Hello everyone! This chapter was a little difficult to write. I hope you all enjoy it!
Please let me know your opinions on the honorifics…. I wanted to exclude them originally but I felt certain times that I needed to use them. Should I pull them completely, use them sparingly or go full bore and use them as often as I can?
Also, I have been pm'ing or directly respond to comments depending on if they are on FFN or AO3, but I might start putting a response to them in the author's notes if I feel that every would want to see the answer.
As always, I live off feedback even if it is only "this SUCKS" I'll appreciate it all the same. Thank you all for so much support!
Re: Full Authority
Arc: 1 Chapter: 4
Getting Somewhere
Reinhard landed lightly on the rooftop of a ruined bell tower. His arrival startled the birds that were nesting there, causing them to lift off and flee from their nests. He watched them go and felt a slight ache in his chest, though he wasn't sure why.
He shook his head free from the thought. Of course he knew why it hurt. The birds reminded him of the fact that no matter what; to animals or to people, he was a monster. That was all he would ever be. So, of course, he deserved to always be treated as such.
His short red hair and sharp, handsome features were illuminated in the afternoon sun. His white knight's uniform billowed around him slightly in the breeze. Despite his inner thoughts, his cool, confident smile never left his face.
The fact that this thought process was nothing but self depreciating, or more accurately, insane, escaped Reinhard. For him it was only natural that the birds would flee from a monster such as him… Nevermind the fact that birds would flee from anything that scared them.
It was simply a fact of nature. The sky was blue, the rain would fall, the sun would rise.
And Reinhard was a monster.
He had long since made peace with this fact, so rather than dwell on his fate he turned to look deeper into the slum. At the same time, he began sinking into a more comfortable sitting position as he prepared to begin his watch.
He took this assignment as seriously as he took guarding the king back before the plague. His divine protection of Alertness, Eagle eye, Sentinel… and many others flaring into their active states actively drinking in the mana around him.
It was times like these he wished to be able to cast spells, an Alarm Ward would have been perfect to surround the Loothouse and warn of Elsa's approach. Sadly, no one there that day was able to do so. Maybe it was better this way, perhaps she would have discovered it and retreated…
Reinhard sighed.
He usually wasn't this… frenetic about a mission. However this whole situation had turned his perception of the world on its head.
First that scary eye'd young man looked at him, not with the outright hate that his family had, not the veiled fear of his fellow knights… No, Subaru looked at him with possibly the most amount of care he had ever seen directed at him since he was very, very young.
It was the type of look he had rarely seen pass between knights that had fought together on the front lines, or through life and death.
He had even asked him to be his friend, without any other motive or deceit…
The mystery that was Subaru was something that occupied Reinhard's mind as the few hours of watching the Loothouse crawled by. He stayed focused on his task faithfully, watching and waiting for anything to happen. But there was a tiny corner of his mind that was distracted nonetheless.
It was just distracted enough that Reinhard failed to remember to use his divine protection of mana vision (long range) to also monitor the Loothouse. So, he failed to catch the moment that the ambient mana around the house receded as if vacuumed up by some great force.
Maybe if he had been a tiny bit more focused he would have seen that not long after much of the mana vanished, a thin bubble of an illusion spell sprung up around the Loothouse, quickly surrounding and obscuring any irregularities.
The illusion's cover expanded to completely fill the area that was so bereft of mana. The simple spell became much, much stronger than it had any right to be. All thanks to the fact that it had very little wild mana to compete with.
It was so effective that when Reinhard noted that it was getting late in the day, and doubled his observation efforts, nothing seemed out of place in the slightest. All he saw was the correct amount of mana in the correct place. After all, even he couldn't sense individual mana signatures through walls from this distance. That would be absurd!
Confident in his infallible strength if nothing else, he sat and waited for sundown to approach, keeping his eyes peeled for the one Subaru had told them would be coming.
So, when Felt burst through the illusion surrounding the Loothouse, the horror that filled Reinhard was indescribable.
Inside, the fight with Elsa was not going well. They stood facing one another after Felt had successfully escaped.
Subaru had placed himself in front of Emilia and Rom. His signature gray and white tracksuit showed multiple cuts and blood stains from the expert strikes of the assassin. She was able to easily bypass his amateurish defensive stance, but had yet to land any decisive blow. She was truthfully only toying with him, Rom, and Emilia for her sick and twisted pleasure.
