Chapter summary:
Emilia short-circuits while having a jealousy episode.
Subaru confuses everyone and slaps Otto.
Beatrice calls Subaru her daddy and prepares to throw people into the Rabbit Dimension.
All the while Satella just enjoys the chaos caused by her beloved.
Battle rages for the world greatest treasure – black-eyed knight's head-pats.
"Emilia-tan, as I am your knight and all, you get the priority. Ask ahead."
"..."
"Ehm, Earth to Emilia-tan, Earth to Emilia-tan, heeey. Oh no, Emilia-tan maji short-circuit?"
"She's been like this since Satella's arrival, in fact."
Very-very gently he pulled her closer and quietly whispered in her ear:
"Emilia-tan, I'm sure you have plenty of questions on your mind, so don't be afraid to ask, I'll try to answer them."
Finally:
"Subaru, are you a bad person?"
That was among the first couple of questions on everyone's minds right now.
Emilia considered herself a rather kind person. She could empathize with most people, even to those that were cruel towards her. She believed, that even Sin Archbishops were worthy of empathy, maybe not in their current state, but they were probably decent people at some point in their lives.
There were two people in this world to whom she would never extend any kindness or understanding, however.
The first one ruined her childhood. She was the undoing of two people she could consider her mother and father – Fortuna and Geuse. She was the reason there was a blood of her people on her hands.
The second one ruined her adulthood. A legacy of the past that she had nothing to do with, but paid for it nontheless. The reason why she was shunned, isolated. The reason people flinched while seeing her on the streets, the reason why children cried when she was passing by, the reason she never had any friends. The reason why her aspiration – to fix mistake of her childhood and unfreeze the Elior Forest – felt so distant. Only one person in the world was willing to accept her, to extend his name freely and simply ask for hers, to hang out around her like she was a normal person, to say that she was beautiful and just how much he loved her, to help her whenever she needed it, to be willing to defend her against all odds.
That person was now holding Satella the same why he did with her. He told that she was close to him like she was.
It made her sick. She wanted to scream at him, call him traitor, liar, all kinds of mean things. Some part of her even wanted to hurt him, but the majority simply wanted to run. Abandon everything and everyone, go back to her frozen home and spend the rest of her days wallowing in her misery.
"Liar, liar, liar!"
Emilia felt warmth all of a sudden. She did not realize before, but her knight's hand was still wrapped around her shoulder. He was still right here, near her, holding her close. Subaru did not laugh, taunting her for her naivety, did not call her names, did not say he despised her. More-so he felt the same to her – sweet, kind, affectionate, warm. The same way he felt, when she was throwing her temper tantrum back in the Sanctuary. Just the same way he felt to her prior to their first kiss...
"Emilia-tan, I'm sure you have plenty of questions on your mind, so don't be afraid to ask, I'll try to answer them."
A very small part of her still felt he was a liar. Vile, nasty liar who played with her heart, than discarded it in the cruelest way imaginable. The rest of her, however, chose to place her trust in him.
Wanting to fully erase her doubts, she asked a very simple, childish question:
"Subaru, are you a bad person?"
"No, I think. Loli with judgment powers said I am a good person, even though I treat myself like a bad one. I decided to trust her on that."
"Subaru?"
Beatrice wanted to confirm of whom he spoke about.
"Beako, you probably know her, given the time span, Emilia may be met her too. Her name is Typhon. Coincidentally, we are partying on top of her grave."
Beatrice's eyes widened in understanding. Emilia however did not show any signs of it.
"Hm, no? Emilia-tan, did you only meet Echidna or may be you did not meet anyone at all? Back during trials, I mean."
"Don't remember meeting anyone weird during my trial, Captain."
Garfiel previously was too busy with Mimi (something that he might regret once he's sober). Now, however, he paid utmost attention.
"I've met Echidna… and another one, after the future trial… She had not told me her name."
"How did she look like?"
"She told me not to look… She felt very scary, so I didn't…"
"Did she do something? Made you drink tea?"
"She hugged me."
"Hm, how tall was she?"
"A bit shorter than me."
"Was she feeling shy?"
"No… but a bit brash..."
