Chapter 104: The truth behind the Church
Subaru and Replica Riku clashed weapons, their blades colliding in a flurry of sparks, their strength seemed evenly matched with the force of each strike causing the air to tremble.
Subaru hadn't fully realized it until now, but after overcoming Vanitas' control back in Vollachia months ago, his body had adapted.
The unnatural strength granted by that experience had remained with him, which helped bridge him closer to the level of the Organization's members.
He still couldn't say for certain that he could beat them in a one-on-one fight, though despite that he can put up a fight now compared to himself in the battle of Priestella.
There's also the fact that with Beatrice by his side, they are unbeatable.
He dodged a few attacks that Replica Riku threw at his direction all the while blocking any that even attempted to be targeting at his Great Beatrice.
'Like hell I'll allow you to harm my precious Beako!'
Being annoyed by his opponent's attempts of harming her, he waited for the right opportunity before pointing his keyblade right at him while shouting:
"Fira!"
Subaru thrust his Keyblade forward, releasing a powerful fire-based projectile toward Replica Riku.
The Sin Archbishop of Pride barely flinched, raising his hand and letting the fireball disperse upon impact as if it were nothing more than a breeze against his palm. Subaru smiled when this happened, seeing that Replica Riku is underestimating him again.
"Beako, now!"
Beatrice's magic flared, and in the blink of an eye, a barrage of El Minya spells shot toward Pride, twisting in unnatural, spiraling arcs. Replica Riku noticed this and quickly began to evade the projectiles.
Even as fast as Pride was, he scowled in annoyance at avoiding the projectiles throwing towards him.
Subaru and Beatrice watched as Replica Riku was going around the area of the church they were fighting in, managing to still avoid all of Beatrice's yin projectiles though they did notice that he was slipping in some parts.
Subaru prepared to add his own El Minya magic to assist his contracted spirit though something inside of him told him to save his mana for now.
'No, I should wait for the right moment before using my mana.'
Not only did he think this, but he also noted how Replica Riku was moving when avoiding Beatrice's attack.
His speed was indeed impressive though after having some time to modify her yin magic, her projectiles were being fired all over the place in a way where Replica Riku can't tell the pattern the next projectile was going to hit.
While he was avoiding the attacks as best as he could, Subaru thought of a possible idea he and Beatrice could implement.
'We can corner him. It's possible that if I were to use another set of yin magic to match with Beako, we could force him into a corner, one we would have the best chance in taking him down.'
Subaru prepared to join Beatrice in firing a barrage of yin magic projectiles as he's began to see that Replica Riku was starting to slip with the way his contracted spirit was altering the directions of the projectiles, making it impossible to tell where they would land.
And with the knowledge that they just need one hit to effectively win this fight due to what happens to one when hit with one of the yin magic projectiles.
Right as he prepared to add his mana into the fight, he noticed Replica Riku was about to get hit with one of Beatrice's attacks.
Replica Riku looked with an annoyed expression before disappearing right at the moment the attack should've landed.
Both Subaru and Beatrice were surprised by this since he had complete disappeared from their vision.
Subaru turned behind him and Beatrice to immediately see the Sin Archbishop of Pride right there, ready to strike both of them down with his sword. Seeing this prompting him to shout:
"Beako! EMM!"
Beatrice had already anticipated his command, activating EMM the instant Replica Riku had the chance to land a hit on them.
Right as the blade was a second away from landing on Beatrice first, viewing her as a threat, the sword went through as if he was slicing an illusion.
Pride was caught off guard by this, prompting him to swiftly swing right towards Subaru only for the same thing to happen.
Right as he phases through the two, the keyblade wielder waited for the right moment before signaling his contracted spirit to stop the E*M*M ability to prevent her from losing all her mana.
The second the ability dropped, Subaru swung his keyblade with all of his strength in an attempt to land a hit on his opponent.
Right as he did this while also lunging at his opponent to assure his attack does land, Replica Riku's reflexes kicked in and was able to not only parry the attack but he also knocked the keyblade out of Subaru's grip.
A cocky smirk appeared in Pride's face, seeing that Subaru is nothing more than just all talk.
"Let's end this farce."
Upon saying this, he lunged forward with the aim to kick Subaru straight in the ribs, wanting to make sure he suffers first before killing him with his sword.
The instant Pride's foot connected, Subaru had activated his Wrath Witch Factor, Canis Majoris; this assisted the keyblade wielder in tanking the attack.
Pride was shocked when he saw that his opponent hadn't budge.
Before he had a chance to do something, Subaru re-summoned his keyblade and was able to land a hit on the Sin Archbishop of Pride.
This stunned Replica Riku, not expecting to have gotten hit by his opponent, all the while Subaru felt his body tensing up by the Wrath witch factor though he also felt that it wasn't as bad as before when he used it in the Pleiades Watchtower.
Thinking back to Vanitas when he took over his body, he had helped in allowing his body to handle more intense things.
Realizing this quickly prompted him to switch up witch factors from wrath to sloth in order to use Invisible Providence to land another hit onto Replica Riku.
As he was sent flying from this punch, Subaru felt his soul take damage. Although his body seemed fine, he knows that using the sloth witch factor seems to still cause him some damage.
He shook his head before moving his free hand towards Pride along with Beatrice, seeing this as the best chance to get a hit on him.
Both shouted:
"Minya!"
As the two created a couple of yin magic projectiles, they fired them immediately at their shared opponent.
Right as it seemed like the yin magic projectiles were about to land on the Sin Archbishop of Pride, a sudden barrier similar to the Reflect ability appeared around him to block away the attack.
Subaru and Beatrice noticed this and quickly were on their guard as Pride's shield disappeared after a few seconds before he landed onto the ground.
Replica Riku looked at Subaru with anger in his eyes, unhappy that he managed to land a hit on him.
This was unacceptable for him; being hit by someone who got lucky to even be wielding a keyblade to have tanked his kick and catch him off guard caused a dark aura around him to surround him.