Even though his body was battered, bruised, and bleeding from multiple deep lacerations…even though his right arm was destroyed and hung limply at his side, with blood oozing slowly from the gaping wound…he stood tall and unwavering in front of the monster.
After all, what was pain to someone who had felt death? Further still, what was death to someone who had experienced that cold embrace hundreds, or even thousands of times? But despite his familiarity with his own end, the faces of all those who cared for him appeared in his mind. Forcing him to try, and never stop trying to survive.
He had switched the shield to his other arm, but judging by the twisted and damaged metal, a strong breeze would cause it to fall to pieces.
Reinhard will show up, something has to be wrong outside for him to not be here yet… Felt should get him soon!
"My, my little Subaru-kun, that look on your face is enough to make even my maidenly heart shiver…" Elsa said in a husky tone, a small red blush spreading across her face.
Elsa had lost her protective cloak back when Emilia and Puck used their ultimate attack, leaving even more of her silky white skin on display. Her long black hair and salacious body, moving as if she were actually just an embarrassed girl, played a disgusting foil against her cold, dead, psychopathic eyes.
The fact that she was licking Subaru's blood off her dagger and moaning about it only made the sight worse.
"Well, I think it's about time I wrapped this up, mother always tells me I shouldn't play with my food too much…" Elsa trailed off, her eyes shifting from playful to focused and dangerous.
As she stepped forward Subaru only felt a slight pang of fear. More than anything else his mind was preoccupied trying to find something, anything that could stall her just a little longer. However, while he was mid-thought, Rom took matters into his own hands and muscled past Subaru, rushing the assassin.
"I guess it's time I really step in! Outta the way boy!" Rom yelled.
His first strike with his massive club missed Elsa by a mile, crashing into the wooden floorboards sending up dust and splinters, further destroying the poor bar. His follow up didn't go much better.
"Oh this is the first time I've danced with a giant! I suppose I can indulge you for a moment or two…" Elsa said, despite her words the deadly glint in her eye didn't fade in the slightest..
"This ain't no dance, you crazy broad!" Rom roared, blocking her lazy yet power strikes with his club.
While the giant old man faced off against Elsa, Emilia took the opportunity to run to Subaru.
"Subaru!" Emilia yelled.
She brought her hands up and attempted to cast a simple healing spell to stop some of his bleeding, but it simply flickered and went out like a candle in a thunderstorm.
"I-I don't understand! It's like there's no mana in the air! Did Puck and I really use so much?" Emilia cried, shocked at her inability to even cast a simple healing spell.
Hearing that there was no mana left in the air for the spirit user to draw on, Subaru felt a new sinking feeling in the pit of his gut. He remembered back to when he felt the mana inside him vanish as he thought about creating a checkpoint.
There's no way… Is Reinhard even going to be able to fight her when he gets here? If he can't…and if that is a checkpoint for real, wouldn't we be screwed!?
Subaru threw that idea from his mind. No matter what, he would figure out a solution. That has always been his philosophy and it's not going to change now. The situation wasn't hopeless just yet. He was the only one severely hurt so far, they just had to hold out and see how Reinhard fared.
Most importantly he had time between his checkpoint and Elsa's arrival. So long as he had that there was nothing that could stop him.
"Don't worry about me Emilia-tan… I'll be fine. Just be on guard, we don't know if she's going to stay focused on Rom." Subaru said, turning away from the fight behind him to talk to Emilia, focusing on the concern in her purple eyes.
"Wise words little Subaru-kun, perhaps you should have followed them yourself!" Elsa whispered in his ear.
Wait… where are you going Emilia-tan?
Subaru watched as Emilia's purple eyes and white hair fell up and to the left of his field of vision. The concerned look in her eyes morphing into shock.
Subaru impacted the ground and was stunned. Eventually, he was able to force his body to turn his head slightly, so that he could look at Emilia.
The shock in her eyes had morphed again, into pure, unadulterated horror.
He had turned just enough to spy from the corner of his eye that not all of him had fallen to the right. He was looking at the bottom of his own shoes from this angle.
