Chapter Text
Jedret Delta didn't truly belong to the Witch Cult. She was entitled to the benefits of the Witch Cult. She was granted a book, the gospel, that told of the future and gave instructions which aligned with her goals perfectly as well as knowledge of the future. She had the privilege of moving throughout the capital without much need to fear for her life, which was especially impressive as a knight and therefore noble that the people had turned on. And of course she had contact with the Witch Cultists.
She also was free of some of, if not most of, the downsides of the Cult. She was not hopelessly obsessed with the Witch of Envy or any of the Witch Cult members. She was not required to abandon her position as one of the kingdom’s knights, hence she could act as a double agent. She did not follow with hopeless enthusiasm when it came to obeying the Gospel's orders, which had kept her from dying many times over. And perhaps most importantly, she was not required to kill innocents.
The Gospel only aligned to her own goals, not the cult's. Because in the same breath that she betrayed the ‘Knight’s Order’, she also chose to protect it. It was nothing but insanity to solely remain with her original duty as a knight of the kingdom, she needed to do more. The knights had failed, the Royal Candidates had failed and the Council of Wise Men had failed; even if they were all still trying their best it wasn’t enough. Hence, the only option left was to join the Cult that practically owned Lugunica.
She hated the Witch Cult for what it did, has done and will continue to do to the world. But she hated every other faction even more for being powerless. Powerlessness was the ultimate sin in her eyes and the Witch Cult was the only way she could grasp power.
So first she would gain power. Information, Strength, Authority, Control. And only then would she be able to save even a fraction of Lugunica from itself. This was the only path that Jedret was able to see. And she would remain on this path until she died.
Edge of the Witchbeast-Infested Forest
Alright, so her death might be considerably more imminent than she had thought. When she had opened her book one day, she found an instruction. And unlike previous instructions, such as going to a Cult meeting or stopping a riot, this one had no clear indication of how to move forward.
Go to the Witchbeast Infested Forest. At the entrance you will find eight other cultists. Cooperate with them and report back to the Witch Cult.
"So this is how I die." Jedret thought.
She really wanted to deviate from the writ here. And just not tell anyone. But the book specifically mentioned other cultists. If it was revealed that she disobeyed the book, she would be executed. Besides the book had never been wrong before... right?
She'd seen her fair share of cultists throw their life away for nothing due to the damned Gospel and now, if she was unlucky, it was her turn clearly. What possible benefit could the former knight get from walking into the Witchbeast forest unprotected? Even moreso that 50 cultists had recently led an assault on Arlam Village (She refused to use the executed Knight's name even in her mind she already felt guilty enough for how she personally treated him. The invasion had failed before the village had even come into view due to some of the barrier crystals being destroyed. They were saved by a Witchbeast and retreated. Only 3 cultists died due to holding the shattered crystals.
After that had happened, they had met two Onis that introduced themselves as twins and two of the last surviving Onis as well as former maids of Roswaal L. Mathers, the margrave of Western Territories. Not that the name meant much now since he was facing backlash from sponsoring a royal candidate. Likely why they were 'former' maids. They then announced that the invasion was an insult to their hero and brother. So as punishment, they slaughtered every Witch Cultist there.
Needless to say, at the realization that the Witch Cult orchestrated the attack, the people's faith in their beliefs had wavered. If Arlam was an enemy of the Witch Cult then that gave them credibility to anyone besides the Witch Cult and its apologists. Jedret was honestly quite happy with the result.
However, it made their position feel all the more precarious as soon as they stepped into the forest. Especially with the knowledge that the Witch Cult hadn’t been to ones to sabotage the mission so there was clearly foul play. The only solace Jedret was able to find was that this time the book told her to do this rather than this visit being a planned one and only being to the entrance of the forest. Although placing all her faith in a book still felt strange especially with this being a ‘group activity’.
Jedret’s feelings of apprehension would only be eased slightly when one of the cultists, an assassin-type, had given her a fluffy cloak that was similar to the Witch Cultist cloak (which she admittedly had never had to wear). Jedret knew what this cloak was from. It was from a werewolf. If they were skinned alive, then they effectively gave the user the divine protection of Ambushing, giving them near-perfect stealth. The idea of skinning a sapient creature, even a demi-human, felt unbearably cruel.
Not only that but they also gave her Karnago Powder. The powder would erase any scent it was applied to, making it difficult to be sensed by Witchbeasts. It concerned her though since she was unaware where this powder came from. Would it be possible that the powder was from ground up bone? It should be unlikely but the Witch Cult was unpredictable and cruel.
