Natsuki Subaru felt the rage before he heard and saw it, the berserk madness of the blue oni howling at a target other than him.
"Die, Archbishop!" Rem screamed, a crackling horn of pinkish white energy growing out from the middle of her forehead as her morning star shrieked through the air towards Capella Emerada Lugnica.
Smiling at the incoming weapon, Capella hummed as she batted it aside with an arm that was suddenly gorilla-like instead of human. "Oni! An Oni! This lovely lady thought we had already wiped you all out!"
"Shut up and die!" Rem snarled as ice manifested into floating spikes at her side. "[El Huma!]"
Capella laughed as she swung her right hand, her extended fingers becoming a mess of massive tentacles that smashed the shot ice spears apart easily-
*KRACKAM!*
-until a massive bolt of lightning slammed into Capella, sending her form smashing through a tree.
"Rem! You've got to get going!" Subaru shouted. "I'll hold her off!"
"I refuse!" Rem snapped as she prepared to jump after-
"Get back to the mansion!" Subaru roared. "Elsa said that she was here to kill Emilia and I! And she's no longer here!"
Indeed, ever since Capella had arrived, Subaru had inadvertently given her his full attention, until he realized with a horrible sinking fear that the Bowel Hunter had vanished.
"The sun just went down! Without Puck, Emilia and the others will be easy pickings for her!" Subaru pointed back at the mansion in emphasis. "Get going! Warn Roswaal or Beatrice! I'll hold Capella here until you can get back!"
For one long instant, Subaru thought that Rem would disregard his words. Thankfully, she thought otherwise and swiftly ran off, leaving Subaru behind as she undoubtedly placed her sister's wellbeing above his. "Now, then..."
Subaru turned just as he heard the sound of trees being brutally ripped apart. "I have to face down a monster lady again."
"My... my skin..." Capella murmured as she stepped forward from the bush, her arms massive and furred and clawed. "This lovely lady's perfect, flawless skin is bruised and scratched and burned..."
Her face twisted into something ugly, her voice steadily gaining volume with each word. "Youβ¦You WRETCH! YOU INSIGNIFICANT, WORTHLESS, REVOLTING RAT!"
Capella surged forward, her hand glowing a malevolent violet color as she slapped Subaru's chest... but nothing happened.
"Youβ¦" Capella's rage swiftly shifted to shock and disbelief. "There was no... How did you counteract my Authority?!"
'Authority? Did {Return By Death} do something that counteracted whatever she just tried?' Subaru rapidly thought as he rapidly backstepped from the Archbishop. 'Or did my Devil Fruit make me immune to whatever stuff she was trying?'
"Wait...! Your smell...!" Capella's eyes widened as she took a step forward. "That smell⦠I knew it! So that is how you can become a dragon as well!"
A guttural noise rumbled deep in her throat as she declared. "All love belongs to me! Her love belongs to me! Give me her love! Give me your Authority!"
"My Authority?" Subaru parroted in confusion. "I don't know what you mean, but hell no! You can't have it, bitch! You're not getting any 'love' from me!"
"All that is love belongs to me and me alone! I am the one who harbors all the love in the world! I am the only one who will be in love! I am the only one to feel love! I am... LOVE!" Baring fangs too large to be human, Capella roared and lunged forward.
Ram expected various things as she waited before the mansion's front door for Rem and Barusu return from Irlam Village.
Rem returning with Barusu carrying most (if not all) of the load, as he obviously should.
Barusu returning with Rem carrying most of the load, being as useless as ever.
Rem returning alone without Barusu while reeking of an alarming amount of Barusu's blood.
Or maybe... A very small maybe... Rem and Barusu returning together, unnaturally closer to each other than Ram could've stomached.
What she absolutely didn't expect was her dear little sister running towards her in a panic, both her horn and flail out without Barusu in tow.
"Nee-sama! Are you alright?!" Rem screamed as she flung herself into Ram's arms. "Where is she?!"
"Calm down, Rem." Ram grabbed her sister's shoulders to look at her straight in the eye. "What happened? Where's Barusu?"