Beatrice instantly recognized the ominous presence of the Witch's scent, her senses sharpening as she braced herself to react.
Without hesitation, she began preparing to activate E*M*M once more, anticipating an imminent attack.
At the same time, Subaru felt a gnawing certainty—Pride wasn't just about to go on the offensive; he was preparing to escalate the battle into something far more dangerous than they've been dealing with right now.
Not wanting to be caught off guard, he uses the formchange from his Rebirth Keyblade which allowed him to be in his sage like attire with shadows surrounding both his contracted spirit and him.
Right as his shadows from his sage attire surrounded the two, they were able to create a barrier just in time as the shadows blocked away one of Pride's sudden attacks.
Both were surprised when they saw Replica Riku right in front of them with his sword having attempted to stab Subaru's face.
The two could see the absolute hate Pride had when his attack was blocked by the shadows, his eyes glowing yellow with a dark intense aura surrounding both him and his sword.
Wanting to push him back, Subaru subconsciously commanded the shadows coming from his sage attire to try and strike him down.
Pride noticed this and quickly avoided the attacks by jumping back before moving around in rapid speed.
As Subaru was attempting to provide some pressure on Replica Riku once again, Replica Riku moved his right hand to create a series of dark, crystalline octahedrons that had a sense of danger by just looking at them.
These were in between Replica Riku and Subaru's shadows, providing cover.
As the shadows hit these crystalline octahedrons, they exploded which caused enough of a distraction to make both Subaru and Beatrice lose track of their opponent.
"What?!"
Both looked around in search of Replica Riku only for Subaru to be sent off flying from a kick to the side of his head.
"Subaru!" Beatrice shouted as she watched her contractor get sent flying into a wall nearby them. Before she had a chance to do something, Pride swung his sword in an attempt to eliminate her right then and there only for Garfiel to jump in and protect her from the attack.
Garfiel had been holding his own against Wolf, for the most part attacking from a distance thanks to the information he knows of his opponent.
If he gets grabbed, he will end up in the same fate as Zarestia and Shaula.
Due to this, he could only use his divine protection of Earth Spirits to use the ground to attack Wolf.
These attacks were enough to annoy Wolf, with his goal being to reach the demi human boy to take his mana.
As the two seemed like they were on a stalemate with Garfiel being able to keep his distance though Wolf was able to avoid the attacks thrown towards him, Garfiel heard Beatrice's shout of his captain's name.
This prompted him to turn his head and see that Subaru was sent crashing into the wall near them.
"Cap'n!"
As he was distracted for a moment, Wolf took this chance to try and close the gap between himself and his opponent.
Right as it seemed like he was about to reach and grab the demi human boy, Garfiel had immediately noticed Beatrice was in danger which caused his focus to shift into saving her.
Being able to move in rapid speed allowed him to barely block away the attack.
Once he managed to block the attack, he gave a sharp look at the Sin Archbishop of Pride before proclaiming:
"Ya ain't gonna harm her!"
"Hmph." Replica Riku gave Garfiel a death stare before teleporting to his side to surprise attack him.
Garfiel was able to sense this and quickly blocked the attack before attempting to land a kick for a counterattack.
Pride dodged the attack and went to throw a barrage of attacks onto the Shield of the Sanctuary.
While Garfiel was able to block away all of the attacks being thrown towards him, he did notice Wolf approaching him and Beatrice.
'Shit, I gotta do somethin' before it's too late!'
As he felt the pressure from both opponents, a sudden shadow fist landed onto Pride's face, sending him flying.
Right as this happened, a bunch of shadows were heading towards Wolf's direction to try and land a hit on him.
Wolf noticed this and quickly moved his hands at the shadows to absorb the mana.
As he absorbed a few of the shadows, a couple managed to pass by him and land a couple of hits onto him with one being strong enough to send him flying a few feet away from where he was standing.
Both Beatrice and Garfiel were caught off guard by this for only a moment before realizing that it was Subaru as he gets back up from being sent into the wall and starts charging at Pride's direction.
As he was passing by both Garfiel and Beatrice, he said to his step brother and friend,
"Thanks for helping Beako, Garf! I owe you one."
"Don't worry 'bout it, Cap'n. Just be careful!"
As he said this, he turned his attention back towards Wolf all the while Beatrice prepared the remaining of her mana to assist her contractor, annoyed that he went to face Pride on his own.
He was dual wielding the Starlight keyblade in his left hand and Rebirth keyblade in his right hand, ready to give it his all against Replica Riku.
It had been a bit since he's fought with two keyblades though during the three months after the events of Vollachia, he made an effort to train himself to at least have some skills with two keyblades.
Upon reaching Pride's position, he swung the Starlight keyblade first, trying to land a hit onto his opponent only for Replica Riku to disappear right before the keyblade could connect.
Subaru's eyes widen when he saw this happen, prompting his subconscious to have the shadows create a shield around him while also having the shadows immediately head towards Beatrice to protect her too.
Once this happened, he waited until his opponent broke through his shadowy defenses in order to give him an idea on where his opponent is located.
The moment Replica Riku broke through the shadows to reach Subaru, trying to eliminate him quickly.
Subaru instantly used that to block away the attack from the Sin Archbishop of Pride, using both keyblades and the shadows from his formchange attire to hold Replica Riku back.
Upon blocking this attack, Subaru gave a confident smile as he began to say:
"You aren't taking me down that easily. I've gotten much stronger since the last time we fought."
"..." Replica Riku continued to give a death stare at Subaru, though the words that the keyblade wielder said annoyed him.
This prompted him to increase his strength to break the defense of his opponent.
Subaru noticed this and quickly used his shadows to attack his opponent to prevent him from breaking his guard.
Replica Riku noticed this and quickly jumped back to avoid getting hit before creating a barrier around himself to block the other shadows that were coming from his back.