His torso from the belly button up had fallen to the right, everything else had collapsed in a heap to the left. His intestines, kidneys and other organs spilled out towards his other half, as if they were reaching out towards each other.
Elsa had struck so quickly and with so much strength that her dagger tore straight through his clothes, skin, fat, muscle, organs, and even his spine.
"Such a shame to sully such beautiful bowels, Subaru-kun… I guess you made me just a tiny bit upset by letting that Felt girl run away." Elsa said with a tiny giggle.
The shock that Rom and Emilia felt at the sight of Subaru's bisected body falling to the ground so suddenly had allowed her a moment to lift some of Subaru's gore off the floor. Her face bloomed red and she smiled widely as if this moment was the height of pleasure..
But Subaru heard her words as if he was under water; muted and distorted. His remaining blood spilled from both his halves and pooled around him, coming to lap against his face. Soon after, the screaming started. Screams of rage from Rom, and horror from Emilia.
Wow… I already bled so much… how's there this much left.
The resulting flurry of movement, the keening sound of crying, and the silence of death faded in and out as Subaru's last few seconds ticked by. His ragged breath turned to fog as the air around him began to grow colder by the second.
Finally, his vision tunneled for the last time, he drug his eyes to the ceiling to study the wooden beams that Reinhard should have crashed through long ago.
The sight of the ceiling buckling and collapsing as Reinhard actually did arrive would have made Subaru laugh if he had any energy left.
A little late there bro…
The last thing he saw was the unflappable face of Reinhard breaking into pure horror as he took in the blood filled bar. Only the defiled bodies of Rom, Emilia, and his only friend, Subaru remained.
A splash of water sent him flying back to the conscious world. Sputtering as if he had just been baptized, for the third time that day.
"There ya go boy, up! Come on! Getup!" Old-man Rom said, holding a now empty bucket.
Subaru shook off the water and let the old man pull him to his feet. He met the concerned eyes of Emilia and Rom.
The haunted look in his eyes took them aback. He stared through them as if they weren't there.
Within his gem, Puck narrowed his eyes. He could tell that something huge just happened but he wasn't sure what. Though he did notice the sharp decline in mana in the air around them, as if it had been snatched away in an instant.
"Subaru! Are you alright? What happened?" Emilia asked with concern thick in her voice, forcing herself to ignore the haunted look in his eyes.
Well… it was bound to happen sometime. At least I confirmed the fact that I am actually in control of my own checkpoints… but why is it consuming mana? I thought Authorities stole energy directly from the Od?
"Yeah… sorry about that. I used way too much mana on accident. Could I have a bocca fruit, Emilia?" Subaru said, his eyes still not entirely focused on what was going on in front of him, concerning Emilia even more.
"Ah, of course!" Emilia said, digging into the small pouch on her hip and handing Subaru the large, raisin-like berry.
Though it was common for magic users to carry the fruit as an emergency measure, it was strange that he just assumed she had some for him.
Subaru took the fruit from Emilia, finally getting some signs of life back in him after downing the fruit and feeling the electrical shocks spark through his body.
"Thanks, Emilia-tan" Subaru said, his voice subdued.
"Subaru… um. Why did all your mana disappear like that? What happened?" Emilia said slowly. She was initially going to yell at him, but hearing his quiet voice she thought better of it.
She watched as Subaru looked at her, an unreadable expression on his face. His intense gaze locks her in place. Warring emotions flickered across his face as he looked deep into her purple eyes.
"Ask me that again after all of this is over. I swear to you; I will explain everything I can, Emilia." Subaru finally said.
However, before any more words could be said, a rhythmic knocking froze Emilia and Rom.
"... that must be Felt. I'll go get it." Rom said slowly. As he stood up he grabbed the large club near the end of the bar, just in case.
No matter what I say here… if I say someone needs to go get Reinhard, I risk exposing the plan to Elsa, plus I'll have to convince them of why we need to. Plus the mana…
Subaru looked at Emilia, his body language and eyes betrayed how unsure he felt. For the first time since she had met him he seemed… human. His pure confidence of his path and in actions was nowhere to be seen.
If I tell Emilia to run away and get Reinhard she won't leave me without some sort of an explanation. FUCK FUCK FUCK-
Subaru became more and more restless before Emilia's eyes. His eyes flickering around the room as if he was a rat searching for a way out of his cage.