"S-Subaru and Rem encountered the woman who attacked him and Emilia-sama at the capital." Rem shakily revealed. "And then... Nee-sama, there's a Sin Archbishop in the territory!"
Ram went cold. With Roswaal-sama gone to attend to important matters, she'd been left in charge of the mansion's defenses. How would they deal with this?!
"Subaru made me return to protect Emilia-sama and everyone else, because while we fought against the Archbishop, the Bowel Hunter had disappeared." Rem gasped as her horn sparked, working overtime to keep the Oni combat ready. "Where is she?! She said that both Subaru and Emilia-sama were her targets!"
"What?!"
Ram turned at the sharp gasp, looking up the stairs to see Emilia's pale face. "Elsa came here?! With an Archbishop?! Rem, where's Subaru?!"
Rem stepped forward-
*fwin!*
*SWOOSH!*
-only to gasp as Ram shot a blast of wind that stopped the thrown knife that would've pierced Rem's shoulder. Catching it before it could even start to fall, Ram wasted no time in flinging back in the direction it came from, into the darkness. The gut-wrenching sound of a blade piercing flesh reverberated around the quiet garden.
"Oh, my... This is... unexpected." The Bowel Hunter stepped out of the shadows, casually tearing the knife out of her stomach like it was a mere splinter. Ram could now easily believe how it had taken the Sword Saint to drive her off. "I thought that a royal candidate would've had better protection than just these two."
"Elsa Granhiert..." Emilia growled, a rare look of hatred overcoming her usually kind features. "Where's Subaru?! What did you to him?!"
"Ah, it's a real shame..." Elsa shrugged. "But I'm not foolish enough to let my desires run afoul of a Sin Archbishop's. It's best if you pray that Mama kills him. That's her way of showing mercy~"
Barusu was truly facing one of the top members of the Witch Cult... alone?!
"[Ul Huma!]"
Ice, sharper and colder than Ram knew Rem could ever produce, rained down upon Elsa's form, kicking up a massive plume of dust and icy mist from how hard the numerous spikes had been fired.
"Ram, I'm going after Subaru!" Emilia ordered, already jumping down the stairs. "You and Rem will stay here with Beatrice and guard the mansion!"
*GROWL!*
*GROWL!*
*GROWL!*
*GROWL!*
*GROWL!*
*GROWL!*
*GROWL!*
Leaping over the fences, several wolgarms leapt over the fence, their red eyes glowing with malevolence while Elsa broke free of her icy coffin.
"Mabeasts?!" Emilia flinched back. "How did they get past the barriers?"
"Why do you look so surprised, half-elf?" Elsa flexed her fingers before summoning new knives into her hand. "Did I not tell you that I expected more security here than what I found? Well, that's too bad for you all~"
Elsa tilted her head ever-so-slightly, successfully dodging a sharp burst of wind magic. "This looks like it's going to be quite the massacre-"
"[Al Huma!]" Rem roared as a giant column of ice, longer than the mansion's height, smashed into Elsa midsentence. "You... damned mabeasts!"
Rem threw herself forward, her mace screaming as she began to decimate the many wolgarms. Just as Ram prepared to join in, she almost missed Emilia's confused and worried mutter.
"She... she should've been able to dodge that..."
The lush forest bordering Irlam Village was a wonderful place. The trees were greener than a Vollachian rainforest, the streams were purer than a Gustekan glacier, and the air felt like it was blessed by the Great Spirit of Wind.
Meili Portroute, however, loved it for an entirely different reason. By a river, the Mabeast Tamer waited as she had been told to, playing with Wol-Wol to pass the time.
"You're so cuuute, Wol-Wol~" Meili cooed.
The wolgarm's eyes, glowing red with the malice of actualized madness, barked with joy under Meili's tender ministrations before turning it's inquiring snout towards the village.
"No~ No eating my friends." Meili chastised. Then, with a frown, she amended. "Well, unless Mama says otherwise."
Meili would be sad, but she knew what happened to those who disobeyed Mama. Thankfully, Subaru-nii unknowingly fulfilled Mama's order of making Wol-Wol curse someone from the mansion.