Upon blocking the attacks, Replica Riku teleported right behind Subaru to try and land a surprise attack.
Subaru barely noticed this and right as he was preparing to use the shadows to block the attack, Beatrice had managed to reach him before once again using E*M*M to have not only her contractor but her as well to be unharmed by whatever Pride does.
As he went through both Subaru and Beatrice once again gave Subaru the opening to once again land a hit with his shadows.
Though unlike the last hit, Pride managed to hold his own and tank the hit before turning towards his opponents and started to create a series of dark, crystalline octahedrons that flickered into existence.
The creation of these crystalline octahedrons, Subaru was taken aback from the sudden humming of these creations with a feeling of unstable energy.
Subaru's eyes widened as he immediately knew what their opponent was attempting to do.
"Tch—he's trying to trap us!" Subaru gritted his teeth, gripping his Keyblade tighter as he prepared to create a powerful barrier to protect him and Beatrice since he knows that the E*M*M ability is about to run out.
Right before he did this, Beatrice quickly pulled Subaru's arm, knowing what he's trying to do.
Subaru noticed this and just gave a simple nod, trusting in his spirit.
She had stopped using mana to deactivate the E*M*M ability the moment Pride had created the crystalline octahedrons, having a sense that these were there to trap them and possibly attempt to take them out.
Using the last of her mana, she was able to mimic her door crossing ability in order to get her contractor and herself out of the trap Pride had set right before the dark, crystalline octahedrons exploded with immense power enough to offset the fight that was going on between Garfiel and Wolf.
Wolf had managed to close the distance between himself and his opponent, which forced Garfiel to focus on not being grabbed by him.
Although this was an issue, it was something that made the demi human boy excited since he's been wanting to punch this guy after what he did back in the mansion with Shaula and Zarestia.
"I ain't gonna let ya get away with th'crap ya pulled."
"That's not a way a warrior should talk!" Wolf said with an angry mask. "Warriors are more respectful and have no foul language—"
"Shut th'hell up and just fight!"
As Garfiel shouted this while cutting Wolf off, he managed to land a punch to his gut which stunned his opponent for a moment.
This bought him some time to land another attack, this one sending Wolf flying towards a wall which helped keep a distance from him.
He turned towards his captain's direction to check and see how that fight's turning out.
The explosion from Pride's crystalline octahedrons had disoriented Garfiel since he worried for his captain's sake though that second of hesitation allowed Wolf to close the distance.
Lucky for him that he didn't get himself killed for such a blunder.
He turned towards his right side to see a door crossing portal appear with Subaru and Beatrice.
He was glad to see that the two were okay though he was also concern on what the Sin Archbishop of Pride is located.
He looked around and noticed that he was nowhere to be found.
This prompted him along with Beatrice and Subaru to be on their guard.
While they did this, Wolf got back up with his mask of anger broken.
"That damn boy..."
He wasn't happy that his mask had cracked since it's close to reveal his identity, prompting him swap into a different mask.
Although the blank expression is, well a blank, his voice still showed anger.
"What kind of warrior sends their opponent flying into a wall?"
"One th't wants their opponent t'shut th'hell up!" Garfiel responded as he prepared to continue his fight against Wolf.
An intense aura could be felt beneath the mask, prompting Garfiel, Subaru, and Beatrice to be on high alert.
Right as Wolf had this threatening aura, the Sin Archbishop of Pride appeared from thin air next to his ally, giving a death stare directly towards both Subaru and Beatrice.
The pair noticed this, prompting the two to prepare to continue their fight against Pride.
As the two sides looked at each other with their guards up, Subaru turned towards his contracted spirit before looking back at Replica Riku.
"How much mana do you still have left, Beako?"
"Not enough..." She spoke with some hesitance, feeling like she might start becoming a liability since the only mana she had left would be able to only cast low level spells like Murak.
Subaru noticed this and quickly checked his pockets to see if he had an ether...though it seems like he was out.
'Shit.'
This problem prompted him to tell Beatrice:
"Can you use some of my mana to prepare Shamak?"
"I will need some time, but yes, I should be able to in fact."
"Alright then." Subaru pauses his words as he lets the shadows grab her and have her be on his back, carrying her all the while he prepared to fight with everything he had. "Gather as much as you can, I'll protect the two of us."
"Understood." Beatrice said as she started to drain mana from him all the while he prepared to resume his fight with Replica Riku.
Right before he had a chance to charge at him, Garfiel tapped his arm to get his attention.
Upon turning towards his direction, the demi human boy began to say:
"Cap'n, allow me t'fight yer opponent."
"You want to swap?"
"Yeah, I think yer gonna need some time fer Beatrice t'gather mana from ya. It'll help lower th'pressure on ya, Cap'n."
"That's much-appreciated Garf, thanks. Just be careful."
"Will do!"
As Garfiel gave a nod of confidence to his captain, he immediately charges at Replica Riku and started their fight by being on the offensive.
The Sin Archbishop of Pride noticed this and swiftly started to glow with a dark and intense aura before blocking Garfiel's punch.
Although he had managed to prevent his new opponent from landing a hit, he didn't account of just how strong this attack would be.
Garfiel broke through the defense of his new opponent and nearly managed to land his punch only for Pride to teleport right behind him.
Just as he did that, Wolf attempted to grab onto Garfiel to drain his mana only to be punched away by Subaru's shadows.
"I'm not going to let you get Garfiel, because I'm your opponent now." Subaru spoke with a serious expression while Beatrice was on his back, draining his mana in a way that won't cause her contractor to lose his strength or mental focus.
Wolf recovered from the attack all the while having a murderous intent coming from within the mask.
Upon feeling this murderous intent, Subaru smiled with confidence as he prepared his shadows to play both offense and defense.
After being prepared, he took the initiative to go on the offense similar to Garfiel, wanting to keep Wolf back in order to pull the trick he was thinking on pulling off on Replica Riku onto Wolf now.
