Chapter 100: Closer to the truth
With the warning given by Emilia's knight, the royal candidates agreed that they must first have a meeting to prepare for the upcoming battle against Organization XIII.
With permission of the council of wisemen, they were able to use the throne room as a place to discuss with all knights of each respective candidate attending said meeting with interestingly enough Tiga and Melty being allowed to attend this meeting.
The other members of their respective camps would be guarding the door to prevent anyone from interrupting them or attempting anything on the royal candidates.
"This amount of security is pointless! We have Reinhard here!" Felt shouted, pretty mad at how, in her view, it's a bit overkill the amount of security there is.
"These Organization members aren't a joke." Subaru said with a serious expression, catching the young girl's attention. "I don't doubt Rein's strength, however they are able to keep up with his crazy level of power as well."
Felt didn't like hearing this though she did turn towards Reinhard and noticed how he wasn't fazed by what Subaru had said.
"They are a problem though that won't stop me from stopping them should they try anything." The Sword Saint spoke out with confidence. Priscilla looked at the two knights, disinterested with this information though she was more curious on the Keyblade Master Sora's location.
"What's the Keyblade Master up to?"
"He's...currently dealing with a different situation."
"What kind of situation?" Al asked, curious on what he's up to as well.
"Let's just say he's going on a rescue mission." Tiga said before turning towards Priscilla, "We should try to focus on the important discussion being the Organization."
"Hmph."
She didn't say anything to Tiga despite how he was right on the matter. She turned away from everyone as Cursch turns towards Subaru.
"Last I recall in Vollachia, a few of those members from the Organization were defeated."
"Yes. From what Sora told me, the remaining ones is the leader himself, Xehanort, the young version of him, and the one with the two guns."
"That's not a lot of them." Felt spoke with a hint of cockiness.
"We are going to be dealing with the strong three, we shouldn't let our guards down." Reinhard said as he thought back to his battle with Young Xehanort, knowing that he's a tricky foe to defeat.
"The most troubling one to deal with would be the leader, Xehanort." Crusch added. "When Wilhelm and I faced him back in the Watergate city of Priestella, it definitely felt like he was toying with us."
"I feel that sentiment." Al said as he recalled when he along with Sora, Rem, Louis Arneb, Tiga, and Medium. "That man knows how to fight."
"Yes. He's quite skilled in combat." Tiga spoke as he closed his eyes and crossed his arms. "Facing him will probably take all of us...though I worry that even then we won't have the necessary skills to take him down without suffering casualties."
Tiga's words did resenate with those in the room since it was true, if all of them fought against Xehanort, it's more than likely that a lot of them might not make it through the end of the fight.
Felt and Al were the only two that weren't faced by Tiga's words but more or less motivated, just for different reasons.
Felt hates feeling inferior to anybody. She does understand that there's people that'll be completely beyond her level, however, that's no excuse for her at least to let the mentality that she'll lose weigh on her.
In Al's case, he's more focus on how he could become stronger to take on strong opponents such as Xehanort since it's his duty to protect Priscilla from people like that.
What most don't know is that he's definitely tried over a million of times to defeat Xehanort, though whatever he threw at the old keyblade master, he had some counter.
"I would prefer we avoid him, though I know that facing him is inevitable. What is the game plan to defeat him and his remaining members?"
With Al asking this, everyone turned towards him before thinking on the matter.
"Wilhelm-dono, you knew Xehanort, no? Perhaps you might have some insight on how we may defeat him." Crusch said as she turned towards Wilhelm's direction.
The old butler remained silent for a moment to reflect on his time with Xehanort back when the two were young.
Although the two were close, he knew after their last meeting that his potential was very high.
Seeing it now with his own eyes as well as the fact that he had gone down a darker path, he's not even certain that he has an idea on how to defeat him.
"When we were young, him and Eraqus were skilled fighters. Seeing Xehanort-dono become into a warrior for darkness is disheartening."
"I can imagine it'd be tough to face an old friend." Julius added in before asking, "Is there a chance to defeat him if we all teamed up against him similar to how we did against the one winged angel?"
Wilhelm remained silent for a moment as he thought on that idea suggested by Julius through analyzing his previous encounter with Xehanort back in the city of Priestella along with Crusch. Despite how Xehanort was toying with them, he could still tell what kind of strength lied behind the old keyblade master.
"Xehanort's strength is stronger than all of us combined. It's possible to secure a win, however without Sora-dono, we would have to rely on the master swordsman to protect us all...even then..."
"It would be impossible to face him if I'm constantly on defense." Reinhard said, finishing what his grandfather's thoughts on the matter were.
"Hm. Even with that disadvantage, we would still need to place our efforts in defeating his lackeys first." Anastasia chimed in, knowing that the conversation will go nowhere in regards to finding some way to defeat Xehanort. "Nothing would matter if we don't defeat the two remaining members of the Organization first before taking on the big guy himself."
Priscilla looked as everyone agreed with what Anastasia said, realizing that it would be pointless to think of a plan of defeating Xehanort if the other remaining two Organization members are there to assist the old keyblade master.
"From what Sora had told me, the young version of Xehanort is probably the trickiest to handle with his time manipulation."