Meili didn't think either of the twin maids would've allowed her to get close enough. If Meili had failed...
"Never forget who your love belongs to." Mama would whisper while her hands-
Well, Meili was glad not to have failed Mama.
"Will you be a good girl?" Mama's purring voice was heard from fifty separate pairs of ears, one of them hidden within Elsa's cold hands. "You won't disappoint this lovely lady again, will you?"
Not again.
Meili didn't want her consciousness split again. She didn't want to be split apart and pieced back together wrong. She didn't want to be turned into rabbits or snakes or rats or flies or dead balls of flesh.
She just wanted to keep being Elsa's Meili.
*BOOM!*
Meili instinctively leaned out of the way as something smashed through the tree she'd been leaning against, the wooden shivers narrowly missing her face. Blinking in surprise, the thing in question looked like-
'Subaru-nii?'
It was most likely Subaru-nii, except he was now much more dragon-like in appearance, actually roaring as he thankfully hadn't noticed Meili as he rushed back towards his opponent.
Just like Elsa had told Meili and Mama.
Meili watched in no small amount of awe as Subaru and Mama ferociously tried to kill each other, the former almost beast-like in behavior as he kept shooting spells whenever he could as he swiped at her with his fists and claws.
It was only after a whole minute passed that Meili realized why she was awed by this battle. Why Mama hadn't won yet. Why Elsa had subtly but strongly implied that she hid away from their battle and not interfere.
"Give this lovely lady your Authority!"
Mama was fighting someone who was immune to her Authority.
Mama was fighting someone who possessed an Authority of his own.
Mama was fighting another Archbishop.
"Oh~?"
Emilia and the maids followed Elsa's gaze towards the forest as the roars of the two beast shifters resounded through the area, frightening off many birds from it. "Subaru!"
"Okay, then!" Elsa clapped to gain their attention. "This is where I'll be taking my exit~"
"Do you think we'll be letting you get away?!" Rem roared as her flail flew towards the Bowel Hunter, only for the weapon to actually be punched back at her, slamming into the Oni's chest.
"Of course, I think so." Elsa turned around and leisurely walked away from the trio. "After all, you all need to do something about the mabeasts attacking the village."
And with the parting message, Elsa vanished into the shadows just as eerily as she arrived.
"The village...?" Emilia gasped as she thought of the villagers who wouldn't be able to defend themselves from the onslaught, especially if the barrier protecting the village had been bypassed just like the one that had supposed to have guarded Roswaal's home. "Ram!"
Ram looked up from her collapsed and heaving sister as Emilia began to treat her. "Ram understands. I will leave Rem in your care while protecting the villagers."
"And I will protect the mansion, I suppose."
Emilia turned to see Beatrice outside, beyond the Great Library and the mansion for the second time in four hundred years with her gaze fixed on the forest where Subaru's battle with the Archbishop raged on within. "When the girl is done healing, they can both follow after."
"Thank you, Beatrice." Emilia sighed as she returned her full attention into healing Rem's crushed ribs while Ram departed for the village. The sooner she was done, the sooner she could leave. The sooner she could leave, the sooner she could help Subaru.
The sooner she could help Subaru, the lesser the chance of the Archbishop taking away her friend's life.
Considering how he hadn't died so far, Subaru wished that he could say that this wasn't the most dangerous fight he'd ever had, but that would be such a fucking lie. Using his freshly realized Observation Haki as much as he could along with his Devil Fruit for the increased and desperately needed physical boost, along with his usually suppressed predatory instinct, Subaru had somehow avoided dying while the bitch named Capella strove to make him do otherwise.
Capella roared as she attacked him now as a panther, her black fur and claws shimmery in the moonlight as she latched on to his arm and tried to bite through the scales.
A thorough failure on her path as he gripped her skull and squeezed, crushing her head before throwing her away just as the panther twisted into a mass of shrieking flying insects that swarmed towards Subaru, only for a massive roar of lightning to obliterate more than half of them.