"Oh, that's Minerva. She's alright. A large bloody hypocrite with anger issues, but she's least dangerous one on one compared to the other ones. Probably almost as destructive as Tella though."
"Minerva?"
Julius was wondering why Subaru could match the name of the Witch to this rather vague description.
"Met all of them, so it's easy for me to figure out."
"Betty's contractor refers to the one who was the Witch of Wrath four hundred years ago, in fact."
"The Witch of Wrath? But there's only…"
"That's a common misconception, I suppose. There existed Witches of Sin other than En… Satella."
Beatrice corrected herself before her contractor delivered on his promise to "whack" her.
"Their names and their actions were erased by history, I suppose. As for Typhon, that is a name of Witch of Pride, in fact. She died here in Priestella."
"What do you mean by 'almost as destructive', Subaru?"
Reinhard wondered about knowledge that Subaru had on the Witches of Sin. It wasn't too unreasonable, since he was courting one.
"Well, her thing was that her touch was completely harmless, no, better even – it healed you, no matter the injuries. She hated how people around her got hurt, so she went around punching people, healing them in the process."
"And? That doesn't sound bad, nyah."
"Well, Felix, it did not use mana, well it did, but not how spell casting works. It's just mana was simply being annihilated completely in some other place of the world as cost. That made bad things happen there: earthquakes, floods, that kinda stuff, people got hurt and died. So Minerva came to those places and got to work, and so on and so on. You get the idea."
"Oh, that's…" "terrible."
"One thing you all got right, is that Witches are beings beyond normal understanding. Although, I guess I am a hypocrite like her as well."
"And Typhon? What did she do?"
His knowledge of Witches of Sin was quite interesting to Echidna. Arguably, even more interesting than his own weird background.
"He knows about my creator as well. I should ask about her. Probably one on one, however."
Initially, she thought that his connection to Satella could be used against him. But after consideration, she realized that rumors of him courting actual Witch of Envy (not the one mistaken for her) will sound too unbelievable. After all if he had told something like that just an hour ago, she would've not believed it.
"She judged. You see she's just a child, so she has seen everything in black and white. 'Are you a good person or a bad person?' When she touches your limbs she can separate them. If that causes you immense pain, then you're a bad person, if not you are good. I did not feel pain. So I'm nice!"
"That's monstrous thinking."
Julius shivered at the thought. He did not deny that Subaru seemed like a quite decent person, however.
"She's just a product of the environment, really. Not malicious at all. Well, since we are it, I'll tell about everyone else as well. What I know, anyway."
"Sechmet (that's Sloth) is the most chill. She's mostly sleeps all the time, have not seen her standing ever since I've met her, but she's quite strong. Bellow Tella, but stronger than everyone else."
"Carmila (Lust) is a shy one, despite the supposed preconception. She appears to you as someone you like, but if you stay to close to her, enraptured by her presence, eventually your heart just stops. She really did not seem like she wanted any of this. Look at it as a more of an unfortunate curse. Relatively wholesome girl, if you look past the unintentional manipulation."
"Daphne (Gluttony) is honestly really terrifying. Outside of her always wanting to eat anything she sees, her main idea is kinda noble. She's all on the 'stop hunger' business. That's a good goal, yes, the way she did it however… Well she did give us a near inexhaustible source of food, but it has fangs, and claws, and horn, and eats more than it can feed, oh and from what I know, tastes terrible. You all probably figured what I mean. The Big Three are also her doing. That's yet another thing that was pined on Tella."
"Finally there's Echidna, that Greedy bitch. She's highly functioning psychopath, utterly emotionless. Everything she does is either some centuries old plot or some research opportunity, if not both. Her only passions are knowledge about anything and everyone, as well as creating things, be it some magical artifact or a living being. She can be reasoned with the most, but she just doesn't shut up and an endless source of trouble. Oh yeah, she also made Beako, and Puck, and Ryuzus."
"Betty does not approve such foul words towards Mother, but she's willing to forgive her contractor for them, given what happened a year ago. Your description did seem to capture Mother's essence the best, in fact."
"Beatrice-sama?"
"Betty and Bubby were indeed made by Mother four centuries ago. You should not concern yourself with this, Sword Saint. Subaru's 'associate' is way more dangerous, I suppose."
