128: Dagon

I was worshipped, once.

On islands of blasphemous sludge, upon altars of bleakest stone, millions were offered to slake my appetite. Ziggurats of inhuman design were built upon the ocean floor, and my kin ruled all beneath the waves.

"-No. No, that never happened, it didn't-!" I groan, clutching a scaly hand to the face upon my new form's chest. How loathsome. How wretched.

Judgment. Pass judgment. That is the duty of a god, and once I tear the interlopers limb from limb they shall know my name-!

My form starts to rot, but I correct it with gritted teeth. Just a small bit more. Just one more chance, and I will-! I will-!

I am insane. I know that. I've known that for tens of thousands of years- is wrong. I've only been insane for a few thousand. Since my kin sank into the sea-

Wrong. Wrong. It's all wrong.

I rise from the water, staggering ashore - there. A blue-haired girl, child of the Greek gods. I have seen her with the accursed one, so I attack her exposed back without mercy.

"What-!?" She shouts, whirling around and flooding the air with Magic Circles as I erupt from the water, Energy beams gouge my flesh, but I withstand it, and-

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅-!" My [Distorted Roar] fills the air as my fist connects with her hastily raised guard and shatters her arms. She's launched backwards, and kicking off the sand, I meet her flying form, catching the girl by a leg and twisting to hurl her back to the beach below. As I do so, I'm sure to tighten my grip enough to break that limb as well.

Calling the wind of the slowly returning storm to redirect my motion, I summon a jet of water behind me in the air to bring me back down with clasped fists upon the prone witch.

"Pathetic! Pathetic, child of the greeks! Do you see, now!? I am beyond those fools! Even in this state, Their children…" No. No, is this something to boast about…? I… I…

Oh, she's crawling away. I step on her remaining leg and break it. She makes a pleasant noise from her mouth. Why do I…?

"The accursed one… where is he?" I ask, holding her bruised face up by the hair. "No, it doesn't matter. He will come meet with you soon, and when he does, I will kill you in front of him! Ha! Ha! Wahahahaha!"

To push him over the edge of despair is the natural role of a demon like myself- "AAAAAAHHHH! NO! NO, that's wrong, it's all wrong! I am a god! I am a god! I am a god!"

"That tactic… will not affect Lord Subaru. He's a man without a heart," The girl says, affection clear in her voice. "You seem unstable, so you probably couldn't see it… everything he did for me was just an act to earn my trust. I'm sure, he'll move on without a second thought, the moment I'm killed."

"No… no, I have watched! The accursed one… the accursed one will despair if his allies are slain. I know it-!" I scream, grinding her face into the sand. "The tone of your voice betrays you! That love-! Yes, if it is mutual, then-!"

"It isn't. There's no one who can love a witch, after all," She says, smiling despite everything. "But he won't love anyone else. That's… enough for me. And, more importantly, when he finally has no use for me, Subaru-sama, unlike Jason… will be sure to kill me properly, when he abandons me."

"-That won't happen," Someone says.

At first, I do not recognize him. The image of an old bearded man with a peg leg seems to be superimposed over him as he dashes forward. Then, that illusion breaks, and I see the accursed one, wild-eyed as he closes the gap between us, two blades gripped in his hands.

"Even so, you are too slow-!" I shout, hands shooting for the girl's neck, but-!

"Don't move!" A voice calls out, and as my limbs seize up, I grapple with the sight of a second accursed one, identical to the first, a command spell glowing on the back of his hand.

Alter Ego

"So, Rigel, correct me if I'm wrong-" my self-proclaimed brother starts.

"You're really going with that name?" I mutter in mild protest.

"-but all those times you were trying to save your girlfriend-" he continues.

"She's not- it's more complicated than that!"

"-you were either trying after possessing me or just running off on your own as a Servant, right?" He finishes.

"...Now that you say it like that, it sounds really stupid," I mutter.

But of course, I wasn't going to ask him to help. Because I couldn't convince him to follow my orders without thinking, and I don't like explaining things to others.

Holding the same conversation, over and over again… will drive me insane, if I let it. At the very least, it makes me start shouting, and from there it's just a short path to… I think it would be called a psychotic break. I haven't really learned any psychology or anything, but the type of feral rage that sweeps over me at times like that is what I imagine a psychotic break is like.