"Six times now you have dealt a killing blow against this lovely lady! Shall we see if you can manage a seventh time?!"
Undeterred, Capella smoothly regathered into a dark and rapidly growing mass. Ebony talons the size of benches. Wings of darkness so long, they put a football field to shame. Ruby eyes that were as large as Subaru himself.
'So this is what Elsa meant when she compared me to her 'Mama' back then...'
Capella was gone, and in her place was a gigantic black dragon that dwarfed Roswaal's mansion itself.
With a mighty roar that shook the ground it stood on and tore through the forest, Capella released a pitch-black jet of flame, searing the very air around it as it flew towards it's target.
And Subaru... swiftly turned about to run, his body already shifting into his Full Beast mode as he coiled protectively around Meili. He didn't know what she'd been doing in the forest so late, but his Observation had still picked up on her and had really made a strong effort to not instinctively acknowledge her presence during that moment when they'd gained a clear view of each other.
It wouldn't do to give Capella another target.
Even as he uncoiled and roared in challenge at the other dragon before him, Subaru knew that he would not allow Meili to die here, even if {Return by Death} had to become an option.
"Have any of you seen them?!"
"Where did Meili and Emerada go?!"
"Is Roswaal-sama aware of this?!"
Petra bit her lip and huddled with the other kids, wandering where Meili and Emerada had gone off to, especially with the sounds coming from the forest.
Everyone had woken up from the tremors in the ground, panicking at dangerous battle happening within the forest. Things got a bit worse when Roswaal-sama's maids soon ran into the village accompanied by a half-elf with silver hair.
It was probably the panic that didn't let Petra be wary as usual when she broke off from the group to approach them.
"Rem-rin!" Petra cried as she clung to the blue-haired maid's skirt. "We can't find Meili and Emerada! We think they might be in the forest!"
"""What?!""" All three grown up girls spoke as one before they all turned to the forest, their eyes widening in shock and horror as a massive black dragon rose up and spread it's wings before shooting a blast of black flames towards the thing it'd be fighting against.
"Subaru!" The half-elf screamed before rushing towards the dangerous battle. Just as the maids moved either to hold her back or rush after her, the attack was suddenly countered by a condensed hose of water, dousing the flames and knocking the dragon down.
For there was another dragon, more serpentine than lizard-like with wings, that had risen up with a defiant roar at it's opponent.
Strangely, Petra didn't feel the instinctual terror from this one that the other dragon had been heavily giving off.
"Subaru! He's okay!" The half-elf exclaimed in relief, surprising most of the village members who had been close enough to her, Petra included.
"That's Subaru-nii?!" Petra's small mouth hung open, staring at how the new dragon looked much more majestic compared to the other one.
Petra's papa had once mentioned that Roswaal-sama was only likely to have hired powerful people as his staff members, in order to ensure that his mansion would be well defended whenever he wasn't around to do it.
When Petra and everyone had met Subaru earlier in the day, they had thought that Roswaal-sama had probably just hired him for other reasons, given that he wasn't as intimidating as Rem-rin and her sister.
Now Petra knew better, because Subaru-nii was apparently an awesome dragon that Roswaal-sama got to fight other dragons.
Petra let herself relax back with her friends, knowing that Meili would at least be safe from the dragon that Subaru-nii was fighting.
As Roswaal-sama's butler and self-proclaimed 'awesome aniki', Subaru-nii felt reliable like that.
Just as Petra thought that, Subaru and the dragon began to charge at each other ferociously until they collided, their massive forms shaking the ground and air from the impact.
Clinging tight to Subaru-nii's hair as she hid most of her body in it, Meili watched the titanic battle right from the center as he threw Mama, tearing up the ground as the Archbishop dug her claws into the earth to catch herself.
In all of her life, never had Meili seen even the biggest of mabeasts tear into each other so ferociously, black fire and purple lightning flying about as the two dragons savagely slashed and bit one another with unrelenting fury.
A stranger could look at them and would be struck with serious doubt if told that the dragons were both actual humans.
Well, Subaru-nii at least. Meili had no idea what Mama's original species actually was.