"Yes." Reinhard spoke, "My encounter with that version of Xehanort was most difficult. He's a skilled warrior, however, every time it seems like I had sleighed him, time seemed to stop and reset."
"What about his other lackey?" Anastasia asked, "What did the Keyblade Master told you about him?"
She had asked this question at Subaru, figuring that if anyone has the best chance of knowing this information, it would be him.
Subaru took a moment to think back on what his master had told him in regards to each of the Organization members.
"I believe the other one, Xigbar I think, is more of a long-range fighter. Though what makes him tricky would be the percision of his attacks as well as his ability to teleport all round."
"I see."
"So we have a long range fighter that can teleport at any point and a close range fighter with the ability to manipulate time to deal with before we can handle their boss...that sounds like a daunting task." Tiga said, feeling that they might just be over their heads a bit with the enemies they'll be facing.
He turned towards Melty for a moment, thinking on how this can put her in risk.
"Tsk. Even so, the world will guide me to victory." Priscilla spoke with extraordinary confidence. She turned towards Tiga, giving him a look of disgust before commenting on what he had said, "A commoner such as yourself would find such a task overwhelming. You can continue to view things in such lends if you must, but don't expect your priestess to survive with a weak guarding such as yourself."
"Now hey—"
"Okay, we get the point." Subaru said, cutting Tiga off before he had lost his cool completely from Priscilla's comments. She turned her gaze towards Subaru for a moment, causing him to nearly stumble before regaining his composure.
"For Xigbar, we can probably rely on Roswaal L Mathers to handle him." Emilia said, knowing that he's faced him back in Vollachia and survived the encounter unscathed.
"Then perhaps Theresia and I can handle the young version of Xehanort." Wilhelm said as he's confident that the two of them can handle him alone.
"Allow me to aid you, grandfather." Reinhard said, worried that his grandparents alone won't be able to handle such a threat.
"If that's what you think it's best."
"Well then, we have the main players to handle the two remaining Organization members before taking on Xehanort." Subaru said before having the subject change into the capital. "We should speak on the defenses of the capital."
"Last time, we were completely unprepared. Knowing nyow what we're coming up against, we can have the citizens leave in small droves to prevent any casualties and to avoid having the Organization see that we are preparing for their arrival." Felix saying this would make the others think on this plan.
"It's a sound plan, however we would need to move now if we wish to get all the citizens to safety."
Right as this was said, Subaru and the others were all in an agreement to this.
"Subaru, you ready?"
"...what?"
Subaru was looking at the door with Emilia asking him a question, one where he had already encountered.
'Wait, why am I...?'
Subaru instantly realized that he returned by death right at the moment they were securing the room for the meeting among the royal candidates.
'I came back here...this was twenty-five minutes ago!'
Upon seeing how long he has, he knows that he needs to quickly figure out what had happened to have caused him to just instantly be returned to this new checkpoint.
"Otto."
"Yes?" He responded, a bit caught off guard being called out by Subaru.
"Go in my place. I need to check something out."
"Are you sure about that?" Otto questioned, starting to worry on Subaru's odd attitude.
"Subaru, are you okay?" Emilia also questioned, finding this shift completely off.
Subaru noticed that his attitude had completely changed from when it was in the last loop, prompting him to quickly respond with:
"Yes! I'm okay. I just need to check something out and it might take a bit. Call it a hunch."
"A hunch? At this moment?" Otto once again questioned, finding it even more suspicious. Subaru's response to this was to just smile and pat him in the shoulder before turning towards Beatrice and Garfiel to tell them:
"Mind following me on an excursion?"
"Sure."
"Of course."
Both accepted this and quickly followed him all the while the internal affairs of the Emilia camp were dumbfounded.
"Subaru-san, wait!"
Subaru carried Beatrice in order to have her, Garfiel, and him to leave the area faster.
'Sorry about that, Otto. I'll owe you one.'
Once they were a good distance away from them with Waraki having followed them due to curiosity on Subaru's sudden shift of priority, Garfiel asked:
"Aight, what's all th's 'bout, cap'n?"
"Yes, I would also like to know this, I suppose."
"Right, sorry about that." He responds while setting Beatrice down. "Let's just say I have a feeling that someone's trying to hurt the royal candidates right now."
"If that were the case, the rest of us would've been able to handle it." Waraki said, a little annoyed at Subaru.
"That may be true, but I don't think they are planning to just barge in through the front. I think that they are trying something more...underhanded."
"Underhanded? What do ya mean?"
"I think they are attempting to attack the royal candidates through other means...I'm not sure, this is still just a hunch."
Although Subaru was being truthful here, he's still pretty uncertain on how events transpired for him to end up Returning by Death.
The only thing he can think of is the Organization attacking in a way where he was hit before he was able to tell what had happened.
Even with this idea, his sudden change in attitude for everyone was something that might not sit well with everyone since prior to looping, he seemed confident on what he was going to discuss with the others.
"I understand that I had a sudden change of attitude, I can acknowledge that...though I also know that those bastards in the Organization aren't going to just let us have a moment of peace."
"I don't doubt that. However, the way you changed priorities is concerning."
"I apologize for that, Waraki." Subaru bowed at his friend. "I didn't mean to make you all worry."
Beatrice slapped Subaru in the head.
"Don't do that!"
"Sorry."
"You should be! I'm not having my stubborn contractor bow to anyone, in fact!"