But regardless, she forced herself to swallow back her vomit and put on the cloak over her Knight’s uniform and applied the powder. Fortunately her hair was already tied in a ponytail and blended in well with the color of the cloak. It would be helpful for the forest if they chose to enter but where would they be going? Her Gospel still told her to ‘cooperate.’ Whatever that meant anyways.
She didn’t really understand what it meant but seeing the cloak and powder, she had to ask.
“Did the gospel tell you to do this?”
“For the reconnaissance to the Mathers’ Mansion.”
“Ah,” Jedret spoke aloud but inwardly she was swearing her heart out. The Gospel had forsaken her, it had truly forsaken her. She was doomed. The Gospel was always vague but this was malicious. If the Gospel told her to comply, she’d thought that the task would be simple but spying on the residence of the former Emilia camp?
It was no secret that the core members remained there to protect the village, neglecting to mention any other members that were residing in the village at any point of time. Spying on even a former Royal Candidate seemed unwise. Even then it was one thing to spy on any royal candidate but at least the Anastasia and Crusch camp had their main bases near the capital. So it would be difficult for them to act openly against any spies.
But the Emilia Camp? Their base was in the middle of the forest. Both the former and the new. If not for the barrier crystals surrounding the forest, there would be ‘wild animal problem’ to say the least. Out of all of the camps, they have killed the most cultists. The reason that Jedret didn’t trust them is because they usually kept to their own territory. Thanks in no small part to the Cult’s repeated attacks.
Only a few members would be out at a time and while they were always destructive, with the Anastasia camp they had recently destroyed an entire building with a non-negligible amount of cultists inside, they also weren’t active for many days at a time so it didn’t take much to recruit more cultists and make more space.
The lesser quality of cultists in terms of obsession would seem to be a weakness. But Jedret had seen first-hand how quickly they died and were replaced once again. It was quite frankly sickening. But unfortunately effective due to the state of the nation. So even they were effectively ineffective.
That however, had no impact when it came to the camp’s combat ability. Aside from Reinhard who was currently out of commission through a method that not even Jedret knew, they were clearly the strongest out of the remaining camps.
Aside from that Jedret, who was a swordswoman as a former knight, was accompanied by eight cultists. They were each on the level of the kingdom’s knights, bordering on the strength of the royal guards. Not including Jedret, there were two swordsmen, three knife-wielding assassins and two mages. All of them with cloaks that had the divine protection of Ambushing imbued within. There was even a spirit user or a spiritualist, an extreme rarity. They were even contracted to a fire and wind quasi spirit. They might genuinely be of the strength of a Royal Guard.
Yet Jedret’s nerves didn’t calm down in the slightest. Between the Divine Protection of the Soul of Language that’s owned by one of their members (information gathered thanks to the gospel), the strongest mage in the kingdom, the Great Spirit of Yin’s spatial barrier and the demi-humans with enhanced senses, Jedret did not like their chances of going completely undetected even with their precautions.
Although, the effectiveness of the cloaks and powder could not be understated. The path we chose, had already been scouted by one of the assassins so there were almost no Witchbeasts to be seen not only that but it seems that their scent had been covered up by the powder so well that not even the bats that flew overhead noticed them despite what Jedret knew about their sense of smell.
Maybe, just maybe, they would get out of this alive. When they reached their destination, they were just West of the mansion, hidden within the trees, just outside of the Great Spirit's barrier. Or so Jedret was told, she couldn't see it.
Looking at the mansion, it was fairly well-kept. There were barely any signs of damage, if any , despite the Witch Cult's repeated attacks, likely due to magic being used to fix the damage. There were windows but they were closed with curtains drawn, likely as a precaution. Regardless, Jedret did not see a way to see what was happening.
“Alright you two. You know what to do.” the spiritualist said to his wind and fire spirit.
The two quasi spirits floated past the barrier, apparently it didn't apply to spirits which made sense since Jedret had never even heard of a spirit knight between Julius and… him, and began absorbing mana from the air before unleashing a wave of hot wind towards the mansion in an incredibly strong and synchronized burst of magic.
Every window on the wall was blown off and shattered in an instant. Immediately, people began to notice. A blue-haired and pink-haired girl peered through a gaping hole in the wall. Jedret suspected those were the two that slaughtered nearly 50 cultists, so she made a mental note to thank them someday (without revealing that she was technically one of them).