"As for the original question. I am a terrible, weak, lazy and disgusting person, yes, but I am not malevolent. Well, does that answer it? Oh, Crusch, Rein?"
"No lies."
Emilia, who, at this point, had her doubts about him dispelled, really wanted to interject about the last bit ("His not terrible, weak, lazy or disgusting!"), but Subaru's intentions to push interrogation further made her change her mind. She would certainly say it, but after this is over.
Next question was asked by Crusch Karsten:
"Are you a Witch Cultist, Natsuki Subaru?"
"That is kinda the same question, no? I am not the Witch Cultist. I despise them."
"No lies."
"But you are connected to the W-… to her."
Julius did not understand him.
"Well, one thing I found in Priestella was that for majority of the cult, Satella does not really matter. The only one who revered her was Petelgeuse, and he was completely out of it! Well more out of it than others. They felt more coherent, is what I want to say. I even remember that Sirius absolutely despised her, even to the point of blindly mistaking Emilia for her."
"I mean… Subaru, I… We look identical…"
Emilia felt dejected. It was one thing if it would've been just resemblance, but they were indeed identical.
"Yes you do, at first glance, but you're both quite different in various aspects."
The girl struggled to believe it. She knew that he meant it, but it did not help.
"Anyway, my personal though on this is that Satella is simply a scapegoat. There is someone who acts as a sort of unifying center in them, yes. Someone that can influence Archbishops, since they began acting closely together, but I hold no delusions that it is her who is at the top."
"Pandora…"
"Emilia-tan? You sound quite angry."
"The one who likely leading them is Witch of Vainglory, Pandora."
"How do you know this?"
"During the trial of past I witnessed her invading my home and… and killing my foster mother. Puck locked out these memories prior to it. There she brought him. I didn't remember him before, he looked so… unremarkable, but looking back at him, yes, it was him. She brought Regulus Corneas."
"Ah, so the bastard did not just steal you, tried to marry you, but also killed you parent. We should've killed him more painfully then. Maybe set him aflame. Or threw him into a Rabbit dimension."
"No she… dismissed him early on. Pandora is the reason, she is the one who killed Mother Fortuna and drove Geuse mad! She's the one, she's the reason I…"
"Shshsh, Emilia-tan. It is fine, I am here. Don't worry, she'll get the Rabbit treatment yet. Beako, brainstorm the idea."
Her knight gently patted her head, calming her down.
"He and Geuse were talking something about the Witch Cult. Geuse wasn't evil back then, he was good to me."
Subaru could believe that. Still he could not excuse him, after all, he witnessed him trying to desecrate Emilia's corpse in one of his failed loops.
While Beatrice thought of logistics of using Al Shamak to throw someone in the place where she left the Great Rabbit, Subaru continued:
"One thing I found in common in them is that they hold insane misconceptions about love."
"Love?"
"Yes, Wilhelm-san, Love."
"Petelgeuse obsessively tried to seek closeness of one who will never return or praise his devotion. Thus, he was merely wasting time. That is Sloth."
"Sirius seeks to unify others in affection for one and other, however when she is pointed out that in differences between two people the love can truly blossom she gets incredibly angry. That's Wrath."
"Capella wants for everyone to drool over her, but doesn't understand that obsession based on one's appearance is not a true love. That's Lust."
"Regulus obsessed over women that he called his own, vigorously sheltering them alongside himself. But he doesn't truly care about their well-being or really anyone else but himself. That's Greed."
"Lye, Roy and Louis seek experiences of others, wanting to see, hear and feel what their victims do. Like someone, they'd be otherwise be close to. But they are not concerned that in doing so they destroy their 'meal' and people that were important to them. That's Gluttony."
"And Pride?"
"I have never faced Pride. From my understanding that seat is currently empty. Petelgeuse felt like I was the one, but that is just misunderstanding on his part."
"Are you sure that is not the case, Subaru-dono?"
"Why so?"
"In your Pride you believe that only you are capable of understanding her, that only you capable of understanding love in general, but your opinion of her is biased due to your feelings and your understanding of what to Love truly means is but one of many."