Garfiel and Waraki chuckled at this.
"Aight. I'll put my faith in ya on th's. 'F ya think there's somethin' odd goin' on aroun' here, then we'll just have t'make sure th't thing's are has they should be."
As Garfiel said this, he began to search around the bottom floor on his own, confident that he can take care of himself. While Garfiel headed towards one direction, Waraki started to head towards another direction.
"I'll head this way. Whatever happens, just keep your guard up."
Once Waraki had left off, Beatrice grabbed onto Subaru's hand which had gotten his attention.
"Hm?"
"I know something had bothered you. You can confine in Betty what's bothering you."
"..." Subaru remained silent for a moment since this did catch him completely off guard. "It's...just a bad feeling about this."
"..." Beatrice was not happy with that response though she knows that her contractor needs moral support. She thought on what could be troubling her, with the only thing she could think on would be the Organization member he had encounter.
"Is the one that you call Todd bothering your mind, I suppose?"
"..." That wasn't too off, since Todd Fang being a part of the Organization was indeed troubling for Subaru, though that wasn't what really bothered him.
What was bothering him was how easily he was killed in the last loop. He has grown stronger, especially after overcoming Vanitas's attempt of controlling him.
He expects better from himself after overcoming so much, and being killed in such a pathetic way, without given a chance to fight was what's frustrating him.
Now, he would wish to tell Beako about this...though he knows that Satella, or more specifically the Witch of Envy won't allow such a thing.
This forces him to find a way to answer the question without disclosing this important information. After a moment of thinking, he was able to figure something out.
"Todd is indeed a problem. For him to be aligned with Xehanort and to have powers...I'm almost worried that he can harm any of you before you all have had a chance to fight back."
"It is an understandable worry. From what you've said, this Todd Fang is someone that will be a problem in the future, however, so long as we fight him together, he won't have a chance to hurt anyone."
Subaru looked at how confident Beatrice was looking at him when saying her words to him to comfort him. He couldn't help but smile as he patted the top of her head all the while saying:
"You are right. With the two of us, nobody stands a chance."
"Hmph." Beatrice just smiled with a cocky look all the while enjoying the head pat she was receiving from her contractor.
Subaru smiled as he couldn't help but find his contracted spirit adorable when she acts like this though that smile would fade as he knew that they should start searching for anything that seems suspicious.
As the two began to search around, they looked through a few places that were out in the open, a few rooms that seem like good hiding places, and the area where it's right underneath the meeting room.
With finding everything normal, nothing out of the ordinary, Subaru crossed his arms to think on this.
'Hm. What could've caused my death...?'
He was certain that his death in the last loop could've caused an explosion underneath the meeting room before any of them had the chance to react.
He tried to think back on the last few seconds before he ended up looping.
All he could think is that he was instantly looped, meaning the death was certainly painless...though that doesn't tell him much.
The only other thing he could think of would be that the attack came from one of the walls from the meeting room. With this thought taking form, Subaru turned towards Beatrice.
"Let's check the top floor."
Beatrice just nodded before walking alongside her contractor back to the floor where the meeting is being held.
While the two were walking up the stairs, Subaru continued to focus on trying to remember what was the last thing that had happened right before dying.
Although he dislikes doing something like this since it starts bringing back other, unpleasant deaths.
As he continues his attempts on focusing into one specific death, that being his most recent, he was suddenly knocked out of his thoughts when he senses that something's wrong.
"Is something wrong?" Beatrice asked, having noticed that something had bothered her contractor once again. Subaru looked at Beatrice for a moment with a serious expression before picking her up.
"We have to check something out."
As he said this, he quickly started to run as fast as he could to reach the meeting room though upon arriving there, he was suddenly blown away as an explosion indeed happened.
'I knew it!'
He was on the right track though this feeling immediately turned into fear, realizing that everyone in the meeting room was caught in that attack.
"Emilia! Otto!"
As he shouted out for them, he got up and attempted to check up on them however he was kicked in the stomach by someone with a strong leg.
He didn't get a good look at first since the person that did this managed to be fast enough to nearly knock him out.
He fell down the stairs until reaching the floor he and Beatrice had just left off.
"Subaru!" The little spirit girl shouted before she turned towards the one responsible for harming her contractor. Once looking at the one responsible, she looked with extreme anger since she recognized who it was.
"You!"
"Yes! We meet again!" A voice speaks with excitement, immediately alerting Subaru who the one that attacked him was.
"...r-really...you again..." He slowly got back up all the while summoning his Rebirth Keyblade. "As if...I'll let you...get away with this...!"
Subaru was attempting to control the darkness in his heart since he can still feel that said darkness Vanitas had caused him to tap back in the Vollachia war. As he was keeping himself in check, Beatrice didn't hesitate to attack first.
"El Minya!"
"Wait, Beako—!"
Right before he could stop her from attacking, purple projectiles were created above the great spirit before being fired right towards the mysterious villain.
Subaru knew this would be a problem since the mysterious villain can absorb mana attacks, however right before the mysterious villain did anything, a sudden dark barrier was created which blocked away Beatrice's attack.
"What?!"
As she was shocked from this, Subaru knew immediately that this was an Organization member's doing. Right as he concluded this, Replica Riku appear from behind the mysterious villain with a dark aura surrounding him.