'Not exactly the ideal target, but it's fine. We just need to take one of them down, which would give us the advantage on this fight.'
As he thought of this before putting all his focus on keeping Wolf into a corner and a distance from him and Beatrice, Garfiel blocked Replica Riku's attack before attempted to land a kick on him.
Replica Riku managed to create a barrier to block away the attack though he didn't expect Garfiel to throw a secondary quick attack right towards him, being strong enough to break his barrier.
This surprised forced him to block the attack with his arms, not having the time to move his sword to block his opponent's follow up attack.
Right as he blocked said attack, both his arms felt immense pressure, like they are about to break.
This pressure would eventually be felt on his chest as Garfiel's second attack had managed to be strong enough to cause immense pressure on his arms and pressure onto his chest.
Right before he could do anything to counter this, Garfiel managed to easily add more strength onto the attack to send Replica Riku back.
As he was sent flying off a few feet away from the demi human boy, he quickly slammed his right foot onto the ground which caused the area underneath Pride to explode.
Garfiel with his divine protection was able to have a large rock come up from the ground and hit Replica Riku with enough force to send him flying up onto the ceiling.
Right before crashing onto said ceiling, Replica Riku was able to recover and increase the mix of witch's scent and the darkness in him, allowing a more dangerous aura to appear around him once again before pushing himself to charge towards his new opponent.
Garfiel noticed this and quickly blocked the attack, with his shields cracking upon impact from Pride's sword.
He noticed this and quickly realized the Sin Archbishop of Pride had managed to increase his strength and speed.
Being alerted of this prompted him to push his opponent away before throwing a barrage of punches to try and avoid having Pride from being on the offense.
As he was putting pressure onto Pride, Subaru continued to push Wolf back with the shadows, the goal of this being on giving Beatrice time to gather the necessary amount of mana for them to pull out a surprise attack.
As he seemed to be able to keep this up for some time, Wolf eventually started to drain the power from the shadows.
Although they aren't enough mana to even give a boost to the mysterious villain known as Wolf, it still gave him something to assist in him closing the gap between himself and his new opponent.
Subaru noticed this and quickly changed strategy, prompting him to tell his contracted spirit:
"Hold on tight," he muttered.
Beatrice responded with a firm nod, tightening her grip around him just as Subaru dashed forward, closing the distance fast.
Although it's highly risky fighting in close range with someone like his new opponent, he knew that Wolf would eventually reach them with the way things were going.
So, the new plan is to try and keep in on the defensive until Beatrice was ready to use shamak.
Upon closing in, Subaru struck first by swinging his Rebirth Keyblade toward Wolf.
The enemy blocked it cleanly and reached out to grab the weapon, though luckily for the keyblade wielder, he was fast enough to stop this through the follow-up attack by creating a second swing from the Starlight Keyblade straight at Wolf's head.
Wolf ducked under the blow, however the shadows from Subaru's sage attire quickly reached him while he was focused on avoiding being hit by the keyblade in an attempt to catch him off guard.
Wolf had anticipated the ambush and began draining the shadows once again, gaining a spark of mana they carried.
Noticing this, Subaru pressed forward with his next attack being done with both Keyblades simultaneously towards his opponent.
Wolf evaded with unnatural ease and was able to seize both of Subaru's arms.
'Shit!'
Subaru instantly reacted by pouring everything he had in attacking Wolf before he had a chance to start draining his mana, relying on his shadows to get the job done since he's already being drained by Beako in a safe way; having two people drain mana from him might put him in a position that could lead to Return By Death.
The shadows of his landed a few solid hits, being more than enough to loosen one of Wolf's grips...however, the other arm remained locked, held firm in the creature's grasp.
A few seconds later, he felt his mind nearly blanking out as he knew that Wolf was beginning to drain his mana.
'I have to...do something now...before it's too late...'
Subaru tried to muster whatever strength he could push out before he lost consciousness, with his mind thinking on how this moment—this single choice—could mean life or death.
If he slipped up now, who knows what might happen to him or Beatrice or Garfiel.
He knows that him getting knocked out would put all the pressure on the demi human boy, which would surely get him killed since he would try to protect him and Beatrice while also trying to take on Replica Riku and Wolf on his own.
All of this allowed him to use his free hand to summon Glaciation Angel keyblade before swinging it right onto the hand Wolf was using to grab tightly on his arm.
Upon landing the hit, he used the formchange with that keyblade in order to make sure the last of his strength could be used to land an effective hit to force Wolf to let him go.
Once he did this, the ice from his attire managed to be enough to force Wolf to let him go, allowing Subaru to quickly recover just in time before he completely lost conscious.
He took a second to shake the feeling off of nearly passing out before turning his attention towards Beatrice.
"How much more mana do you need?"
"I have enough, let's do it!"
Subaru nodded as he got out of this formchange and returning to his regular attire all the while remaining with the same keyblade, needing it for the plan he and Beatrice are about to enact.
Wolf looked at Subaru for a moment before charging at him, attempting to grab him and Beatrice though the moment he was within range, Subaru smile before shouting:
"Now Beako!"
"Shamak!"
As Beatrice shouted this, a dark smoke surrounded the area, stunning Wolf for a moment as his senses were blocked upon being caught by the black smoke.
He looked around, attempting to see though his vision was blocked by darkness, allowing Subaru to initiate the next part of his plan.
He grabs a small bag from his pocket and throws it at the direction Wolf was approaching by, gauging more or less where the villain is located before tossing the small bag.
Right after doing that, he along with Beatrice ran out of the shamak radius and made sure that he was at a good distance before turning around at that direction.
After a few seconds of this, a powerful explosion occurred right within the dark smoke.
Wolf was caught by this explosion, having been unable to get out of the shamak and with the bag that was filled with powerful red crystals, these being provided to him by Otto Suwen.
("Subaru-san, take this. Make sure to use them sparingly.")
'Sorry Otto, but I needed to use all of those crystals if I want to at least do some damage to this guy.'