Some people nodded in acknowledgment of this theory. His first debut in the Capital was an epitome of the word Pride.
"Interesting theory, perhaps in some other world… It would've probably a terrible world for everyone else in this room, however, no for the whole Lugunica in general..."
Subaru pondered his words. "Am I truly better than Archbishops or Witches? Minerva even said how disgusting my mindset really is. Even Tella was sad because of it… What's more, if I finally do go mad, how bad it will be for everyone else?" "It would be really bad, apocalyptically bad, 'burning Lugunica to the ground'-level bad." was his conclusion. Somewhere in another universe Sin Archbishop of the Witch Cult, representing Pride, Natsuki Subaru, suddenly sneezed, surprising Reinhard van Astrea, who was facing him, in the process.
"If anything, I think Envy fits me more."
"Well, I for one glad that is not the case and you're not some insane cultist, bro. That answers it I think."
Al tried to divert the conversation. No one seemed to notice his concern about this.
"Throwing someone into the same place that the Great Rabbit went to is indeed possible, I suppose. It requires additional precision and mana, but it is quite achievable, in fact."
"Eh, I was joking, Beako… "
"Urgh, why did you not tell me that!"
"You know, sometimes your bloodthirstiness frightens me. Who was that terrible parent that taught you that throwing people as food to the rabbit horde is a good idea? Was it Echidna? Next time I see her..."
"It was you who gave me the idea!"
"Oh, so I am your parent? Gotcha."
"Urgh!"
The lighthearted banter of the half-elf's knight and his beloved spirit seemed to lighten the party attendants' mood.
"Ahm, why is she here, Nii-chan?"
"Tella is here because I called her, Felt."
"And why did you call her?"
"Well, I had the whole crisis with her not telling me I can apparently just use two of the strongest swords in this world. So she came here to talk, I sobered up, we made up, while you were pissing your pants, and now we sorta just... here."
"Actually, Subaru-kyun how are you completely sober?"
"She has that effect on me. Among others."
He patted Satella's head earning for himself her pleased expression. Emilia on the left of him felt an incredible urge to pout for some reason. So she did, in fact, pout. Noticing that, Subaru patted Emilia as well. Crisis averted.
"People like her have a certain presence to them. Echidna had something similar and, according to Emilia-tan, Minerva had it too. In your case it terrifies you, in my case, I guess it just makes me think straight. Same with others. Consider it my superpower. Sorta like Divine Protection of Being Unfazed by Witches."
"And she answered your call because?"
Anastasia-Echidna, like everyone else, understood the reason he seemed to be so used to Satella's presence, but decided to ask just to clarify it further.
"Oh she's been with me since the start of my adventure. You know, Emilia, Reinhard, Felt, since that fated day."
All three nodded in understanding. They remembered that day quite well.
"Consider Tella my patron, my benefactor, my soulmate, we have a... unique connection. So yeah, she was watching me all this time. Or most of the time, I don't know. Don't really understand, that must have been really boring."
"It was not boring, dear."
"I mean after 400 years of waiting, makes sense. Can not blame you for that. At that point, anything would be entertaining."
At this point Subaru more or less accepted his stalker. So he really wasn't upset about that part. Taboo in his mind was the worst part of their relationship, or maybe dying in painful fashion, or may be losing people close to you. Honestly, now he felt unsure what was worse. Of course, he could not complain to them about any of that.
"Wait, how do we know Subaru-kyun is not brainwashed by the Wi-... Satella."
"There's been no lies in his words, thus far."
"I can confirm Crusch-sama's words as well."
"But that doesn't confirm it! He might byelive that's truth, but only speaking what she wants!"
"Take that back, Felix."
The Yang Sword was drawn.
"See, he even gets dyefensive!"
"As someone who had both his mind and body hijacked, I can confirm I am not under any control. Also, I did experience your attempts at brainwashing me."
Also, he knew that Authority of Envy likely was controlling time aspect of the reality, it couldn't brainwash.
The last accusation raised a few eyebrows. Felix could not deny that, not in front of Crusch and Reinhard – he did try, during Subaru's gate treatment, by injecting his mana into him. Since Subaru began organizing the White Whale expedition, his treatment was halted, and after his gate broke, gone completely to waste, so it's not like he actually succeeded in it.