Subaru-nii grappled Mama with his claws and pushed her back, raising an arm in an attempt to swipe at her neck. Mama acted fast, biting Subaru-nii in the neck like a snake would've done. Her own clawed hands followed suit, clamping down her opponent's shoulder to restrain him.
Mama flapped her massive wings, dragging Subaru-nii up into the air and threw him back down into the ground, obliterating many trees and mabeasts that had been unfortunate to be below them at the moment.
Meili was just surprised that she somehow hadn't been knocked off away from Subaru-nii's head by this point.
The Archbishop mercilessly tore at Subaru-nii's throat, but he wasn't down for the fight yet. A gurgling noise followed by a loud honking-like sound started to emit from Subaru-nii's serpentine body, crackling purple light shining from beneath the scales as it pulsed up to gather in his mouth.
Mama reeled her head back, but it was too late. A massive beam of black purple lightning, much stronger than Subaru-nii's previous ones, blasted the dragon back several miles back and knocked her over while seriously burning her scales.
Roaring out in rage and pain, Mama slammed herself into Subaru-nii again, this time wrapping both her arms and legs around him as her wings spread out to their utmost length. Flapping them heavily, the Archbishop began to carry the both of them up into the sky.
Unfortunately, the horrid feeling of sudden weightlessness made Meili finally scream out in terror, which ruined her hiding place as Mama's massive crimson eye locked onto her tiny form immediately.
For one horrifying pause in time, Meili saw blatant shock in Mama's eye before it shifted to the sadistic cruety she knew and feared.
Ignoring Subaru-nii's much more panicked bites and scratching, Mama put her wings to work, soaring higher and higher into the sky.
Higher and higher...
Up until they were above even the gathered storm clouds...
Until finally, Mama released a cruel coo from her throat as she let go.
Seeing Mama dive down faster to no doubt watch them splatter painfully onto the ground, Meili watched her disappear as she screamed while Subaru-nii shrunk in size until he was human again, flailing about until he caught Meili's small body in his arms.
"Hold on, Meili! I've got an idea!" Subaru-nii screamed as they careened through the air, the butler trying to stop themselves from turning about. "This has gotta work! There's no better way to survive this! This is insane! I don't know how to- Stop it! Do not think like that!"
Meili didn't think that Subaru-nii had full confidence in whatever plan he was cooking up. But whatever it was, it was wholly better as Meili had nothing.
"This will work. It has to work. It will work because I will it to work!"
They passed through the storm clouds, their horrible clash with the ground approaching quickly.
"Here we go!" Subaru-nii put Meili into a piggyback, angled himself forward as best as he could while tucking his legs in... and kicked out with as much force as he could!
*BOOMF!*
A white cloud of displaced air briefly flared into existence beneath Subaru-nii's feet and suddenly, their fall was slowed down by a miniscule amount.
Subaru-nii kicked out again, only to fail at whatever he just succeeded at. Most likely emboldened by his initial success, Subaru-nii kicked out again and again until he achieved the desired result again, the resulting puffs of displaced air increasing in sound and frequency as their fall slowed and the air stopped screaming.
"Hahahaha!" Subaru-nii cackled with Meili joining in as their fall finally stopped with Subaru-nii taking off into the air completely of his own volition. "Yes! Hurray for {Moon Step}! Holy shit, it fucking works!"
Meili didn't know what {Moon Step} was beyond being something that was allowing Subaru-nii to fly, but she could understand the wild glee he gave off as he transformed back into his massive dragon form, filling the sky with his ecstatic roars as the dragon that had been constrained to the ground was no longer so while his four limbs kept displacing the air just as well as his human legs did.
Mama had once boasted of the feeling, to look down on those below while basking in the sky. To look down on the earth, the rocks, the dirt, the worms and just not care. After all, why would one care of the tiny people down there, barely more than pinpricks as they rightfully had zero means to trespass into the domain above?
To the likes of Mama, the White Whale and most likely the Divine Dragon himself, to be able to fly as high and much as one wished to was to be unreachable, untouchable, invincible.