"I'm surprised, what are you doing here?"
"..." Replica Riku looked at Subaru with a blank expression before pointing his dark sword towards him. "What makes you think I'll answer any of your questions?"
"..."
He isn't surprised by this response though this is still concerning that this mysterious villain is working with Replica Riku.
'I'm aware that this one is with the witch's cult from what Louis Arneb had told us...which is concerning...'
Subaru knows that a full fight against one of the two groups is already hard enough, having to face both at the same time might divide their forces too much which would allow Xehanort to easily take control of the situation without having to lift a finger. Even so, his focus retracted back to the sake of Emilia and Otto.
"Doesn't matter what you respond with, all I know is we'll be the one to defeat you!" As he proclaimed this, Beatrice walked towards Subaru to be by his side as she prepared another one of her attacks.
Replica Riku twitched his eye when hearing this since Subaru's proclamation of defeating him only made him see the version of Sora right before his first adventure in Subaru.
This annoyed the hell out of him, prompting him to throw a dark fireball all the while shouting:
"Is that so?!"
As he threw the dark fireball, he moved swiftly to be right behind Subaru in an attempt to kill him in one hit. Right before he had the chance, Subaru moved his keyblade towards the sky while shouting:
"Reflecta!"
Right as he said this, the barrier was able to be created right around himself and his contracted spirit, protecting the two from both of Replica Riku's attacks.
The second the two were repelled back, the barrier went down all the while a couple balls of light appeared around Beatrice and Subaru.
After second of appearing, these lights explode which Replica Riku is caught in the explosions and takes some damage.
Right as this happened, Subaru and Beatrice turned their attention towards the mysterious villain, seeing that he's jumping right towards them.
Using her mastery of yin magic, she created a portal of sorts for her and Subaru to jump in, avoiding the attack coming from the mysterious villain.
Right as they managed to avoid said attack, the two appeared on the floor the meeting was being held.
Once there the two quickly went to check on the others first before resuming their fight with the mysterious villain and Replica Riku.
As they went to check, the two were shocked when they saw so many deaths right in front of them, having been killed by the explosion itself.
"No..."
"...Emilia-tan! Otto!" Subaru shouted as he wanted to believe that at least either of them survived this explosion...more like hoping that this was the case.
He collapses to his knees as he doesn't want to think about looping again.
The last loop was completely unfair how he was killed, by a complete surprise attack without a chance to try and preserve the loop.
If he fails here, it would be another loop where he failed everyone once again.
"Failed again? Not surprised."
Subaru could still feel a piece of Vanitas speaking to him.
Although it isn't like in Vollachia where he had manifested into something where he was taking control over him, he could still feel a vague presence of his.
He bit a part of his lip in frustration as he knew that he needed to do his best to beat Replica Riku and the mysterious villain before more people die.
'I can't fall into despair. I have to hope that they both survived the attack.'
Choosing to remain hopeful, he pulled out Glaciation Angel keyblade as he noticed both the mysterious villain and Replica Riku approaching him and Beatrice.
"You two gave us quite the slip! But that won't happen a second time!" The mysterious villain spoke with the happy mask being worn.
Subaru and Beatrice gave him a serious expression before the two prepared for a fight.
Beatrice prepared her remaining yin magic for a powerful attack on the two all the while Subaru goes into a formchange from his third keyblade, being in the similar attire to Emilia's though with a more male tone as well as being made of ice.
"This time, you won't get the best of us."
"Is that so?" Replica Riku said as he prepared himself for battle as well.
The room was tense for a moment before Replica Riku disappeared, attempting to kill the keyblade wielder in once slice.
Subaru anticipated this and quickly created and ice shield to protect his back side.
This was more than enough to deflect away Replica Riku's attack, leaving him open for Beatrice to turn her attention towards Replica Riku to target him instead.
Once she fired her yin magic projectiles at him, Replica Riku prepared to create a barrier only for a powerful ice block created from Subaru's attire had managed to hit him in the head hard enough to nearly knock him out.
This bought ample time for Beatrice attack to reach Replica Riku though right before it could land onto him, a much powerful dark aura surrounded him which signified his frustration to being bested for a moment.
This dark aura combined with the witch's aura received from the Witch of Vainglory allowed him to explode away the yin magic projectiles provided by Beatrice.
"I...won't lose...to a fake...!"
As he said this, he exploded the room with darkness, causing both Subaru and Beatrice to be completely taken aback from this. While they were surrounded by said darkness, Beatrice was suddenly grabbed by someone.
"Let me go!"
Subaru hearing this made him angry, prompting him to quickly run towards Beako's direction only to be grabbed in the face by what seems to be a large hand.
"!"
"Well! That was quite easy."
As the mysterious villain said this, he started to drain the mana out of the two all the while Replica Riku was beginning to get rid of the darkness that surrounded the area.
Beatrice's remaining mana was almost all gone with Subaru's mana also nearly being drained as well until Subaru used his attire's ability to use ice to create a powerful spear to stab right into the side of the mysterious villain before he drains them completely.
Due to the amount of energy he had lost, he reverted back into his regular attire however this did worked as it caused him to let go of Beatrice and him.