The half-elf known as Emilia also looked out of the ‘window’ as a cat-like spirit peered out. Jedret knew that Emilia was contracted with the Great Spirit of Fire, could that be him? Even if not, seeing as he had a true form, it was likely that he was at least full spirit and therefore likely stronger than the cultist spiritualist even without Emilia.
But there was one more thing. An odd thing… a person? It was hard to make them out.⁽¹⁾ It was as if they were flickering in and out of existence. The person sighed and then… made direct eye contact with her. That was the moment that Jedret recognized him and there was a flash of recognition and fear that crossed his face and he frowned. He recognized her. How? Aside from her eyes, she was entirely covered and he couldn’t see her eyes from there. They were dark brown, they didn't stand out.
“...Natsuki Subaru,” One of the swordsmen said.
“How does he see us? No one else sees us. Do they?” The other asked frantically.
“He sensed our gazes,” An assassin said in disbelief.
Crap. This was bad. THIS WAS SO BAD. It was bad enough that he was back, his existence would cause an uproar in the nation. No wonder he was kept a secret. He was still visibly injured too, were his injuries permanent? How was he here? Was he in hiding for a year? That didn’t make sense but what other possibility was there?
He broke eye contact with Jedret and the cultists discussed what to do, but Jedret’s eyes didn’t leave the window; she was stunned. And then Jedret saw some tiny purple shards fly by the window with a crash before he walked back and placed a foot on the window as if to jump.
“SPIES WEST OF THE MANSION! I'M FOLLOWING THEM NOW!” Subaru shouted. There was a loud roar of protest from multiple voices within the mansion but Subaru had already jumped, weightlessly flying (or floating?) towards the cultists.
“Goa!” one of the mages shouts, flames burn at his fingertips before a fireball is launched at the one whose execution started all of this. Jedret wanted to stop him but only did she realize that it would blow her cover but also if Subaru didn’t die here, then knowledge of his return could destroy Lugunica and everyone’s efforts would go to waste. Everyone but the Witch Cult.
But as the fire grew closer to Subaru. The space suddenly warped around him. Subaru went in one direction and the fireball flew wide.
“El Minya!” Subaru held his hand to his chest, forming 40 purple crystal stakes around him. With a thrust of his hand, the crystals flew in front of himself and towards the cultist group.
They all jumped out of the trees that were hiding in. Landing on the ground safely, they heard the crystals shatter above. Looking up, the branches and leaves of the tree turned into beautiful translucent crystals. Which promptly rained down at Jedret as Subaru crashed into and passed them.
“So whatever gets hit by the crystals turns into brittle crystals. I'm lucky it doesn't spread. If we get hit by the original shards, we might simply die on impact.” Jedret noted.
Subaru went flying through the crystals and into another tree. Only stopping there because he managed to catch himself on a branch and managing to absorb most of the impact with his body,and even then it was barely. One of the spirits from the spirit user sent a blade of wind at Subaru. Seeing the wind spirit glow, Subaru knew what was coming and quickly tried to jump but messed up his footing, ending up a fraction of a second too slow and ending up with a nasty and bloody gash at the side of his head above his right ear. One of the assassins split from the group, whether to hide for an attack or run, Jedret never found out.
“Minya!” Undeterred by the blood dripping down the side of his head, Subaru cast another Minya spell at the retreating assassin, the crystals around him were dodged easily but then… they fell to the ground… And shattered into crystal. Jedret saw a flash of darkness fly away in an instant.
“What was that? A person? Magic? Or just an illusion of the crystals? They do seem to be reflecting light strangely.” Jedret wondered, but then she heard the sound of footsteps from behind. Many, many footsteps. Right, Subaru had called for back-up.
“Retreat!” A swordsman ordered.
“Right, only he can follow us. And seeing how he’s acting, he will.” Jedret thought in equal parts horror and sureness.
This could only end two ways. Either Subaru died or he managed to kill every cultist here, including her. Those were the only two ways that a war, or the worsening of the war, could be avoided. Regardless, Subaru’s allies were non-factors unless the cloaks were removed. She hadn’t believed in them before but now she was somehow wishing that the cloaks were less effective, her own life notwithstanding.
Within the Witchbeast-Infested Forest
They all delved deeper into the forest as Jedret prayed that Subaru didn’t lose track of them. For a few dreadful moments, she feared that he might have but every few seconds, Subaru would appear in the trees again, readjusting his footing or grabbing a branch to stabilize himself. He just wasn’t not engaging them. He wasn’t quite predicting them, not quite tracking them but just knew where they were going. But then, for a full minute, he just stopped appearing.