And now, safely secured in Subaru-nii's massive hair again, the Mabeast Tamer joined the dragon butler in entering into that domain.
Subaru resisted the urge to burst out laughing when Capella's shock showed even through her draconic face. It wouldn't do to be too distracted to notice her movements. What was more important was that he was running low on mana. While transforming into a dragon seemed to increase his capacity by several amounts, his inexperience still hindered him.
Beatrice would kill him if he overdid it and damaged his Gate. That last attack which combined his Yin element with a breath attack of lightning was already pushing the limit.
"Hey, Capella! You're looking really nice there below me!"
Taunting however was perfectly acceptable. That's how Spider-Man worked, and look how well it usually worked for him.
Roaring at the insult, Capella surged towards Subaru, talons flashing as she swooped up towards him.
However, maybe it was because of the high Subaru had entered from flying unimpeded or maybe it was that reclusive bestial instinct that was helping Subaru be at ease with a body that wasn't his own.
But even as Subaru dodged the beam of pitch black flames that singed his side, he wasn't as afraid as before. Subaru knew that he wasn't a true dragon or leviathan, but the dragon sharing this sky with him was an even worse faker.
Add in the fact that Capella was not only Elsa's boss, but had just noticed Meili in his hair and still chosen to grant them both a sadistic death from a several miles high drop.
Even someone like Natsuki Subaru, who had been raised by peaceful and loving parents, needed no prompting to decide that Capella Emerada Lugnica had to die as soon as possible.
The problem was that she just. Kept. Regenerating.
"[El Shamak!]"
Briefly robbed of her senses, Capella stumbled and fell towards the ground, unable to control her body as she smashed into the forest headfirst.
'I'll be totally out of mana after this, but I need to put this bitch down with as much power as I can!' Subaru gathered up his remaining mana, already wincing at the tongue lashing that both Emilia and Beatrice would give him. "[El Minya + Lightning!]"
Sixty spears of dark crystal materialized into existence, simultaneously burning with Yin mana and crackling with Leviathan lightning before hurtling down at Capella at unimaginable speeds. Upon impact, the spears shattered, scattering over her until her entire body was encased in crystal while constantly electrocuting her with each hit.
When he was done, there was nothing more than a mess of black sludge, already writhing back into a central form.
Almost exhausted himself, Subaru reverted back to his human form, with Meili now holding on to his back. "You need to get away from here, Meili. I don't want her to know that you're still here."
Nodding quietly, the girl gingerly got off his back and escaped towards the forest. Five seconds after Meili disappeared into the bush, Capella's head was the first to reform.
"To think you could push this lovely lady to such an extent..." Capella panted on her hands and knees as she glared murderously at Subaru. "This lovely lady should've expected as much. A worm like you should know your place, new Sin Archbishop of PRIDE. No... You're yet to have been granted a Gospel by Pandora-sama, so you're simply a Warlock..."
Paying little mind to her words, Subaru glared back at Capella, noting her hateful glare, her bared teeth, her heaving chest-
'She's panting... That means that she can get short of breath, regardless of her healing... Can she survive being unable to breathe?'
"Hey, Capella! Have a nice swim!" Subaru thrusted both of his arms forward, blasting Capella with an obscene amount of water. "And be sure to drown!"
Manipulating the water, Subaru grimaced as he forced the water to condense into a large floating orb, constantly swirling about to disorient the person within.
To her credit, Capella immediately transformed into various large beasts, vigorously shoving her head out of the growing water bubble while trying to disperse her watery prison.
'Will I get exhausted first and let you kill me via whatever animal you choose?'
Capella shrieked as she burst into several hawks, many slipping through the water prison and flapping towards Subaru only for him to blast them back with another water prison and merge them together.
'Or will you get exhausted and stop breathing?'
The roar of a massive elephant smashing through the water prison shook the ground, only to be smothered when the water prison grew to double the elephant's size.
'Between that depraved Lust of yours...'
The water prison swelled and bubbled as the black dragon tried to boil it from within, with Subaru countering by making the water's temperature plummet in return.