"What...did you...?" The mysterious villain coughed a bit, with Subaru taking this chance with the strength he can muster up to grab Beatrice and get her to safety since he noticed that she was barely conscious.
'Damn that bastard!'
As he was getting her to safety, he was suddenly kicked in the head by Replica Riku, getting a bit of payback for the ice attack he had done.
This nearly knocked his head off only for Subaru to manage to stay on his feet, still barely alive with the side of his head bleeding badly.
'I won't die, not just yet! I need to get Beako to safety!'
With all the determination in the world, he ran towards the downstairs to try and find a place for Beatrice to be placed safely though once he was down onto the bottom floor, he felt a sharp pain on his back.
It took him a few seconds before realizing that he was just struck down from behind.
He continued to run, almost feeling numb and the world around him feeling dazed.
'I can't...collapse...here...not y-yet...'
He continued to run despite this injury all the way until reaching a room where he felt that he can set Beatrice in there safely.
Once he did this, he said to her:
"Wait here. I'll...I'll make sure nothing bad happens to you..."
"...w-w...ait..."
Although he didn't want to leave her here, it's better than having her be killed in front of him...again.
He would rather be killed alone than to watch her or Emilia die in front of him. It's a selfish wish but one he can live with.
As he ran back to try and fight against Replica Riku and the Mysterious villain, he suddenly collapsed onto the ground.
"Wha...?"
He didn't realize that the injury he had received earlier was deep which had caused him to lose a lot of blood.
Only know did he felt it since all the adrenaline he had earlier had finally reached its limit.
'Damn it...is this...really all I can do...?'
This feeling of helplessness really annoyed Subaru, viewing it as pathetic since he's gotten stronger since that very first death over a year ago back in forest when going off to save the children from the mabeast.
He kept pushing his body to get back up, to not just be killed by blood loss but to die in battle.
Right as he was barely able to get his body off the ground, he could hear a mocking voice speak to him:
"So much for being the one to defeat us! Was really looking forward to it!"
"Hmph. Expected from a fake."
"...wh-who...are...you...calling the fake...you fak—"
Right before he could finish the word, he was kicked in the face by Replica Riku, hating being called a fake.
As he it seemed like he was going to pass out from blood loss, he felt a stingful pain on his chest area as he was stabbed by Replica Riku's sword.
"You want to call me that again?"
"Agh!"
"Come on, I can't hear you."
As Replica Riku said this, he prepared to kill Subaru right then and there only for a voice to shout at him.
"Oi! Leave th'Cap'n alone!"
He turned towards the voice and barely had enough time to block Garfiel Tinsel's powerful demi human transformed arm.
As he was blocking it, he was send flying towards a wall, crashing hard enough into it to go through said wall and be send flying out of the castle.
The mysterious villain was impressed by the attack, prompting him to point towards Garfiel while shouting:
"Amazing! Truly amazing! What amazing strength!"
"Shut yet mouth!" Garfiel shouted with an annoyed tone. This shocked the mysterious villain, prompting him to change into a shocked mask before commenting on Garfiel's words.
"How rude! I wasn't trying to insult such amazing strength or expecting such harsh words from a mighty warrior!"
"I said shut yer damn mouth!"
Garfiel shouted once more as he charged at the mysterious villain, beginning their fight. While this was happening, Waraki approached Subaru, seeing that he was on the edge of death.
'…Waraki...' Subaru thought to himself all the while it seemed like he was about to lose complete conscious only to hear his friend say:
"I won't let you die!"
As he said this, Waraki quickly grabbed something from his pocket and forced Subaru to drink it. After a few seconds, Subaru's wounds slightly healed which helped him start to regain conscious.
"...What?"
Subaru was confused by this at first since he didn't know what Waraki did until noticing the bottle on his friend's hand.
"A potion?"
"Yeah, had this in hand on occasions like this."
"..." Subaru was not happy with this since he needs to loop...though he can't help but also be appreciative of Waraki for doing everything he can to save his life. Waraki did noticed Subaru's conflicted facial expression, prompting him to say:
"I know it isn't a concrete way of healing someone but I ain't letting a brother in arms die. Not if I can do something about it."
"I appreciate it."
He says this as he starts to get up, feeling his strength coming back to him. Once this strength was back, he pulled out a small yellow orb that he was given by Sora before they had left to their respective paths.
("Subaru. I haven't taught you much on this, but should you be in trouble and can't access the keyblade form, use this.")
("What is this orb?" Subaru asked in a curious tone.)
("They contain special powers.")
'I wonder what kind of special power Sora was mentioning with this orb.'
As the orb seemed to be absorbing into his clothing, he suddenly started to float for a moment.
"What's going on?" Waraki questioned as he stepped back, a bit of fear on what the orb was doing.
"Not sure..."
Subaru said before the room started to turn bright, blinding the two for a second before Subaru realized he was standing again.
Once the light had cleared, Subaru saw that his clothing had changed color.
"All the show for a simple change of clothing colors."
"In the surface, yes. However, what makes this interesting is the power I feel." He says this as he also realizes that he's wielding both Starlight keyblade on his left hand and Rebirth Keyblade on his right hand.
'Dual wielding? That's new.'
Subaru was a bit skeptical since he's never done this before...though he's willing to give it a try considering the swell of energy of this power.