Emilia wanted to reach out and comfort him, to get him to tell her exactly what was going on but a little nagging voice in the back of her head warned her from daring to take that step. But still, she battled with her consciousness, and after a moment, she won.
She reached out to the panicking man, placing her hand lightly on his shoulder. She flinched as he instantly froze, ripping her hand away as if she had been burned. Subaru turned towards her and she avoided his eyes like they were the plague. Fully expecting them to be full of disgust and hate.
"...Thank you Emilia-tan. I was kinda freaking out for a second there huh?" Subaru said sheepishly and with a smile.
This turn of events shocked Emilia, but she couldn't help but smile back at his awkwardness. The fact that he thanked her and smiled at her after she touched him made her feel… happy. With renewed confidence, she held his gaze and spoke.
"I know you can't tell me what's wrong right now… but please if there's something I can do to help, just ask!"
Subaru was surprised slightly at her confident tone. The fact that the amazing girl he knew her to be was shining through already was… comforting. Plus, it gave him an idea. Not a fool proof plan or even one likely to work; but a plan nonetheless.
"Actually, yeah. There is something only you can do Emilia. As soon as the fighting starts, send an attack up through the roof and into the sky as far as you can manage. I think Reinhard might be a little confused about our meetup time…" Subaru said.
Emilia just looked at him, confused, but suddenly she realized what he was getting at.
"Oh! Like some sort of a signal? Does that mean you think Reinhard won't be able to see Elsa coming?"
"Yeah something like that… just call it a bad feeling making me want to be super careful so that we aren't forced to fight against that monster."
"That is definitely something I can do! Just count on me Subaru!" Emilia nodded, happy that Subaru had confided his worries in her, even if only slightly.
Past me really didn't give her enough credit… she's so strong, tough and smart… This time I won't allow myself to treat her like some kind of fragile doll!
Before another word could be said they heard movement in the entryway of the bar.
"Ow! What the hell old man! I wasn't even inside and you slammed the door!"
Felt walked backwards into the main room towards Subaru and Emilia, rubbing her back.
Shit… didn't hide Emilia again…
After Felt arrived and saw Emilia, everything went much the same. Thankfully Subaru was able to head off the shouting and argument that was bound to occur, using his experience with this last time, he pretty much knew what her arguments and misgivings were.
Overall, he was able to pass this trial with just a bit less frustration, and a little more grace. First he promised that they were not going to arrest her, or hurt her for stealing, backed up by Emilia. Then they convinced her of the danger of Elsa, backed up by Rom. And finally Subaru sealed the deal by promising that if nothing else, they would use Roswaal's money to buy it once Ram arrived at the Loothouse later that night.
Just like last time, this set off alarm bells within Emilia's mind. Who is Subaru? For what reason did he seem to know her and those around her even?
After missing Emilia's slightly suspicious gaze, Subaru once again explained the plan to Felt, Rom, and Emilia. This time, including Emilia's signal flare in the details.
"So basically, you want to use me as bait, that's your plan?" Felt deadpanned with a fed-up expression.
This time Subaru didn't yell out in shock or surprise from her dry, humorless attempt to cover up her fear.
This time he slipped off his bar stool and approached the girl. She looked up at his face defiantly. As Subaru looked down into her amber eyes, he looked past her attempts to present a strong front and her fake bravado. He saw below those covers a hint of fear that was easy to spy, if he looked close enough.
"What? You tryin' to intimidate me into going along with your plans? Well let me tell you it's not gonna b-"
Felt's tirade was cut off as Subaru put a hand on her head, and smiled kindly at her. Closing his eyes so that she wasn't able to see her own fear reflected in him. He was older now, stronger mentally at least, but still death scared him; as it should.
"Hey! What're you doing, get off of me!" Felt squirmed under his touch, but did not push him away.
"Felt… it's alright to be scared… Heck, I'm a little scared of this whole thing. But just understand that I'd only ask this much of you because it's the only way." Subaru said with his best big brother voice that he could manage.
Despite Felt looking like she was getting ready to bite Subaru's arm off, she stopped as she registered his words, and backed off.