“Hold it!” Jedret ordered, as the remaining cultists stopped. “He’s gone.”
“So?!” One of the mages asked. Despite the cloak that covered their face, smiling sadistically. “That’s good. We got what we wanted, let’s report back.”
Jedret tried to grasp for words but none came to mind. Those were her instructions, she had no excuses to avoid continuing. But if they did, then the kingdom was doomed. Jedret’s sword shifted in her hand. Could she risk it? She could kill two or three of them by surprise but after that… But was it her only option? If Subaru lost track of them, he wouldn’t find them again. So she steeled her res-
“Minya!” Subaru shouted again, once he had brought his hand to his chest.
Jedret stifled a sigh of relief before her face twisted in confusion. The voice came from ahead of them? If he kept track of them then yeah, he could get ahead of them but how would he manage that without knowing where they were looking? And why go ahead if he couldn’t effectively block them. And if he could block them then why hadn’t he when they began the altercation?
Regardless, crystals appeared at his sides once more and with a thrust of his hand, sent them flying towards the entirety of their formation.
“Dona!” One of the mages called out, creating a wall of stone in front of the crystals that… crumbled before impact? “What? DONA! DONA!”
The assassins immediately retreated to the back of the formation, unwilling to attempt a retreating maneuver like the assassin before. The swordsmen slashed at the crystals that came near them and dodged with footwork worthy of Kingdom's knights. The spirit user cast a barrier of flames around Jedret, the mage she was talking to and the assassins with their fire spirit.
When the flames dissipated, Jedret was shocked to see Subaru gone once again and the mage that had gone unprotected, turned to crystal. What had happened to the wall? And what happened to their magic after that?
“Where did he go?” The final mage ordered.
A swordsman grunted. “Don’t know. He just jumped off into the forest again. I think he's getting tired.”
“Tired? It’s been less than 5 minutes.” Jedret pointed out.
“Maybe Yin spells cost a lot of mana.” The spiritualist suggested.
“So he’s a Yin magic user. I thought his gate was destroyed. He doesn’t seem to be with the Great Spirit of Yin so what’s going on? Is this why he was gone for a year? But he’s so clumsy…” Jedret thought, remembering how Subaru had tripped and was forced to stop so often when he was following them despite being weightless. It was as if he had only vaguely knew how to balance himself in the trees but he used to be so agile from the stories; even before he became a knight. Even if the stories are exaggerated, he should at least be able to do this.
“Keep an eye out for him anyways.” Jedret suggested, Subaru would be able track them more easily if they did and Subaru didn’t seem to have any intention of attacking from the shadows. He’s been very direct for some reason, was he planning something?
The cultists moved slower but still quickly through the forest. Subaru seemed to stop attacking but then he reappeared in front of them, not even in the trees, just kneeling on the ground with two fistfuls of dirt that he had clearly just collected. Was he playing mind-games? For the first time during the encounter, Jedret noticed a whip that he had holstered on his side. It had been there the entire time, she was certain, but only now did she notice it. The two swordsmen didn’t hesitate to attack him despite that though.
“You’re done!”
“Die once again, Natsuki Subaru.”
Subaru smiled slightly yet bitterly. “Not yet…”
The world was then covered in darkness⁽²⁾. A cloud of smoke extended outward from the sky, blotting out the sun. Jedret heard sword swings through the darkness but didn’t hear the impact beyond the sound of the air rippling but judging by the confused noises, they had lost him.
Jedret looked up at the sky and nodded, understanding what had happened despite her limited knowledge of the rare Yin affinity. Somehow Subaru had casted Shamak in the air to blot out the sun without being near the center of where he cast it, nor speaking the spell into existence. “Clever, I remember hearing that he used this spell against Julius in their duel. It was ineffective so instead of using it to remove senses, he just blew out the lights themselves. I have no idea how he did it but he did it.”
“Minya.” Subaru said, revealing his location to be above floating them as the crystals’ light shone on him gently in the darkness, masking him in an ominous purple. The gash that he had on the side of head was bleeding even more somehow and was now covering his ear, causing both of them to shine even more than the rest of his body. Wait. Squinting her eyes, Jedret looked closer at him. He had his hands open.
“Agh!”
“My eyes!”
Subaru had dropped the dirt into the swordsmen’s eyes when they looked up. And then grabbed his whip with his right hand as he thrust his left hand from his chest to the swordsmen. The last mage tried to move towards them to defend but was interrupted by a clumsy crack of the whip. Subaru had swung the whip directly in front of them, giving them pause and preventing them from reaching in time. The swordsmen were already crystal.