'...and this Pride Authority of mine, which I think might be {Return by Death}...'
With a clench of Subaru's fingers, the water prison pulsed before being twisted and compressed.
'...the simple thing is that I would've never accepted a fate where you win...'
The water prison compressed further, now the size of Subaru himself.
'I may hate the fact that I most likely have to die to use it...'
The water prison compressed further, now the size of a football.
'...but I'll consider it my Pride to not let someone I care about stay dead!'
The water prison compressed further, now the size of a tennis ball.
'No matter what!'
Freezing it over completely, Subaru sighed as he released his hold over the supercompressed ice prison, watching with satisfaction as the orb left a huge crack in the ground from it's supercompressed weight.
"Did I... really just win...?" Subaru muttered as he took a step, only to suddenly collapse.
"This again... Well, I actually beat a Last Boss character-type on my own so... I guess I have the right to faint at the end..."
Subaru's tired eyes rolled into the back of his head once again, his last thoughts morbidly wondering why she hadn't transformed into any aquatic animals...
Darkness...
-:|:-
Confirmed.
Authority of LUST acquired.
Continuing...
Acquisition of Authority of LUST has invoked alteration to suit Subaru's mindset.
Authority of LUST: Variation and Change has been altered into Authority of LUST: Character Editor.
Synthesis at 28.9%
-:|:-
"Hmm..."
Elsa poked Subaru's exposed stomach while the boy remained unconscious, crouching close enough so that she look at him closely. "This worked out better than I thought..."
"How?" Meili asked while holding back the small wolgarm shaman from trying to bite into the boy's unguarded neck. "You wanted Subaru-nii to fight Mama?"
'She's gotten quite attached already.' "It was more of an instant plan, really." Elsa moved from poking to slowly caressing his toned abdomen. "Right from that day at the capital, something about him having dragon demi-human blood struck me as strange. First was his usage of lightning magic of all things, which I have never seen in my entire life. Even the Dragonkin are unable to perform something like that. Which led me to correctly believe that he actually had an Authority. Of the six Sin Archbishops, only PRIDE's seat still remains vacant."
Meili turned down to Subaru in surprise. "So Subaru-nii's the new Sin Archbishop of PRIDE?"
"No, no, Meili." Elsa gently corrected, her hand still pinching and caressing his stomach. "Mama herself said that since he wasn't affiliated with the Witch Cult, he's basically the Warlock of PRIDE instead. Owner of an Authority, but separate from the Witch Cult."
"But how did you know that he would win?"
"I didn't." Elsa shrugged. It was really more of a spur-in-the-moment idea. "When I first attacked him again after just five days from meeting him, I was so stunned at how better trained he'd become in such a short time. Then I had that errant thought 'If he became a bit stronger in his human form, would that be the same for his dragon form?', so I quickly excused myself from the battle-"
"-to warn me not to attack Petra and the others." Meili finished. "On the very small chance that Subaru-nii won, they wouldn't look for any more enemies."
"And if Mama won, I would've taken responsibility for deceiving her." Elsa added with a carefree shrug. "So thank goodness that Subaru came through and didn't lose~ An Archbishop can only be taken down by someone similarly powerful, after all-"
The Wolgarm Shaman stopped scrabbling towards Subaru and turned it's snout to the side just as Elsa heard the noises too. "Meili, get going."
While Meili quickly disappeared into forest with her mabeast in tow, Elsa knelt down and carried Subaru's unconscious body so that his head rested on her thighs.
"Subaru?! Elsa!"
"Half-Elf~" Elsa merrily waved at the silverette and the maids that followed her. "Did you miss me~? Does this mean you'll allow me to see your guts~?"
"Release Barusu at once, Bowel Hunter." The pink-haired maid ordered as she raised her hand, wind magic swirling about as a warning.
Elsa blinked before pulling Subaru up close so that her cheek pressed close to his, uncaring of the dirt and blood marring his sleeping face. "Why would I ever want to leave someone who defeated an Archbishop on his own? In fact, with Mama's demise, wouldn't he make such an ideal replacement~?"