Right as he was prepared to go into combat, Garfiel was tossed towards them, knocked out from the looks of it.
"Garfiel!"
"He gave me quite the fight! Very amazing work from a young warrior! However, he was still too weak to handle me!"
Subaru just gave the mysterious villain a glare filled with anger before charging at him with everything he had.
Once he closed the gap, he was able to land a hit onto the mysterious villain before he could grab him.
Once he landed the first hit, he was able to quickly land a follow up hit with the second keyblade, managing to knock the wind out of the mysterious villain.
"Ah! What an attack!"
As he said this, he nearly grabbed Subaru's head to try and drain his mana only for Waraki to quickly knock away the hand before he could grab his friend.
"You aren't going to do jack shit!" As he shouted this, he went for an attempt to stab the mysterious villain's throat only for his sword to break.
"?!"
"You aren't winning that easily." A serious voice spoke before managing to land a kick the knight's face. Subaru saw this and quickly was able to spot who it was, that being Replica Riku. He had managed to recover from being sent flying out of the castle thanks to Garfiel Tinsel and returned to finish the job.
"You won't get away with that." Subaru shouted as he charged towards Replica Riku.
"Watch me." Replica Riku said as he was able to block Subaru's first and second attacks with ease before going for a counterattack. With a single swing, he nearly was able to kill Subaru only for a new fighter to have joined the skirmish and protect Subaru from being killed from a second attack.
"Apologies for being late."
"…Rein?"
He was caught off guard to see the master swordsman himself right in front of him though at the same time he was doing his best to remain conscious. This current attack he received from Replica Riku was nearly enough to kill him, with the follow up attack being the final blow until Reinhard blocked said attack.
"Rein...! Where's the others?"
"..." The Sword Saint remains quiet as he pushed Replica Riku back. "Some didn't make it. Honored Grandfather, Tiga, Julius, and—"
"What about Emilia-tan?"
"Emilia-sama is fine, just some minor injuries...though if it wasn't for the merchant, Otto Suwen, she would've also had lost her life."
"Wait...are you saying that..."
"..." Reinhard remained silent as he didn't want to comment on what Subaru was saying since he can see that this information is hurting his friend. He turned his full attention to his opponent, prompting him to ask:
"Are you responsible for the explosion?"
"…" Replica Riku didn't give a response and only pushed the Sword Saint back before teleporting right behind him.
As he swings his sword in an attempt to land a fatal hit, Reinhard was fast enough to block the attack with the palm of his hand.
This surprised him for a second before attempting to do a secondary attack by quickly creating a dark fireball on his free hand and to throw it point blank at the master swordsman.
Within seconds of successfully landing a big hit, Reinhard tanks the attack and shows that he was unfazed by such things.
Replica Riku quickly jump back to gain his distance only for Reinhard to easily catch up to him.
"!"
Right before he had a chance to attack the Sword Saint, Reinhard managed to land the hit first by slapping the hell out of him. This slap had sent Replica Riku flying into a wall, crashing upon impact. As this happened, he landed on his feet before turning his attention towards Subaru:
"Protect the others, I'll keep these two occupied."
As Reinhard said this, he swiftly approached the mysterious villain's position and without any warning or hesitation landed a swift kick which sent him flying onto a nearby wall. Subaru nodded but first he turned towards Garfiel to check on him. Waraki quickly approached the demi human boy while telling his friend:
"Go to your girl. I'll keep Garf safe."
Subaru nodded and quickly started running back up the stairs before heading into the meeting room. Once inside, he could see that Felix was healing everyone, with the current person being Crusch, who sustained an injury to her right arm.
"Is everyone okay?"
"Some of us are, bro. Some are not so fortunate." Al responded as he approaches Subaru, still injured from the blast. Subaru was concerned for Al's sake though his focus was more towards Emilia. He looked around in search of her, something which the one armed knight had noticed. He tapped Subaru's shoulder to get his attention before pointing towards the direction the silver haired half elf is located.
"Your girl is right over there with the priestess, bro."
"Thanks." Subaru said as he put away both his keyblades before running towards Emilia's position. Once he was near her, he shouted:
"Emilia-tan!"
"Subaru!" Emilia responded, happy to see that he's alright. She gets up and goes to hug her knight. As the two hugged, Subaru held Emilia tightly since he doesn't ever want to think about losing her...
"...Otto saved me."
"I heard...I should've been here to stop it."
Emilia hugged Subaru tightly as she also felt guilt for not being able to save Otto as well as having been saved by the merchant.
"Otto is a hero."
"He sure is...so let's make sure his sacrifice wasn't in vain." Once he said this, he stopped hugging her and turned towards the hole from Replica Riku and the mysterious villain's attack. He was uncertain how they were all caught off guard by a surprise attack, especially when you have some of the strongest fighters in the same room.
'Otto was able to save Emilia-tan because he knew something was going to happen...what could've caused it then...?'
He thought for a moment on possible things though all of them would just end up being solved by the fact that Reinhard would've been able to do something. He kept thinking on what it could be that caused all of this...however, his train of thought would soon come to an end when he felt something sting his neck.
'Ow! What the hell?'
As he looked around to see what stung him, he noticed a weird looking wasp.
'A wasp?'