"That is correct, in fact. Subaru was under effect of Wrath's influence, back when Emilia was captured. He does not act like that right now."
"I can also confirm that Subaru's body was temporarily under control of Sin Archbishop of Sloth. Wait, Subaru, was she the reason you regained control?"
The latter nodded to questioning Julius. Technically it wasn't truly the case, as it was the Witch that expulsed him, but it was close enough.
"Shouldn't we still check?"
"Betty did not perceive any mana interference, when he entered Roswaal's Manor. Still, she will check again, if you really want this."
Beatrice chose not to disclose that there was a subtle change in miasma around her contractor. It was still present, but felt more balanced (?), it was rather odd. She still believed her contractor was in his normal state. It just might be result of two users of the same Witch Factor being in a close proximity.
After probing his Od she suddenly noticed something really different. It felt like his Od was stretched out a bit. It wasn't an unknown phenomenon for the former librarian, what surprised her was reasoning behind it. Something like that occurred during the spiritual contracts or...
"Synesthesia?"
"Beatrice-sama?"
"Betty's Subaru has Synesthesia with Satella. Now that they are right next to one another, it is very noticeable, in fact."
"But they are not twins?"
Emilia knew from Subaru's words that Rem and Ram had it. Synesthesia supposed to transport the emotional sensations from one to another.
"I presume that it was made artificially."
"Is it even possible, Lady Beatrice?"
"We have a living proof, in fact."
"So does that not confirm that Subaru-kyun is under her heel?"
"It doesn't, in fact. Synesthesia does align the mind towards recipient, but only slightly. It's not enough to overwrite or twist someone's will. Betty's Subaru is just that level of eccentric, I suppose."
Most people in the room agreed with the sentiment. Great Spirit's words made people around the black-eyed knight give up on the "he's brainwashed" idea and made them lower their guard a bit.
Of course, Subaru was not surprised by this – Satella somehow had to see the world throw his eyes, otherwise taboo couldn't be imposed. This connection only made sense.
Next was Julius:
"Why is she so… tame?"
"Because she's Tella."
"Because she is Te-… Satella?"
"Because she's Tella, not the Witch. That's why proper address is needed."
"Excuse me?"
Julius grew more and more confused with each sentence.
"Do ya mean, that there are two…"
Spirit Echidna looked at Emilia and then corrected herself.
"No, three identical silver-haired half-elves present? One's a Witch and two are good people, one of which is your patron and other is your charge?"
"Yes and no. Physically there are two. It's a really convoluted story. It's associated with the whole 'destroyed half of the world' thing. I don't know the entirety of it, but essentially it goes like this: Tella was a good person, still is, something bad happened specifically because she was a good person, hence turning about half of her bad. That now separate half made her go out of control, half of the world paid for it. Split personality, original Tella did not want this. People tried to kill her but failed. Sage, Dragon and Sword Saint sealed her, but not really. As you all realized her exile is voluntary."
"Somewhere during this story, probably before the Witch bit, I'm introduced, we got into one another, as you would expect..."
At his last words Emilia shivered. She long since noticed, that Satella paid zero attention to the people around her, her eyes locked on the dark-eyed knight. What's more Subaru seemed to feel really affectionate towards her too.
"So, they used to love one another before? No, not used to, they still do..."
"...In the end, before her imprisonment, I promised her that I'll find the way to save her from this, which is why she stayed there. That's promise I intend to keep."
"Wait, Nii-chan, does that mean you're over 400 years old?"
"Eh, maybe? As I said, I don't exactly have the memories of the event, just the pieces of info that I got in a past year. So while I'm maybe older than Beako or Emilia-tan, it's kinda like the same situation as you."
He pointed at the girl to his left, who spend a century in a block of ice.
"Can I even be considered four centuries old if I don't remember? In that sense, it always felt like I am the elder one to you Emilia-tan, no offense."
Emilia could not believe this. Previously she was occupied with her own jealous thoughts (she did not realize that she was jealous, but she certainly felt a nagging pain in her heart), so she almost missed this.
"Did he just called me immature? I mean I know that I sometimes am, but that's reeealy hypocritical, mister!"
