
Rather than summoning his Rebirth keyblade, he summoned the keyblade he had earned in Vollachia, the Glaciation Angel keyblade.
Once he summoned this keyblade, he spoke to the Organization member:
"I know who you are, no need to hide underneath that hood, Todd Fang."
"..."
The Organization member remained silent for a moment before showing his face, revealing that it is indeed Todd Fang as Subaru called out.
"Well, it all explains what had happened to you. Are your two friends a part of the Organization as well?"
"..."
"What? Are you just going to stay silent for this whole conversation?"
"..."
Todd didn't say anything to his opponent, though he stared with dead eyes, almost like he has no care for anything. He remained silent for a second before charging right towards Natsuki Subaru, preparing to end him with one swing of his axe only for Subaru to block this attack with his Glaciation Angel keyblade.
'I might not stand a chance against you on my own, but I'll still do my damn best to kick your ass.'
Thinking this motivated him to formchange with the keyblade he's wielding, which he was dressed in an almost similar attire to Emilia's usual attire only with his being more ice like.
He swung his keyblade towards Todd's direction, which the keyblade created icicles to be sent towards him.
Todd easily blocked these icicles away before charging at his opponent once again, trying to kill him again.
Subaru with his formchange was able to create an ice barrier around him with his attire, which helped block away the attack from Todd.
Subaru took this chance to counterattack on Todd and almost landed a hit if Todd didn't teleport away.
"That's annoying as hell."
He looked around for a moment before sensing Todd was about to strike him from behind.
He quickly turned around and managed to block Todd's sneak attack.
As he did this, he managed to disarm him with a single swing of his keyblade sending a barrage of icicles towards the Organization member.
Todd looked at these icicles with a blank expression before easily destroying them with his transformed beast arm.
"What's that all about? Are you a demi human now? Or, well, have you always been a demi human?"
"...Hm." Todd Fang continued to give a blank expression though he was a bit cautious when he heard Subaru's questions.
The fact that Subaru asked in a not so surprised tone had made him more wary than he already was with this keyblade wielder.
"You are more dangerous than I had thought."
"Hm? Did you say something?" Subaru questioned.
Todd didn't respond though he just started to transform into his beast form.
While he was turning into Werewolf/Wolf human, an even stronger aura of darkness continued to grow around him.
This made Subaru hesitate for a moment since the darkness had made him hesitate on whether he could even survive the fight against Todd if he stays any longer.
Right as he was going to make a run for it, he saw Todd Fang disappear for only a few seconds before receiving a powerful blow onto his stomach area.
He was sent flying across the room they were in, allowing Todd to rapidly approach Subaru to land a few more hits onto him before slamming the keyblade wielder onto the ground.
This had caused Subaru to receive too many injuries that Todd Fang knocked him out of his formchange.
"...d-darn...th-th-that hurt..."
As Subaru was attempted to get back up, Todd in his werewolf form grabbed the boy's throat with one hand before pulling him up, carrying him while also chocking the life out of him.
"You are too dangerous to remain alive."
"..."
Subaru couldn't say any kind of response has he was losing conscious from the lack of oxygen only for Todd to suddenly let him go.
The second this happened, Subaru breath heavily for a moment before looking up to see what had happened.
He noticed that somehow Waraki and Tiga were standing behind Todd, seeming like that they attacked him all the while he was preparing to kill him a few seconds ago.
They were able to do some damage to Todd before jumping back to avoid being caught by his attack. This gave Subaru a chance to quickly gain some distance from Todd in order to heal himself.
Once he casted Cura on himself, he continued to wield the Glaciation Angel keyblade as he pointed said keyblade directly towards Todd all the while shouting:
"Fira!"
As a fireball was sent flying towards Todd's direction, he quickly managed to dodge the attack which forced Waraki and Tiga to dodge as well from being caught by the explosion.
This gave Todd an opening to try and kill Subaru while he still had the chance.
Right as it seemed like he was about to die, a familiar purple haired knight appeared in between the two of them and managed to block away the attack from Todd Fang.
"Huh? Julius?"
"Seems like I arrived just in time." The finest knight spoke with a confident tone before managing to push Todd back.
Once this was successful, Tiga and Waraki charged at Todd while he was distracted in an attempt to land an attack on his back side.
He sensed this and swiftly kicked both Tiga and Waraki away before turning back towards Julius's direction to block away one of his attacks.
As it seems like he was going to easily block this attack, Julius managed to push him back and break his guard.
"?!"
Todd looked with anger has he wasn't expecting this human to be that strong, making him re-evaluate who he needs to take out first.
This would eventually change again when he noticed Subaru return back to the fight with his formchange once again, though this time he was dawning the sage attire with his Rebirth Keyblade in his hand.
He blocked the shadows that were coming out of the sage attire before being unable to block away Subaru's keyblade swing.
This landed onto his face which had pushed him back for a moment, allowing him to see that if anybody should die first, it should be Natsuki Subaru.
He began to glow with a dark aura around him and his eyes starting to glow yellow, prompting Julius to swiftly move towards Subaru's position in order to pull him away from Todd's swift and lethal attack.
"That was close!"
"You need to be more careful."
"I know I know."
Subaru got up, annoyed at Julius though he dropped this feeling as the two looked at Todd Fang and his darkness growing more every second that passes.
The two got their respective weapons up as he charged towards them, attempting to end this with one hit.
Subaru increased the darkness around him as he prepared to strike in order to clash with Todd, confident that his training has made him strong enough to do something like this.