Why does this weird guy care so much! Why!? And how is he reading me like that…
"Ugh… forget it. I'll go along with your plans, just get off of me!" Felt finally said after a moment, shoving Subaru and turning away.
When she turned away from him, Subaru just shook his head and sat back down next to Emilia.
"You seem good with kids, Subaru." Emilia said with a smile.
"Really? I'm glad you think so… most of the time they just take advantage of me haha…" He said sheepishly.
"I think what you said really helped make her have a little more confidence in this whole situation though." Emilia said looking at the young girl bantering and bickering with the oldman. "It's a strange effect you have on people, Subaru"
Subaru glanced at Emilia, her smiling face still causing butterflies to rise up in his chest no matter how many times he saw it.
"I've been told that I'm easy to get along with… besides that, I'm not sure what 'effect' you're talking about exactly Emilia-tan."
"I'm talking about how you turn total strangers friendly to you in just a few short words, Subaru. It's almost a little scary seeing you do it to someone else."
"Ah well… I don't really feel like I'm doing anything special…" Subaru said, looking thoughtfully at Emilia.
Well, I know most of you as good, if not better, than you know yourselves at this point in time… Is it wrong of me to be using that information like this?
Subaru wasn't sure the answer to that question right now. But, as his mother said, 'the start, and the middle don't matter, it's all in how it ends' right?
"...anyway Emilia, you should probably get into position. I think things are going to start happening pretty soon here." Subaru said after going silent for a moment.
"Ah right, I'll be up in the loft hiding and listening for my cue, right?"
"Yup, and whatever you do, don't make a sound, and absolutely don't forget to send that signal to Reinhard." Subaru nodded and confirmed.
Subaru threw her a thumbs up and avoided watching too closely as she climbed the ladder up to the loft. Now that she was gone and Rom and Felt were busy with their little family discussion, he finally had a moment to just think.
The situation at hand would be handled so long as Reinhard arrived before things got to a critical point. Even though he was so late in the last loop, Subaru knew that there was no way that Reinhard would leave them hanging voluntarily.
He hoped that the signal 'flare' of Emilia's ice crystal would be the nudge he needed to move this loop into the goal, so to speak.
So now all that was left was to wait. He stared out at the wall in front of him lost in his own thoughts.
He thought about everything that had happened so far. Despite this being his first day back, he already felt exhausted. There was so much to do, so much to plan. Enemies considered nearly invincible and immortal were once again waiting for him out there. Would he have what it takes this time to defeat them without losses?
Additionally, how was he going to deal with this ownership of Envy? He could set his own checkpoints but is that really a good thing? He almost messed everything up once already, what if he had placed the checkpoint an hour later when Elsa was already there.
I could fall into a death loop, just like that explosion when Satella lost sight of me.
Subaru's gaze hardened. The 10 second death loop was one of the more traumatizing events of his first few years here. He remembered the feeling. His mind being torn to shreds… What if he accidentally made an even worse checkpoint than that?
Would the world be frozen in time as I become nothing but a mind broken shell?
Much like before, his dark mental state was having effects outside his mind. Subtly, the shadows around him began to grow. Longer and thinner, forming small grasping arms if one looked too closely. They seemed to almost stretch out towards him, ready to embrace him.
Once again, Puck noticed this and warned Emilia, but this time even Subaru noticed something was off.
He jumped a little and almost cursed the witch who was clearly causing this strange event… but she wasn't able to reach him anymore, was she? Could this be stemming from within him? He knew his compatibility with Envy was extreme, if he owned the Authority… wouldn't that make him a witch.
Actually, I'd be a warlock, like Hector, wouldn't I?
Subaru would be lying if the thought of finally having some power of his own, not needing to lean on others so much, sounded intoxicating… But having seen the power of witches and the corrupting effects of their power, he couldn't help but frown. Their power twisted them, or rather, it reinforced the features inside them that matched their authorities. Subaru just stopped thinking about it, and added it to the mental list of endless challenges that awaited.
He sighed, his voice filled with exhaustion.
The weight of the book in his inside pocket once again weighed heavy on his mind. He wanted nothing more than to rip it out and pour over the pages, looking for any explanation of what was going on.
Not only was that a terrible idea in front of people, with the fame of the witch cult and their notorious Gospel, but was there even anything in the book? He had only seen the first page after all. For all Subaru knew, it was blank beyond that.