She decided, however, to show that she was indeed mature and chose to not snap back at him for this.
"Wait, Beako, I just realized – I really am a parent here!"
"Urgh, alright. Betty will call you her parent if you wish."
His eyes widened at this. He already treated her as his child or as his younger sister (he was not sure which one), but hearing her saying that out-loud was surprising.
"So, Subaru, what you want to say is that the stigma, that she got is undeserved?"
Subaru's story made Julius wonder.
"What other lies about our past were we told?"
"It is deserved, but not to Tella, Emilia, elves, half-elves or any demi-humans in general. If you want to blame something, blame Envy that caused the whole situation."
"So Satella is not a vile person?"
"Mhm."
It was difficult for Emilia to swallow it. While others hated Satella due to what she was attributed with, her hatred was purely personal. It was why she was always alone, just her and Puck.
"Until Subaru came to me…"
She felt like she was being unfair. Besides what exactly did she do to prove that they weren't alike? She did similar things just on a lesser scale: hurt others because she did not control her powers, isolated herself, always created difficulties…
"Wait if we are so alike then..."
"Subaru, do you care for me because of her?"
Emilia was conflicted. She would be incredibly hurt if he said yes, but she would accept this. Since he and Satella were together 400 years ago, his feelings from her are likely a lot stronger, so she did not know how exactly she could compete with her counterpart. After all she still felt she wasn't exactly worthy of his efforts.
"Emilia-tan, that's hurtful. I'm not that shallow. If you think the reason I don't flinch when I see your face is because of her, then you are false. I mean my initial crush on you could be attributed to that, yes, but I fell for you because of your actions, not because of how you look. Otherwise, I would have been satisfied with Carmilla or Capella."
That calmed Emilia a little bit. She realized that he would've probably just abandon her if her appearance was all he liked about her. Instinctively she clung to Subaru even closer than before. Pain that the Royal Candidate felt inside her heart somewhat subsided.
"I need to seriously rethink my stance on what's occurring between me and Subaru. What happens when he finally gives up on me?"
"And you don't feel that this is all cruel. To both of them?"
"Beat it, Julius, that's my problem, not yours. It doesn't make me care any less for either Emilia, Rem or Satella. It's just it does not sound very believable, you know. I mean I could not confess something like that to Emilia-tan unless I am wasted, apparently. It does make me a piece of shit, yes, never denied that. As for Tella, she's not jealous, ironically. That was why the 'bad thing' happened. She never went on the rampage because I cared for someone else."
"Ehm, Natsuki-san, about 'bad thing', what exactly did you mean?"
"Tella-tan, should I just veto this? We are approaching a bad theme."
"No, it should be fine, I think."
"Alright then. So Otto, on your question: I assume you all here know that Archbishops posses supernatural abilities, so did Witches as well."
"You mean that they are similar in nature?"
"No, I mean that they are the same thing. They all posses or possessed in their past something called the Witch Factor. Each Witch Factor associated with a certain Sin: Lust, Greed, Wrath, Gluttony, Sloth, Envy, Pride, Vainglory, Melancholy. Each gives you supernatural power called Authority."
"Is it like a Divine Protection?"
"It is not, in fact. In this world pecking order would be: Magic and other abilities associated with use of mana, then Divine Protections, then Authorities."
"That does seem to be the case, Beako. Using an Authority is not reshaping reality to your will, no rather breaking it apart then reassembling as you see fit. Albeit you can replicate certain things that Authorities can do with magic or a Divine Protection. Once you break a piece, surrounding mana gets twisted as well, that what Miasma is, I think."
It felt like it was breaking reality apart to Subaru. After all, he was a user of one, that, in his opinion, was the strongest one, even if it was the most cursed one.
"Authorities adapt to the user, but tend to follow the idea that associated Sin represents. Once user dies, Witch Factor moves to the next most attuned to that Sin person. We all know where the first six Witch Factors are. Vainglory is in possession of that Witch, Pandora, but Pride and Melancholy must be somewhere out in the world too."
"Envy is hers right now, and the reason the bad part of her exists is because she is incredibly incompatible to her Witch Factor. The real Tella is rather wholesome."
The one addressed drew closer to her beloved.