"It sounds stupid because it is stupid," He says, and I manage to hold back my feral rage. "If a Servant isn't enough, and a Master isn't enough, then you need to try bringing both, obviously."

"Wow. You're so wise. Amazing," I say, voice dripping with sarcasm.

He winks, giving an insufferable smirk. "Right, so let me lay out the plan here. You might not have been able to tell because you don't recognize her as an ally, but with [Cor Leonis] I saw that Dagon is occupying Nobunaga's headless body right now." With what now? "I've been able to interfere with possession using it in the past, so between that and my command spell, I should be able to slow him down enough."

"Back up. Don't talk about things I don't know about. What's [Cor Leonis]?" I ask, and the most smug look I've seen so far stretches across his face.

…

…Wait, he can actually use his Witch Factors!?

As Tawrich tears open Dagon's wrist, I still can't believe it. He's still frozen, and I won't get another chance - twist, push in the hip, and - execute the one and only Judo throw that Natsuki Subaru ever learned, the Ogoshi.

"Ippon!" the other me yells, and I feel a faint twitch at the edge of my lips.

For just a moment, I glance towards Medea. She's alive. It feels… unreal.

Of course it's unreal. Even if she's alive for now… I know. something will go wrong. Something always goes wrong. I won't let myself of all people believe Natsuki Subaru's bravado. I will die, and fail, a dozen times yet, before this situation resolves.

Already, I can see him rising, unbound from the Command Spell's influence.

"...Two of you?" The reef god asks. "What trickery is this!?"

"It's not a trick. Just a coincidence, really," the other guy says. "He got summoned because someone else got interested in me, and called him up to fight me. To be honest, until you went and mistook Rigel for me, he didn't really have any reason to fight you."

"...I do not understand. That curse-" Dagon murmurs.

"Was on Natsuki Subaru, yeah. To be clear, it was supposed to be just me, since I foiled your resurrection scheme a few centuries back," He grins. "So next time you go slinging curses on people, make it more specific, dumbass!"

I can't believe it.

Dagon groans, clawing at the face on his chest in some kind of confusion. "You… no, humans do not live so long! Cease your lies! Why!? Tell me why I have cursed you!"

I can't believe this stalling tactic is working.

"I'm not lying. In another singularity, like this one, you were going to revive yourself, and I stopped it," Natsuki Subaru says coldly as he walks up to stand next to me. "Not because we were enemies or anything. I just felt like it - your method was gross, so I stopped it - ah, there we go, that's enough time."

Seriously, all he had to do was get him talking!?

As lightning starts to rain from the sky - on his hand, in a flash of red, a fresh command spell appears at the stroke of midnight.

"Now, Rigel!"

"[Return From Death]," Once more, my world opens upon the sandy shoreline.

The plan was simple enough. Get him off of Medea with a command spell, stall until a new one was delivered from Chaldea, and then trap the three of us in my Reality Marble again while excluding Medea. From there, the two of us could double team Dagon and bring him down under an unrelenting deluge of mud and blade strikes. Plus, since dying restores us to our state when the Reality Marble opened, he could effectively use as many Command Spells as he wanted, and wouldn't have to worry about the constant drain on his mana he had mentioned.

"[Rage-filled Current]!" Dagon roars as the reality Marble closes, and a torrent of mud rises from somewhere, already swallowing the green hillscape. And in response, Natsuki Subaru raises his hand, Command Spell alight.

"By my Command Spell… Rigel. Don't die," He says, stepping past me and towards the torrent of primordial ooze and bones.

What.

I try to chase after him, but- my body betrays me, and I leap backwards as I feel the telltale surge of mana from his demise.

What the hell is he-?

"-By my command spell," Natsuki Subaru says as a corpse is added to the pile, and a new him is born from the Reality Marble. "Rigel - Live."

"What are you doing, Natsuki Subaru!?" I scream as Dagon erupts from the grime beneath him to tear him in half.

Just how far are you willing to go?

"By my command spell-" He continues, as the bones of an ancient fish are hurled towards him to impale and kill him. "Value your life."

Just how good natured are you going to be towards me, you idiot!?

{Anyway,} His voice echoes in my mind. {It's my fault you got caught up in all this in the first place, you know? I'll take it from here, so just leave the rest to your big bro.}

"Just how long do you think I've been around, you moron! In what world-!?" I shout as I dodge a thrown bone.