As this was on his mind, he focused on the fading black smoke caused from shamak, wanting to see the results of this bold maneuver.
After waiting for a moment for all the black smoke to disappear, he and Beatrice saw that the explosion was powerful enough to indeed damage Wolf though a lot more than the pair expected.
Wolf had a few scars left from the explosion with his attire damaged though something of note was the damaged masked as it revealed a yellow eye.
This was something both Beatrice and Subaru couldn't shake the feeling that they've seen that eye somewhere.
Before they figure something out from that, Wolf swapped masks in an instant to avoid reveal their identity.
Once he revealed to be having a sad mask, he began to speak with a sad tone:
"Why would you do such a thing? Shouldn't knights fight with more honor?"
"..." Subaru had no words to say towards Wolf, finding these questions more like mocking his status as a knight than anything else.
He turned towards the Great Spirit Beatrice to start saying:
"Shouldn't a spirit of such high status not resort to these kinds of tricks? It's pretty cruel for that, especially for a spirit such as yourself."
"Don't speak of such things!" Beatrice shouted, disliking how Wolf was questioning her. "You have no knowledge of Betty, I suppose! So don't speak like you know!"
As she shouted this, Subaru pointed his newest keyblade directly towards the villain, almost looking like he's preparing to fire a projectile at him.
After a few seconds of silence, Subaru speaks with all the confidence in the world:
"The Great Beako and I, Natsuki Subaru, will be the ones to beat you, villain. We will make you pay for all the harm you've caused!"
Subaru said these words with conviction, confident that he and Beatrice can beat Wolf right here and now all the while confident that Garfiel can beat Replica Riku.
As he was handling him, Garfiel continued to put pressure onto the Sin Archbishop of Pride by constantly being on the offense.
Despite the amount of times Pride had managed to teleport away from Garfiel to try and break from being on the defense and to be on the offense, the demi human boy managed to find a way to be back on the offense against him.
This annoyed him since unlike his small skirmish against Subaru and Beatrice which was more annoying than problematic like it is against Garfiel Tinsel.
Garfiel's managing to break through the stronger barrier's Pride's creating to keep himself from getting hit though at the same time these attacks are slightly getting weaker by the second.
This made his strategy shift into more trying to waste his opponent's stamina in order to open an opportunity to strike him down with one precisive attack.
While this was the strategy he was going with, he noticed Garfiel suddenly stopped being on the offense and switched course into attacking the ground.
Pride recognized this and quickly jumped away from where he was standing to avoid another attack from beneath his feet.
Though when he did that this time, he noticed that nothing happened.
'Hm? Did he wanted me to make a move? No, that wouldn't make sense...what did he wanted to accomplish with doing that?'
He observed the way Garfiel was acting after destroying the ground, he seemed like he was suddenly filled with energy all over again.
The demi human boy swiftly moved right towards him and easily landed a punch on him, surprise attacking him.
He was shocked when he felt a strong blow to his stomach through Garfiel's intense punch.
'He got back his strength suddenly?! That's not right!'
He thought on how long Garfiel's leg was on the dirt ground and how he looked like he was getting weaker prior to that, though right after that manuveor he suddenly has all the strength in the world again.
'The ground...that's the only thing that could've been the cause of this.'
Having that in mind, he thought back on some things the Witch of Vainglory had told him about this world, more specifically the authorities and divine protections.
'Given that he isn't with the witch's cult and had suddenly healed, this must be the work of a divine protection. Perhaps one that allows him to keep going if he touches the ground? Maybe...'
He was positive that Garfiel's sudden newfound strength had to be because of the ground and the connection the ground has with his divine protection.
With this in mind now, he shifted his strategy into keeping Garfiel in the air and doing as much damage as possible until he can finally reach the killing blow.
He landed on his feet and had to ignore the pain in order to go on the offense, needing to do this if he wants to make any progress.
As he manages to close the gap within seconds, he started to once again use the combine power of darkness and the power he received from Pandora to try and land one hit that would sent Garfiel flying all the while Garfiel with all his strength swung his fist to counter this attack.
The moment both attacks clashed, the strength the two were giving was enough to push Pride's sword back all the while Garfiel's shield was destroyed from the impact.
Seeing this prompted Garfiel to be cautious on what his opponent's next move could be since he can tell that if he had tried to hit Replica Riku's attack with just his bare fist could've caused some serious damage to him.
Knowing this, his strategy remains the same in attempting to keep Replica Riku from gaining any ground against him, essentially keeping himself on the offense until he can land the hit that knocks his opponent out.
Even with all of this in mind, he can't help but feel a large amount of adrenaline from this fight, feeling the most amount of fun since his fight against both Ansem and Xemnas back in Vollachia months ago. This excitement almost makes him want to make this fight last as long as it could though he knows that would be foolish too since that could put both his captain and the great spirit Beatrice at risk.
'Gotta finish th's fast.'
He swiftly approached Replica Riku and tried to land a kick only for his opponent to manage to dodge the attack.
Pride swung his sword as a counterattack only for Garfiel to manage to avoid this attack just barely.
He noticed this and quickly moved his free hand at his opponent's direction and quickly created a powerful dark ball before firing it point blank at him.
He saw this and quickly was able to use his remaining shield to deflect away the attack, managing to have this dark ball be sent towards a wall away from Subaru's direction.
As he was successful with this, he noticed that the dark ball had done some damage to his remaining shield, making him note that he'll need to be careful on what he does next.
He lands onto the ground and looks up at Replica Riku, trying to see what he's going to do next.
While observing his movements, Pride looked at the demi human boy with a serious expression before summoning some crystalline octahedrons in an attempt to both try to surround him and to allow some obstacles between himself and his opponent.
Seeing this made the Shield of the Sanctuary to think of possibly using his divine protection to try and reach him, though the only problem he's going to be dealing with now is the crystalline octahedrons.