"But wait, Natsuki-san, Regulus Corneas and Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti are dead. That means the Witch Factor moved on to someone else."
"Yes, Subaru, it must be in someone else now."
Subaru sighed.
"Dug myself into that one. Otto, you annoying bastard! Now even Julius shoving his long nose where it doesn't belong. Eh, at least I can do this."
Slap!
"Ow, what…"
"That's Sloth. I will not demonstrate the second time around."
"What was that for, Natsuki-san?"
"Sanctuary."
Otto's cheek was growing swollen from the force of the slap. Subaru wasn't in a great state either. ("Note to self: no free demonstrations anymore.") Still doing that felt good. He needed that punch from him back in Sanctuary, yes, but still his pride was hurt back then – he honestly thought he could beat Otto easily one on one. The merchant always felt a bit flimsy comparing to everyone else, even him.
"Wait Subaru, that's exactly like…"
"Invisible hands? Somewhat. It's just one hand and feedback sucks. So don't expect me to grow two thousand, Julius. Not sure if I'm just that unlucky, or just using it wrong. I did make it intangible that one time, so it's still somewhat useful, from time to time."
"Wait, Subaru, that's what you used…"
"...Against me in a Sanctuary, Captain."
Garfiel and Emilia both realized what that last blow in their fight was. The one that wasn't the Patrasche charging in to save the day.
"That's the time it first awoke, yes. Greed is not awoken yet. Oh, and that's how I got that heart out of you, Emilia-tan."
"Yes, I understand what you did now. You must have forced it out from my own."
"Heart?"
"Invincibility that Regulus had was time based, he simply stooped time selectively around him. But he could not do that forever. To mitigate that he moved his heart to his wives."
"We solved it by temporary freezing them, and for me by what Subaru did."
"So that now means you have two of these Witch Factors?"
"Well, first one you could count as a lucky coincidence, after the second you'll start to think I am preferred target."
He did not mention Envy, of course.
"Preferred target?"
"Person with the highest affinity for Sins. Just another one of my superpowers."
"So is you seeing Sloth's hands and remembering myself and other Gluttony's victims, a part of it?"
"Mmm, probably? Did not figure out that part yet, Julius."
"Natsuki-san, but all people that wield those Witch Factors seem to be… how should I say it…"
"Clinically insane. Yeah. So far I'm not jumping at people quite yet, though I was close at times, not because of Witch Factors, but because of well... other stuff. Oh, and imprisoning me is a bad idea. For various reasons. So is killing me off, if you do that, it's just gonna be different person somewhere else."
"I don't think anyone here wishes that for you, Natsuki Subaru. You have proven your worth."
Crusch did not remember details of the White Whale Subjugation, but between words of Felix and Wilhelm, it seemed like he performed quite admirably if a bit recklessly back then. So did he during the Siege of Priestella.
"Hm, so is there any reason to keep Sirius Romanee-Conti alive then? If this commoner is capable of absorbing her Witch Factor, it would be better to simply kill her."
"I don't think it's wise to empower your political opponent, Priscilla."
"'Tis is not matter of useless politics, but rather matter of general safety, she-fox. If that wench escapes, all the effort of capturing her would be for not. Her Witch Factor has to be neutralized."
"There's another difficulty with her. Her Authority transfers not just emotions, but injuries as well. Killing her without collateral damage is incredibly difficult. Plus some further interrogation might still be a good idea. Because of Sloth she treats me like her lover, Petelgeuse."
"Yes, Betty's Subaru is right. When he got hurt by that bastard Regulus, so did other people on the square that were linked to him, in fact."
"You were really brave back then, Beako. Very reckless too. It seems like I am a bad influence on you."
"Betty knew that you won't forgive me if I simply left everyone else to bleed out, I suppose."
"That's my Beako."
Betty's Subaru was particularity generous with head-pats today. Beatrice certainly appreciated it. She preferred to have all of them, of course, but, unfortunately, Great Spirit of Yin had two dastardly opponents in a bid for her contractor's attention.
"Tella, did I get everything right?"
"For the most part. You got one thing wrong though."
"And that is?"
"You role. Back then people called you the Sage."
"Wha-"