"You… Alright there boy?" Rom asked hesitantly.
Subaru snapped out of his daze, and looked over to them both. This time not missing the slight unease in their faces.
"Huh? Oh yeah, don't worry about me. Was just going over the plan again in my head. Nothin' to worry about on my side!" Subaru said, lying poorly, throwing them a thumbs up out of habit.
Wait… Rom said that last time too… did that freaky shadow thing happen when I was thinking about the fights last loop?
Subaru's worry grew, shocked that he didn't even notice something so huge happening around him back then.
Unsurprisingly, there was a slow, deliberate knock at the door. Using the correct pattern for the password.
Everyone but Subaru tensed up. Elsa had arrived.
Subaru's face immediately cooled once again into a neutral expression, no hint of fear or conflict could be seen. This time, he intended to keep his cool a little better than last time.
Rom sat back in his seat behind the bar, his giant club resting against his leg, ready at a moment's notice.
Emilia, and even Puck, mentally prepared the spells they planned to use in the next few minutes, though they kept their presence small, and silent.
Felt simply gulped. She stood and stole a glance at Subaru. Upon seeing his face, she tried her best to emulate the cool indifference that Subaru so casually donned. She put on an even better version this time. Subaru's earlier words had a better effect on calming her than even he had guessed.
"Right! I'll be right there!" Felt yelled towards the door. Taking one last look at Subaru and Rom. Subaru offered her a small smile and thumbs up.
She stood and walked to the door, her strides not confident… but not filled with fear either. She opened the small peephole in the large door and confirmed it was her employer. Who, according to Subaru, was actually a mass murdering psychopath…
She took a deep breath to brace herself, and in one motion twisted the door handle and casually opened the door. On the other side, Elsa stood. Slight orange hint of the sun that would soon be setting cast a shadow on her face. Her piercing eyes and predatory smile was subdued. With no weak and easy prey, she failed to get as excited as he had in the loop before.
The smile she wore most definitely did not reach her eyes. It felt like an expression a predator would throw from its resting place; simply observing the prey as it moved through its territory.
"Why hello, Felt-chan. May I come in?" Elsa said, her voice sickly sweet.
"Yeah, head back that way…" Felt said, keeping her voice steady. " I hope you don't mind, I invited someone here to mediate the deal."
"No… that's no trouble at all. Oh my! A giant for a little old me? You must think I'm some scary woman, Felt." Elsa said, eyeing the huge man behind the bar.
Her eyes traveled over to Subaru, who simply looked at her with a neutral mask. Her eyes traveled over and past him as if he was hardly there. Her eyes only noticed his lack of strength and strange clothes. He was able to successfully conceal his inner turmoil for the first time facing her.
"Oh, and who's this? Not a mediator, he seems much too weak and strange for such a job." Elsa said, her focus dispersed around the bar.
"He's your competition for this insignia, said he can offer a better price than you so we need to sit down and negotiate." Felt explained, keeping her distance from the woman.
Felt sat down at a table opposite of Elsa, Subaru joined them and sat directly next to Felt.
"My competition, you say? And what's your name, young man?" Elsa said, still pretending to be an innocent lady.
Subaru looked at Elsa and smiled, doing everything in his power to keep his mental state shoved away in some dark hole in his mind. He chose to act as he thought she would expect him to.
"Natsuki Subaru, Miss… but someone as pretty as you can just call me Subaru" Subaru said.
Though he somehow kept his revulsion separate from his voice and off his face, it was more difficult than he expected. This caused a slight hint of suspicion to creep in Elsa's mind.
Though he had done so great thus far keeping her in the dark of his true feelings, she simply chalked it up to his feelings towards their negotiations.
However, she couldn't stop herself from teasing him about it.
"Beautiful you say, Subaru-kun? My… if I didn't know better, I'd almost believe you." She said with just a hint of malice lacing her words, twirling her air innocently around her finger.
The implied threat behind her words caused everyone, including Subaru this time, to tense up. This time, however, Emilia managed to not make even the slightest sound, keeping Subaru's words in mind.
However, Elsa made no moves other than to lean forwards. She rested her elbows on the table and placed her hands on her cheeks to hold her head up. Doing so intentionally pushed her 'assets' out even further than they had been before.