From what he could tell, they explode which means he will need to be careful to not be surrounded by them or otherwise he would be in some serious trouble.
'Th't's gonna be a pain in th'ass.'
Understanding how his opponent had managed to make it slightly difficult to reach him, he notices that he's sending another dark ball right at him.
Garfiel took a moment to contemplate his next move before jumping away from the dark ball before it manages to hit him.
As he avoids this attack, he quickly began to use his divine protection to create pillars he can jump from in order to reach his opponent while also avoiding the long-range attacks thrown towards him.
While managing to slowly close the gap, a few of the crystalline octahedrons started to move towards Garfiel Tinsel's direction to try and corner him.
He saw this and was tempted to try and figure a plan to avoid these crystalline octahedrons though his instincts were telling him to just break through.
This was a reckless idea, and he knows it, though he isn't afraid of this since he's confident he can break through.
As he made an attempt to punch through the closing in crystalline octahedrons, they all started to exploded.
Replica Riku was taken aback from Garfiel's idea of allowing himself to be caught by his attack though what was more surprising was seeing him managing to survive said explosions with little to no injury.
"How did he...survive that?!"
As he said this, he noticed his opponent was quickly closing the gap between the two of them, prompting him to use all of the crystalline octahedrons to completely block Garfiel's path.
'Try and break through this, fool.'
Garfiel noticed this and didn't hesitate to once again allow himself to be caught by another explosion though unlike the last one, this one was a little more than he expected to handle.
He came out of the aftermath with some burn scars though he was still filled with determination to defeat the Sin Archbishop of Pride.
"No matter what ya throw at me, I won't lose! I'll beat ya before ya get th'chance t'do anythin'!"
With Garfiel's words of endless determination and conviction being shouted, he reached Pride's location in the air and swung his strongest punch, confident that this will end the fight for good.
Replica Riku was shocked by this endless determination from his opponent...
'What is he? How can one person have this much determination, this much recklessness in a fight and yet still confidently say they will win? This will not do! I won't lose to some nobody!'
Refusing to lose, especially after having worked so hard to reach the power he has, he began to use all the darkness he could summon from within him to mix it with the power Pandora gave him.
Upon doing this, he was powered up to such a point that he easily avoided Garfiel Tinsel's attack before swinging his sword with enough power to land what seemed to be a fatal blow.
'What th—?!'
The demi human boy was shocked when this had happened as he didn't expect the Sin Archbishop of Pride managed to avoid his attack on the last second as well as getting hit.
He started to cough up some blood as the attack he got hit left him stunned long enough for Replica Riku to do a follow-up attack by creating a dark ball before tossing it towards Garfiel.
This landed as the demi human boy was stunned by the injury to do anything, prompting him to tank another explosion.
Subaru and Beatrice were preparing to attack Wolf only for the explosion to draw their attention.
Upon looking at what Pride had done to Garfiel, managing to land a point-blank attack, the two are left in shock seeing Garfiel looking lifeless as he was falling from the sky.
"Garfiel!"
Petra continued down the narrow secret passageway, unaware of the battle happening above.
The path ahead twisted like a snake, its walls rough like the inside of a jagged cave.
Her steps were cautious and deliberate out of necessity than choice since she barely had any light to guide her, and the further she went, the more the stone corridor felt less like a hidden hallway and more like a natural cavern that had been long forgotten.
The suffocating darkness, broken only by the occasional drip of water echoing off the stone walls, gnawed at Petra's nerves.
She was starting to rethink on her current actions since she might have been over her head here due to not having the necessary protection to do something this reckless, especially on her own.
'I want to help, I want to be useful to Emilia-sama, to Sora-sama, to Subaru-sama.'
She had been constantly on the sidelines; with the only major events she had been a part of was the Bowel hunter and Mabeast user attack on the mansion where she was more of a damsel in distress and the events of the battle in the capital of Vollachia months ago.
In the latter, she played a small role though that was due to how the opponents they were all facing wouldn't be someone she could realistically provide any kind of assistance.
Although she's getting better in learning yang magic, she's still frustrated that she can't make any contribution to the Emilia camp outside of just being a maid for the silver haired half elf.
That frustration allows her to push forward, wanting to not just be useful for the camp but a desire to help her camp however she can.
At this current position she's in, her search is for any signs of a possibly hideout for either the Witch's Cult or the Organization.
With the way her dream eater was not only acting when directing her to the church but how she found this cave through the secret door, her intuition is more leaning towards that there's possible witch cult activity involved with the church.
'They are possibly hiding in plain sight. But that would mean...'
Melty and Sakura, two people that she's been friendly with are involved with the church and are a part of the staff...this is a thought she hopes to be wrong about but looking at how possible that could be, it makes her think that there's a chance Emilia could be in danger.
They've spent their time having not only Melty Pristis but her brother Salum Pristis, his spirit Pooka, and Melty's guardian Tiga Rauleon.
As for Sakura Element, although there isn't much time with her, she's grown to respect her and all the hard work she seems to be doing.
'I hope that I'm wrong. Melty is nice, Tiga is reliable, Salum is kind, Pooka is fun, and Sakura is admirable.'
She couldn't shake the thought—the people she'd grown close to over the past few months, the ones she'd made warm memories with, might actually be traitors.
The possibility stung.
Especially Sakura Element, who Petra had started to see as a kind of older sister—someone who reminded her of Frederica in all the best ways.
The idea of going through that kind of betrayal again made her stomach twist.
Roswaal had already shattered her trust once, betraying everyone over a year ago.
She still couldn't forgive that. Ever.
She still didn't trust the Bowel Hunter, no matter how much her hero Sora vouched for her.
And as for Meili... she was little more than a stranger Petra tolerated for Subaru and Sora's sake.
Though thinking back to their last conversation, she did felt bad that her and the Bowel Hunter were captured by the Sin Archbishop of Lust.
From the small amount of information she'd gathered about her, she isn't someone one wants to encounter under any circumstances.