The three made excellent faces of horror and disgust when imagining their friend and coworker actually being inducted into the Witch Cult.
Elsa wouldn't actually give up someone as valuable as him to them, but they didn't have to know that.
"Let him go, right now!" The blue-haired maid's scream was accompanied with a flying leap in Elsa's direction, only for her to frantically readjust her body when Subaru's body was suddenly thrown at her.
"In that case, I guess I must bid you all a goodnight." Elsa curtsied just as many more wolgarms made their presence known, the dark forest around them being filled with red shining eyes.
"Bye-Bye, Warlock of PRIDE." Elsa waved, her eyes solely fixed on the boy cradled in the blue-haired maid's arms.
Meanwhile, in the capital of Lugnica, history was about to be recorded.
In the throne room, the Sage Council were having a meeting, along with the Captain of the Royal Guard, Marcos Gildark, a select few nobles, and finally, a group of knights, mages and servants.
The topic of the moment, as it had been for the past few days, concerned the sighting of a dragon in the capital's slums.
However, all of that came to a halt when a maid brought something to their attention.
"Look!" She yelled, pointing at the Dragon Tablet. Everyone in the room turned to see what had caused the maid so much visible shock, and promptly felt the same.
The Dragon Tablet, gifted by the Divine Dragon Volcanica and the Great Sage Shaula, was able to report news as long as it concerned the kingdom as a whole, along with being able to establish a magical and mental link with every Lugnican citizen when needed.
It's last report had been to declare the Royal Selection and reveal Volcanica's intent to choose the kingdom's new ruler out of five specially chosen maidens.
And now, there was a new report. Something that would've surely shocked a certain Sword Saint had he been present to witness it.
"Sage Candidate, Natsuki 'Flugel' Subaru, has defeated the Witch Cult's Sin Archbishop of LUST, Capella Emerada Lugnica."
And with that one sentence, the whole room proceeded to lose their shit.
When Subaru came to, it wasn't to the open sky of the forest he'd fallen unconscious at.
Where he was, there was only thick and black mist around, wafting around him in a caressing manner. Looking around the darkness he could barely see through, Subaru blinked at the large sleeping creature surrounding him... like a massive... serpent...
"Is that... my Devil Fruit...?!" Subaru gasped as he looked around again. "Am I in my mindscape?!"
"Um..."
A figure stepped towards Subaru, a nervous 'air' apparent of what Subaru was quite sure was a girl as she came close enough to place her pale hand against his chest.
Slowly taking off the veil on her head, Subaru's breath hitched at the sight before him. Long silver hair he wanted to run his hands through, soft white skin that made her look more fragile than glass, serene golden eyes reminiscent of the setting sun, adorable pointed ears...
"Mom, Dad, I think I have a type... Silver haired half-elves are apparently my number one priority."
The girl's pale cheeks reddened adorably at his words, but still approached him until he was reached and pushed down to the floor with her straddling him eagerly.
"Oh, uh, Hi?" Subaru blushed heavily as the girl on him made herself comfortable on his hips.
She reciprocated his smile back, a mix of glee and desire in her eyes. "Hi, you're my type, too."
Chapter 06: βππ£π, ππππ£π πΉπ π»π£πππ ππ€
KingVessel: Now, before you guys start screaming "How can Subaru beat an Archbishop so early?!", I just wanna point out that I personally believe Capella to be quite weak against Subaru in particular. With earlier training from both Rem and Beatrice(with his development rate amplified in a One Piece-like body thanks to his Devil Fruit), an immunity to her Authority, a transformation that not only stands well against Capella's strongest but gave him a way to bypass her transformative regeneration, Capella's chances were super low. Even Elsa's chances would've been higher just by virtue of being a superior combatant! (It's also Canon that Al somehow managed to crush her heart and decapitate her, with no direct offensive power other than his single arm and his sword against all of her Authority, so...) Also, you want canon divergence? Here's this piΓ±ata with the name 'Canon' taped to it! And here's this baseball bat with the word 'Divergence' printed on it! You know you wanna! See you next time!