Julius closed his eyes for a brief moment before his sword started to glow with rainbow colors.
Eventually this rainbow color seemed to have swallowed the finest knight if only briefly before being seen along with Subaru charging towards Todd.
The two sides clashed within a few seconds with both sides being equal in terms of strength before all three were sent flying back towards different directions of the room they were in.
As all three crashed into separate walls, Tiga and Waraki got up from being kicked and quickly started to run towards where Todd had ended up.
Right as they were approaching his location, they were a bit confused when they saw that they didn't see Todd there.
"Where did he go?"
"..." Tiga was silent for a moment before turning around towards Subaru and Julius, seeing that they are getting back up.
He also noticed more knights entering the room, having heard all the mess happening.
One of the knights entering was Marcos Gildark entering the room with a large amount of guards behind him.
"What's going on here?!"
"...Marcos..." Waraki looked at the captain of the royal guard for a moment before turning towards Subaru and Julius, seeing that Marcos had his attention right towards the pair.
"What happened here?"
As he sternly questioned the two with this question alone, the two looked at each other for a moment before Julius took the chance to respond with:
"Apologies, Marcos-sama, there was someone attacking Natsuki Subaru and Waraki Seimoto. One of the members of the Organization."
Marcos paused for a moment has he didn't know who Julius was though hearing that the Organization was back at the capital had his attention a lot more. He turned towards Subaru to press him on that:
"Is this true?"
"Yes."
"I see." Marcos turned towards the guards and the knights in the room. "Search the castle. Make sure the intruder doesn't escape!"
As he said this with a serious voice, all the guards and knights nodded before pulling out their weapons and searching for the intruder.
While they all headed off, Subaru turned towards Julius to ask him:
"What are you doing here anyway?"
"I just happened to be nearby when I heard a commission. It just so happened to have been you facing what seems to be a new Organization member."
"It is a new one though not a new foe."
"What do you mean?" Julius questioned Subaru's comment.
"I can explain later." Subaru turned his attention towards Tiga and Waraki, noticing them approaching him and Julius's position. "What happened to Beako and Melty?"
"They are safe. The Great Spirit can handle herself."
"Then why did you leave them all alone?"
"They were both concern for your sake, so we decided to see what if you were alright." Tiga spoke calmly with his usual friendly demeanor. "It seems we made the right choice."
"Yeah. I would've been dead without you two." Subaru said with a smile, happy that he didn't end up looping. He knew that was a suicide mission though he was just extremely lucky this time around.
"You are such a fool." Waraki said in a teasing yet annoyed tone. "You could've been killed."
"I know, it wasn't like I was planning for that to happen!"
"Regardless, I'm just glad you are still among the living alongside us." Tiga spoke which caused Subaru to just smile with confidence.
"It'll take more than that to kill me."
"Yeah. Sure." Waraki said, dismissing Subaru's comment before changing the subject. "That wasn't one of the Organization members Sora had talked about."
"No, he's not. He's a new one."
"Didn't know that they can just recruit new members." Julius pitched in, finding that a bit disturbing.
"Could he be gathering new recruits?"
"Who knows. We would have to ask Sora about this..." Subaru was hesitent when saying this since he doesn't know if the other two Vollachia soldiers, Jamal Aurelie and Larkin Barron, also joined Xehanort and are roaming around the castle.
"We have to alert the others then."
Subaru nodded at Waraki's comment and quickly the two along with Tiga and Julius headed towards where Beatrice and Melty had been left at.
Once arriving there, Beatrice could instantly tell that someone had attacked her contractor.
"What happened?!"
"Let's just say that we have a problem." As he said this vague response, he attempted to open the door leading to the council of wisemen only to see that it was locked.
"Wh-What's going on?" Melty asked as she noticed the injuries Tiga had on him. He looked at her for a moment before turning towards Subaru, noticing him pointing his keyblade at the door. This confused the pair for a moment before noticing that the door had created a keyhole suddenly.
"What is this?" Tiga questioned, having been the first time he's seen the keyblade do something that isn't creating magical abilities or be used as a sword.
"A little trick." Subaru responded as the tip of his keyblade glowed for a second before firing a beam directly towards the keyhole. The moment the light of the keyblade hit the keyhole, an unlock sound can be heard as the door started to glow for a few seconds before disappearing.
"Well...that's one way to open a door."
Subaru didn't respond to the comment as he along with Beatrice, Julius, and Waraki entered the room. Emilia, Crusch, Ferris, Wilhelm, and all of the council of wisemen turned towards Subaru's direction.
"What's the meaning of this?" Miklotov McMahon asked in a calm tone.
"Apologies, however, we have a problem." Julius said as he knew that they would be mad that they are interrupting a meeting.
"What problem? And who are you, knight?" Bordeaux Zellgef annoyingly questioned. Subaru took the chance to respond on behalf of Julius,
"He's Julius Juukulius. The problem we have right now is that there's not only an intruder, but the Organization that attacked over a year ago are coming back for another attack."
All council of wisemen were on high alert when hearing this, prompting Miklotov McMahon to ask,
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
With those words, the council of wisemen understood the situation.
Although they don't trust Subaru, they can see from what he said and the talk they were having with two royal candidates that they will need to prepare for what's coming.
Author's note:
So yes, we are having two separate storylines happening at the same time. I wanted to post two chapters back to back just to show what each group is up to before going back to one chapter at a time. Hopefully you all enjoyed the two chapters.