Being that she along with the sudden appearance of the Sin Archbishop of Pride being the remaining archbishops in the Witch's cult, she was slightly afraid that she might end up encountering one of the two if the ones here are indeed Witch cultists.
'I...I can't be afraid! I need to keep moving forward. I have to find out if they are here.'
She continued to push forward, re-motivating herself to at least find evidence that the Witch's Cult or even the Organization are here.
As she walked as slowly as ever to not draw attention to herself, she did start to notice a small glimmer of light.
This confused her for a moment since the cave path had seemed to be getting darker and darker for the past few minutes she had been walking, which didn't help her fear of something bad happening to her here with no one to save her.
This can mean one of two things, either she had managed to find a hole in the cave or a pathway that is from the outside...or she had found someone that's down here with her.
The former would be a problem since it means that there's nothing to connect the church, which would make this little trip a slight waste though the positive side would be that for now it clears Melty, Sakura, and the others.
If it's the latter, then she would need to be more cautious than she was before. Even with a regular witch cultist, it would be tough for her to survive even if she summons her dream eater.
'I have to be careful.'
Reminding herself of this thought, she continued to press forward with cautious, each step being done with carefulness to avoid slipping or making any kind of noise.
As the air started to feel tense with each step, her head sweating from the stress that's trying not to get caught or what dangers she's getting herself in.
No going back now, she approached the light with caution, preparing for whatever happens.
Once close enough, she noticed that it was what seems to be a torch.
This confused her for a moment before realizing that there's definitely someone down here, prompting her to hide back in the dark to avoid being spotted.
She kept going with caution, following the other lights that she spotted though as she was approaching them, she could hear noise.
As the noise was getting a bit louder, she started to pick up in what seems to be footsteps and dragging of something heavy.
Since the noise was more distinct than it was a few minutes ago had her walking even slower than she was already going.
Upon managing to reach what seems to be a large number of lights, she discovered what seems to be a secret base underneath the church.
This left her in disbelief, having actually found what seems to be a base of operations of the witch's cult given that she spotted what seems to be the symbol of the cult in one of the flags off in the distance.
She was left stunned for a moment before shaking her head, seeing this as a good thing in a sense since now this confirms that the church is working with the Witch's cult.
'I...I need to let the others know immediately.'
As she had this in mind, she immediately started to run back the way she came from, not caring if one of the cultists hears her.
She continued to run with all she had, trying to avoid being caught though the main goal is to get back to the outside and to get to either Emilia or Subaru or Frederica to let them know what she found.
After a minute of just sprinting, she thinks that she's in the clear only to bumping into something hard enough to cause her to fall on her back.
"Ow..."
As she was rubbing her forehead, she looked up and was left with a shocked expression.
'Oh no...'
She was stunned upon seeing a young-looking girl with short golden hair and just above her waist, two larger circular appendages can be seen sprouting out of her body.
Petra knew immediately who this was all the while this young-looking girl turned towards her with a curious expression.
"Now isn't this an interesting moment. A little maid appears."
"..."
The young-looking girl had a sadistic smile after a moment of analyzing Petra.
"I remember you; you are the little maid my failure of daughters was tasked to kill. How interesting to find such a small meatbag be right on my sight."
"..." Petra remained silent as she didn't know what to do now since she's cornered by this point.
Even if she could use her yang magic right now to defend herself, it would be pointless since she isn't a strong fighter...or well, a fighter at all.
'What do I do? What do I do?'
She was in fear of her life, that this reckless attempt will be the end of her.
Capella noticed this which prompted her to say:
"What are you afraid of? I'm not going to kill you, I'm not barbaric. However, I could make an exception since my daughters had a job of having you and that other maid dead. And failure is not something I take lightly. Though I am curious..." She paused herself while approaching the little maid. Once within a few inches away, she looked deep in her eyes before smiling with a little more curiosity than animosity:
"Why are you here, alone?"
"..."
"Trying to play the little hero? Similar to him? Is that what you love about him?"
"..."
Petra continued to be silent, not sure what she could even respond with.
Capella caught this and was a bit frustrated by the lack of response though thought of an idea on how to get a response without using violence.
She started to transform into the person that Petra loves, that being Sora to which left Petra not just in more fear but disgusted as well.
"A hero that's always there for not just the weak but his friends, his enemies if they have a chance to be redeemed, and those that cry out for help. Is that why you are here, alone? Wanting to be like him? That's pretty foolish!"
Capella ripped apart the form of Sora she was transformed in, wanting to terrorize the little girl before reverting back to the usual form she goes as.
Once back, she continued to speak with now a condescending tone:
"You may be a child, but even around your age, you'll start thinking of lustful thoughts, thinking about those you love because of their looks. Perhaps that's what you see in that foolish boy! His looks!"
"N-No, that's not true! I wouldn't like Sora-sama just because of his looks!" Petra responded, a bit flustered by Capella's words.
Although these words would annoy the Sin Archbishop of Lust, she was intrigued by Petra's words in this scenario since it involved the keyblade master.
Though before doing anything, she sensed someone was behind her.
She stood up before turning towards the shadows with her smile returning to its sadistic form.
"I was wondering when you would arrive. You've been taking too long."
"Apologies mother, seems like Wolf and that new Sin Archbishop decided to change the plans on us right at the last minute."
Petra couldn't help but feel dizzy with the immense fear though another feeling was leaving her overwhelmed, betrayal.
Her theory was right on the spot as Sakura reveals herself with her true colors showing, a sadistic smile similar to Capella's.
"Those two meatbags will just have to make it up after my plan starts."
"Right..." Sakura's attention was immediately drawn towards Petra Leyte, being caught off guard by her presence. "Petra-chan? What are you doing here?"
"Hm. You know this little meatbag?" Capella questioned.
"Yes, she's a part of the Emilia camp. She was very useful in assisting me with the paperwork and helping the nuns with daily tasks. A pretty useful maid for someone so young."