This had confused Subaru for a moment since he doesn't recall seeing any of these in the previous loop, let alone in the previous loops he's encountered since first arriving to this world. As he tried to examine the wasp, he felt another sting which caused him to slowly notice a few more wasp entering the room.
"Hey...what—"
His mind blanked out before collapsing onto the ground, completely lost of energy with even his drive form going away and returning into his usual attire.
"Subaru!"
"Em—ilia...stay...back..."
Although he was trying to warn her, she also collapsed to the ground along with others in the room.
'No!'
He started to panic since he can't move, his energy is drained, and he doesn't know why these wasps suddenly ended up here.
While he was slowly losing consciousness once again, he could hear that someone opened a door which prompted him to try and see who could that be.
Right as he was slowly turning, all he could see was pink high heels and what seemed to be black with white stripe leggings.
'Wait...I recognize...that...'
His mind completely went black with the last things he heard being:
"This wasn't how mother would've wanted things to go...but, it was indeed fun for me."
"..."
Subaru couldn't say anything...however, he could tell that the voice that was speaking sounded awfully familiar.
Before he could think more into the matter, his mind completely blanked out with the feeling of life having gone away on that instant.
After a few seconds, his visions was blurring for a moment before looking at the door to the meeting room.
"Subaru, you ready?"
"..." Subaru was silent as he realized that he looped back. It took him a moment before turning his attention towards Otto. "Otto, mind if we speak in private first? I just remembered something."
"Um, okay."
Otto as well as others were a bit hesitant by what Subaru had said, more specifically how serious he was when asking.
"Are you okay?" Emilia asked, worried for Subaru's sake due to his sudden shift in priorities from the looks of things.
"I'll be okay, Emilia-tan. I just need a moment with my best friend."
As he said this in his usual bright attitude, he pulled Otto aside which annoyed the merchant before the two were a good distance away from everyone.
"What did you wanted to speak about?"
"A favor but one that stays between us."
"…what is this favor?"
Subaru gave his favor to Otto while also explaining a few things as to why he needs this favor, something that the merchant and the Internal affairs of the Emilia camp wasn't too happy at first.
Once everything was said prompted Otto to think on what he was told by his best friend.
After a few seconds, he turned towards Subaru to question him:
"Are you sure about this idea of yours?"
"It's not ideal, but you are the person I trust the most with this plan and the information that came with it."
"Hm." Otto took a few seconds to think before sighing. "You really know how to stress me out."
"That's what friends are for."
"No it's not!" Otto rebuttal before calming himself down. "If what you say is true, then at least take Beatrice-sama and Garf. I wouldn't want you to go at it alone."
"Was planning on it."
Subaru said with a thumbs up, slightly annoying Otto for a moment before just smiling at Subaru's oddly calm composure about all of this. Subaru turned towards Beatrice and Garfiel's direction before telling them:
"Beako, Garfiel, we got something to take care of."
"Wait, what about the meeting?"
"Where are we going?"
Both Beatrice and Garfiel question this with everyone else in the room also curious on this sudden change of direction.
"What's going on?" Emilia asked, worried by this change. Before Subaru could answer, Otto took the chance to help his friend.
"Subaru remembered to do something in behalf of Sora-sama. I'll be taking over his place in the meeting."
"Oh. Okay." Emilia said as she was processing what she was told before turning towards Subaru. "Just try not to get into too much trouble."
"I'll do my best."
Emilia shook her head when hearing this, almost knowing that Subaru would end up in trouble though she remained smiling.
"Dummy."
Subaru just smiled at her before he led Beatrice and Garfiel towards the exit of the castle, motivated by what he's heading towards. While they were leaving, Otto looked at Subaru and just shook his head.
'You are quite a handful, Subaru-san. Even so, I won't let you down.'
Understanding the stakes that they are in, he turned towards Waraki.
"I'll need your assistance in there."
"Mine?"
"Yes, you might be needed in case the Witch's Cult subject comes up."
"..." Waraki's hesitation to this immediately went away when the Witch's Cult was mentioned. "Alright."
He approached him and Emilia, ready to join in the meeting now.
Otto was not surprised by this since he along with everyone else in the Emilia camp have realized over time that Waraki will do anything if it relates to the Witch's Cult.
As they were all heading into the meeting room, Subaru and his small group made their way towards the exit of the castle they are in.
Replica Riku and the mysterious villain were a distance away from the castle, both of them ready for the assault.
The two continue to wait until a few wasps appear with a letter. The Mysterious Villain with his serious mask approaches the letter and reads it.
While reading the letter, Replica Riku pulls out the lucky charm from his memories of Namine, thinking of those gold old days while he's doing nothing for now until he heard his ally say:
"Seems like they are getting into position."
"Then we can get this done fast. I have other priorities than this."
"No need to speak in such a harsh tone."
"..."
Replica Riku looked at the Mysterious Villain with an annoyed expression before turning his attention back to the castle.
Right as things were about to start, another wasp had suddenly appeared with what seems to be another message.
The mysterious villain grabbed this new letter from their other ally and noticed that there's new information.
"Hm. Seems like we have someone that isn't where their supposed to be."
"Who?" Replica Riku asked as he lowered his arms that were crossed.
"According to our ally, it's that boy with the key."
"I see."
As Replica Riku started to walk towards the direction of the castle, he summoned his Soul Eater Sword.