"I am Elsa Granhiert" She said, her sultry voice dripping in sickly sweetness. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Subaru forced himself to keep his eyes on her face and not fall for the bait she had set for him by leaning forward so suddenly.
"If it's all the same to you Elsa, I'd like to get these negotiations started." Subaru said seriously. "But don't you think it's a little inappropriate to start negotiations with such half finished introductions?"
Elsa sat back and looked at him, genuine confusion on her face. She looked up as if thinking hard.
"Why, whatever could you mean Subaru?"
"I thought that it was customary for one to list their titles before engaging in business, isn't that right, Oldman?"
Rom looked at the kid as if he was crazy.
He told us this lady was the Bowel Hunter herself, and now he's tryin' to antagonize her? That wasn't in his little plan! Rom thought suddenly. Is he trying to get her to target him or somethin?
"Uh… yeah the kid's right. If you have some other title, it's only appropriate to tell your business partner so they know where they stand" Rom said, his voice halting slightly in hesitation.
"And who, pray tell, has been saying I have a title, Subaru-kun? I am just a simple errand girl for my master…" Elsa said, hands turned up and shaking her head side to side
"Oh, there was this little purple haired girl I met somewhere… she was telling me all about her big sister Elsa," Subaru said with a smirk on his face and his legs coiled to jump away the moment she struck at him. "I think she said her name was Meilli-"
Before he could even finish what he was saying, Elsa struck. His eyes were just barely able to follow Elsa's hand as she sliced the blade through the air at blinding speed. It was as if everything was moving in slow motion for him.
Despite the fact that he was ready, knew it was coming, and had tensed his legs to jump at a moment's notice, his body failed to move.
Thankfully, even more than before, Felt was hyperaware. Her blessing of wind allowed her to move fast enough, and with enough force, to tackle the larger boy out of the way in the nick of time.
Damn this body! No matter what I should at least be able to run away! This is ridiculous!
They crashed to the ground, Subaru finally was able to react. He rolled, holding Felt close to his chest and carrying her with him, putting as much distance as possible between them and Elsa.
"Oh Subaru, it seems you know just how to push my buttons. How do you know dear Meili?" Her voice never changed tone, but the threat of a slow death seeped into her words and bled through clearly.
"I suppose that this is fine, I had already intended to open each and every one of your bellies before I left anyway…" She said, her face taking on a perverse smile thinking about their entrails.
Her arm was outstretched, her deadly purple dagger held firmly in one hand, glinting dangerously.
"I am Elsa Greinhart, also known as the Bowel Hunter." She said with a small bow. "Now, please show me your beautiful entrails!"
With that final word she launched herself over the table and at the prone forms of Subaru and Felt.
"EMILIA, NOW!" Subaru yelled.
Rather than launch a spell to save Subaru from her attack, Emilia fired a crystal straight up and through the roof.
When Elsa sensed the spell forming she instinctively dodged, expecting the ambush to be targeted at her.
Upon landing and finding that the spell had in fact been directed up and outwards of the house, her face took on a surprised expression.
"Ah, the half-elf… I see what's gone on here, you betrayed me my little Felt…" Elsa said, sounding almost disappointed. "But I must ask, how did you know about the illusion? The crystal holding that spell should have been far too weak and small to notice.
Meanwhile, the large icicle soared upwards, quickly exiting the perimeter of the illusion; a sparkling trail of tiny crystals followed behind it. Once it reached its peak height and lost all momentum, it exploded sending a shower of ice and snow through the air.
At the same time, a certain shocked, red haired swordsman jumped from the top of the church bell tower with enough force to finish knocking down the dilapidated structure.
As he flew through the air Reinhard felt nothing but hatred towards himself.
If they were forced to send a signal like that… What sort of condition will I find them in?
As his mind spun through the terrible possibilities, each time reminding himself that it would be his fault if something had happened. His one job was to help his new friend and he may have already failed that.
What is the point of living if I can't even do something as simple as this!
Reinhard grit his teeth and used his divine protection of the wind to carry him faster through the air towards his target.
Though I am nothing but a worthless failure, I will save them!
I swear we will be getting out of this soon. Thank you for sticking with me so far! See you next chapter!