"Now that's dedication!" Capella said with an intrigued tone before returning her focus on the little girl. "Perhaps we could use those maid skills in my cult."
As she said this, Petra noticed wasps floating around Capella which made her feel disgusted.
"W-What is that?"
"Hm?" Capella was lost for a moment, thinking she was referring to her which caused her to tilt her head in complete confusion before realizing what the little maid was referring to.
"Oh do please calm down, little Petra-chan. If you make a fuss, you'll startle the Mana Wasps, you know?"
"Mana...wasps...?"
She was a bit caught off guard by that comment from Sakura though upon looking around, she noticed the mana wasps all surrounding them.
She didn't know if they were there the whole time or they just arrived, but right now she's for sure in trouble now.
"You were with the witch's cult...I knew it. Does that mean...Melty-sama, Tiga, Salum, and Pooka are also with the witch's cult as well?"
"You are a pretty sharp mind little lady, though that could be a problem if you were to escape here with that information." Sakura turned towards Capella to ask her, "Mother, allow me to end this little maid. It would be a problem for you if your plan was alerted to those that have the power to stop it."
"I doubt any meatbag here could pose a problem to the plan I have in mind, however I'll allow it. As much as she's cute and could be useful, she was still a target that my other daughters had failed to take out. That, I will allow you to rectify, daughter of mine."
"Thank you, mother." Sakura bowed in respect to Lust. Capella turned towards Petra to have one last thing to say to her:
"Unfortunate that you will die here, because I would've wanted your love though I remember your face now. I might need that in the future."
"..."
Petra was afraid of what's going to happen to her, what kind of death she was about to be given by Sakura.
She was thinking of summoning her dream eater at that point, wanting to be rescued though a part of her knows that it might not even work since Capella is right here.
This caused any hope from her to fade away and to reach despair.
Right as it seemed like the woman was about to do something, she couldn't help but say all of a sudden:
"Subaru, Sora, and Emilia are all tired, right? And yet, even I've become a burden on them. I always...always wanted to say I'm sorry for never measuring up..."
Right as she said this, a sudden light appeared in front of her which left Sakura and Capella stunned for a second before being on guard.
Though right as they were on guard, Capella was suddenly hit in the face and sent flying towards the rocks nearby.
As she crashed into the rocks a few feet away, Sakura moved back as she didn't know what had caused her 'mother' to be sent flying.
After walking a bit back to keep her distance, the light eventually faded to reveal to both her and Petra that the one responsible for the sudden bright light and the attack on Capella was Petra's dream eater.
"Huh? What are you doing here?" Petra questioned, not recalling that she summoned her dream eater.
The Meow Wow dream eater turned towards her and approached her before licking her face, wanting to cheer her up after immediately sensing her complete despair.
Petra couldn't help but giggle a bit from this, feeling ticklish when feeling Meow Wow's licks on her cheek.
While this was happening, Sakura observed this moment and was annoyed in seeing a random weird looking animal appearing from thin air and sending 'mother' flying off onto a wall of rock.
'What is that? Is it some kind of guardian angel of hers? Regardless, I need to take her out now.'
She prepares all the mana wasps to attack both the dream eater and Petra Leyte only to see said dream eater to suddenly stop comforting the little maid and turn back its attention towards her.
After a few seconds, the Meow Wow Dream Eater spat out a fireball directly at her, prompting Sakura to both duck and use the mana wasps to protect her from the attack.
As she barely was able to avoid being caught by said attack, the dream eater did a follow-up attack with a giant balloon.
Sakura was stunned as she didn't know what this thing was going to do, prompting her to send a couple of mana wasps to try and intercept the balloon.
As a few seemed to manage to cause the large balloon to pop, they were also destroyed in the process.
Though something that she didn't think would happen was more balloons to be created from the large balloon popping and to be targeting right at her.
Before these balloons could do something to her, Capella suddenly appears in front of her and tanks the attacks.
As each balloon landed on her, parts of her body were blow away until she looked like a complete mess, unrecognizable from her usual form.
"Oh my, now that was unexpected."
As she looked at her destroyed body, she turned her attention towards the dream eater, impressed by the creature.
"Now aren't you quite the speciment. I believe I haven't seen something like you ever in my life. To do this kind of damage, it's impressive."
What annoyed Capella was mainly the dream eater's odd aura it was giving her, similar to what Sora gives whenever she's in his presence.
As she began to regenerate from her injuries, she had some choice words for not just the Dream Eater but to Petra Leyte as well,
"I'll make sure to enjoy this." She turned her attention to her daughter for a moment. "Proceed with the plan. I'll join in on a moment."
"Are you sure? I can handle this—"
Before she could finish the sentence, Capella made what seemed to be a threatening smile, alerting Sakura that she better listen.
She nodded while also saying "Apologies Mother" before heading off to get the cultists to do their part of the Sin Archbishop of Lust's plan in attacking the capital of Lugnica.
While she headed off to the location of the cultists, Capella started to look at Petra with an intense glare before transforming herself into what seems to be Frederica.
"Frederica neesama?"
"Not quite. It seems you are close to this woman, admire her, want to be her. Unfortunately for you, this will be the last face you will see before I make you into a bug. I'll make sure you and that pet of yours wish I had killed you both."
Petra was hesitant at first when hearing this threat though her mind could only go into how she can't let herself die here.
The dream eater just gives Capella a look of determination, not afraid of the fact that its facing the Sin Archbishop of Lust.
After a moment of silence, both Capella and the Meow Wow Dream Eater began their fight with Lust changing her right hand into a beast and having it charge towards the dream eater with said dream eater facing the beast head on.
Author's note:
So yeah, will be taking a momentary pause for this arc to backtrack to arc 5 stuff, I want to add some things that the anime did as well as add a few things that will come back to this arc since there's two things I want to bring up. Overall, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and sorry for the late posting.