"Doesn't fully matter. The book indicates that we must continue the plan." As he says this, he looks at the book given to him by Pandora.
("This book will allow you to see the future you wish to achieve. It should allow you to reach your desires.")
He opened said book and although he struggled to read some of the words due to having barely had a chance to learn this world's language, he can at least tell that it's nearly time to set off the ambush. Just as he was about to close the book, he noticed that there seemed to be a sudden shift of words, almost like destiny itself had changed.
"Something the matter?" The Mysterious Villain questioned, having noticed a sudden change in Replica Riku's expression.
Before he had a chance to respond, another letter had appeared from a group of wasps.
This caused the mysterious villain to be concerned by having a third letter be send out to them right when the ambush was about to begin.
"What is it this time?"
As he grabs the letter and begins to read it, he realizes that something's wrong.
"Pride, it seems like our friend is causing your original vision to fall apart."
"I'm aware of that, Wolf."
As the Sin Archbishop of Pride, Replica Riku, responded in a harsh tone, he turned towards the castle once again and created a corridor of darkness.
"Where are you going?"
"..."
Pride didn't respond and just started to walk away, essentially leaving Wolf on his own.
"Hey! Don't leave me behind!"
"I have somewhere to be. You should head back to her and wait for further instructions."
"What about the current plan? We can still catch them off guard—"
"No. They are already aware that something is going on, we don't want them to know that we are starting the destruction of Lugnica."
"We can still achieve that now, by eliminating all of the candidates while they are together—"
"I said no." Pride spoke with some aggression. "The plan as to be perfect. We need to take them all out at once or else they'll have a chance to push back what we have set in motion."
"...understood."
The two gave each other a look of animosity before Pride left in the corridor of darkness. As he stepped in, the dark portal disappeared which prompted Wolf to change his serious mask into an angry one.
"What a rude little fella! He's a recent Sin Archbishop and acts all high and mighty. Mother wouldn't treat us with such distain...unless we have failed."
Wolf tries not to think on how 'mother' acts when him and his allies are punished when they fail a mission. He turns towards castle for a moment, annoyed that the plan wasn't executed though his attention was drawn to the church nearby.
"I guess I should start moving."
As Wolf begins to move, the wasps around him started to follow.
While they were leaving the castle and making their way deep into the city of the capital, Garfiel turned towards his captain and brother to ask him:
"So, what's t'meanin' f' th's little excursion?"
"Yes, I was wondering the same thing too, I suppose."
Subaru heard the two question this, prompting him to think on an explanation that would satisfy the two. It only took him a brief moment before coming up with something that's truthful, in a manner.
"After that skirmish with the Organization's new recruit, I thought that perhaps we should be investigating the city for a possible hideout they might have...them and the witch's cult."
"Ya think they might be hidin' out here too?"
"I wouldn't be too surprised, I suppose."
"...yeah, that's why I tasked Otto to cover for me. I can't help but have a feeling that either group is preparing for something big."
"Makes sense. He also managed to get that foolish knight distracted from this search."
"Yes. I respect Waraki and our friendship...but when the witch's cult is involved, he gets completely sidetrack."
As Subaru said this, he thought back on all the times Waraki gets blinded by a single focus to take down the witch's cult. Garfiel crossed his arms as he thought on what Subaru had said in regard to Waraki and his obsession with the Witch's Cult.
"Perhaps somethin' happen with th'cultist bastards t'make him hate them so much."
Subaru hears this from Garfiel and begins to think into one of the loops in the mansion during the events of the Sanctuary, recalling when he first met Capella.
("You are on the correct path, Yabuto. This bitch is with the Witch's Cult.")
("Now is that any way to speak with the one you love, unless that is how you express love.")
("Shut...up! How dare you show the form of the one you killed!")
Subaru crossed his arms as he thought on this conversation between Waraki and Capella.
'Capella killed that girl, perhaps a sibling to Waraki or a childhood friend...regardless, that must be the core of his hatred.'
Really thinking into this aspect of Waraki, it also makes him worry on the next encounter they'll have with the Sin Archbishop of Lust. He turned towards Garfiel to comment on what he said in regards to Waraki:
"I think...I have an idea on what could've caused Waraki to have such a grudge against the Witch's Cult."
As he said this, he noticed that he along with Garfiel Tinsel and Beatrice had arrived to one of the churches in the capital that Melty Pristis goes to from time to time during the three months of peace.
"What are we doing here?" Beatrice asked, curios on what her contractor is thinking. Subaru remained silent for a few seconds before turning towards his contracted spirit, seeing that she was curious more than annoyed.
"Let's just say, I have a gut intuition that we should start our search here."
"Makes sense. Cultist bastards believing in the crazy witch, hidin' in a church where th'people go fer religion reasons. Sounds 'bout right. Good call, Cap'n."
As he said this, Subaru looked at his surroundings for a moment, feeling that he's being watched before leading the three of them into the church.
Author's note:
Been a while since I've posted here. Apologies for that. Been actually working on two Re:Zero videos for my channel, one on Emilia's birthday and another right before Season 3 comes out. And I'm working on a Kingdom Hearts 2 video. So, I've been extremely busy. That and I'm officially done with chapter 1 of my original story I'm working on, so apologies for the late upload here.