{Loops don't count. Otherwise being in love with Emilia-tan could theoretically approach creepy territory at some point, right?}

"...What flawlessly self-serving logic."

{Anyway, you can leave the rest to me. Back me up with some Odin magic or something,} He concludes. "Don't move!" amidst the whirling grime Dagon freezes for a moment, and in the next, Subaru fires a spell towards him "[Shamak]!"

Natsuki Subaru

I have done quite a few incredibly stupid things in my time. However…

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅-!" Surfing atop a wave of cursed mud, Dagon closes the distance again and punches my head off.

This is still almost definitely my dumbest plan yet.

My command spell glows. "Allow my spells to affect you, Nobunaga! [Shamak]!" Even as my hastily fired Shamak finds its mark, purple lighting erupts from his claw and I scream as my body shakes itself to death.

But this is my fight. Not his. He's already died so many times thanks to a problem I caused, so he can stand back and let me handle it just this once. And besides, there's also-

"Fight his possession, Nobunaga!"

-A glimmering star, still somehow present in my awareness, even as the ancient god occupying her body tears into me again.

"Why won't you die!?" The monster roars, and I smirk.

"Authorities, Dagon! They revive me in response to physical trauma!" Let it not be said that Natsuki Subaru lacks a quick mind for idiotic references. "By the way, cast off his influence, Nobuanga!" I shout, Command Spell glowing.

"Hah… this realm, then. It must be… very well!" He stands tall, amid the still rising tide of corrupted mud and ancient grime, utterly unfazed by the corruption rising up his legs. "-Your efforts are futile, accursed one. My control over this corpse is all but absolute. Nothing in its arsenal is beyond my reach - behold! I am… the [Demon King of the Sixth Heaven]!"

The world shudders as flames erupt from the blighted mudscape.

"Goddammit, he's going to break it down!" Rigel shouts as Dagon leaps towards my newest body, propelled by a reeking, steaming mix of fire and grime. "Unsealing the Furnace! Attain a drop of truth! [Incineration Ritual: Zepar]!"

Dagon crashes through the explosion - flesh charred, all but burnt away, he still closes the distance as [Return From Death] begins to crack and fray under the weight of a superior Reality Marble.

Seconds, I have seconds before I die, and so I panic, pulling as hard as I can, my neck and chest starting to bleed as I draw as much of Nobunaga's burden to myself as possible, and in a final, desperate bid- "[Emergency Citrus]!" I shout, hitting him with the stupidly named debuff cleanse.

Dagon's right claw closes around my neck - but that's all. No pressure is applied. And then-

"Im…possible." The left claw, digging into the face upon his chest, tears. "Impossible, impossible, I cannot-!"

With a final spray of blood and spiritrons, Nobunaga tears the whole mass of flesh out of her chest cavity and hurls it away into the flames of her reality marble.

For just a moment, I can still see her standing proud, amidst the rising flames. A headless corpse with a hole clean through the center leaking golden dust that scatters dazzlingly in the flickering firelight.

"You really were… something else." I mutter, burning the sight of that prideful demon into my brain as the world dissolves into reality once more.

"Anyway, let's talk about my missing head," says Nobunaga.

…

"Give back my feelings!" I scream. She's fine! Not only is she alive without a head, she's talking without one!

"I… uh… do you mind if…" Rigel mutters, gesturing towards Medea. To be honest, I can pretty much tell that he just really, really, doesn't want to be part of this conversation. But still-

"Yeah, yeah, go talk it out," I say, sighing as I turn back to Nobbu. "I'll do my best to- where did you get a sign with your face drawn on it!?"

"Oh, Nobukatsu made this the last time-"

"It's happened before!?" I shout.

Well, I might be angry, but… to be honest this kind of ending is really the best possible. Even if it's nonsensical, even if it undercuts the drama… I'm happy about it.

And yet, somehow, I feel like I'm forgetting something.

!

-Pressure.

Sudden, overwhelming pressure that commands the waves to still and the wind to flee. Beyond anything I've ever felt, in this world or the other one, only surpassed by the witch herself. And yet, there's another sense.

A sickening, half-remembered dread, like a forgotten nightmare from the distant past.

-snarls. -screams. Crystalline, branch-like horns, writhing under the moonlight.

And the overwhelming, certain knowledge, as I see eleven stars flash brightly and vanish, that the true foe has finally arrived.