Suddenly, two new lights appeared. The fire and wind spirit that the spiritualist was using. They swirled together and a sense of dread filled Jedret’s heart as she realized what was happening. They were casting a spell that Julius, the kingdom’s former ‘Finest of Knights’ had used with his own spirits. Before, they used fire to fuel wind magic to destroy the mansion windows. Now they would fuel fire with the wind magic.
“Ul Gola.” The spirit user stated stoically.
And in the tornado of new light, flame and wind combined. Even in the darkness, the aim held true and Subaru’s face lit up one final time…
With a smile?
Suddenly, the tornado of wind and flame dissipated just before it would have reached Subaru, seemingly being blocked(or maybe absorbed?) by a black, no, an extremely dark sphere of light (sphere of dark light?) ⁽³⁾ that appeared in front of him as an even darker sphere of light, if it could be called light, appeared behind that.
“A spirit?” The spirit user gasped.
Jedret’s eyes widened in realization. “He has a different spirit. That’s how he was tracking us.”
The light was starting to return to the world as the smoke cleared in the wind, dissipating into normal mana. One of the assassins reached into their cloaks as Subaru grasped his whip. Whatever spell he’d cast to make himself weightless didn’t allow him to float endlessly and he hadn’t jumped more than 15 metres high so he floated back to the ground. Just before he could actually reach the floor however, the assassin that reached into their cloak pulled out throwing needles and at the same Subaru swung his whip.
Subaru clearly was not very adept at this weapon, if was once then he wasn’t any longer, despite that his clumsy swing intercepted two of the four needles, causing them to veer off-target. The last two hit him. Twisting his head and raising his free hand in a calculated but too slow motion, he managed to avoid death but one of the needles pierced through his left hand, embedding itself firmly within it. The other needle pierced THROUGH his left eye socket, just barely not striking his eye. The needle only stopped once it pierced through his cheek bone. In total, there were three sickening cracks; One from the bones in his hand shattering, another from his eye socket bone fracturing and one more for his cheekbone being pierced through. Now the needle had embedded itself just below his eye and through his cheek. His eyelid was half-closed but prevented from fully closing. The damage rendered the eye itself covered in blood and beyond useless in this fight but at least the damage didn't strike any vital organs.
“Tch!” Subaru scoffed. It was honestly a miracle that he could stop at scoffing. He was pierced through to an extent that most would be out of commission from pain alone but the needles still moved within the hand and his skull, and only partially stopped the bleeding. Unless Subaru couldn’t feel pain, that had to be painful. But he visibly could feel pain seeing as he was breathing with more force than he was before. He was hurt and tired.
Both sides of the head were bleeding now. And Subaru didn’t have time to even hold his eye. On the same side that his new blindspot and pierced hand were at, the assassin that hadn’t thrown the needles was rushing in from behind him. However, Subaru noticed them regardless, their spirit likely warning him.
“Minya!” Subaru called out, creating crystals between them. That caused the cultist to back off for a moment. Before rushing back in at a different angle.
“Right, he can only send the crystals after throwing his hand in that direction, he can't do that from behind.” Jedret thought, before all of the crystals were sent backwards and struck the cultist anyways. That caused the momentum from the assassin's run to send their crystalized body into Subaru, shattering instantly and sending shards into his exposed wounds. “Or not? What’s happening?”
At the moment that the crystalized cultist crashed into Subaru, he flinched back as though he had been struck by a powerful spell. The needles and magic that he had been struck with had barely caused him to flinch. His pain tolerance was clearly higher than his stamina. Actually, no. This wasn’t about stamina, although his stamina still was poor.
He was terrified. His breathing changed all of a sudden, he looked paler. He was shaking. His hand was clutching at his heart as if to rip it out; what's more was that he had dropped his whip to do so since his other hand, which still had the needle within, was compromised. Subaru was undeniably scared. But of what? What set him off? Was it the cultist crashing into him? Why? He was handling everything else just fine.
“Al Goa!” The mage called out, now bleeding from their eye sockets, they had burned their Od itself to cast that spell and make it as powerful as possible, the only thing on their mind to kill that damned Spirit Knight. Flame joined flame joined flame as a giant fireball that would soon threaten to burn the entire vicinity, cultists and all, formed above their head and grew and grew.
And stopped in an instant as a dome of a dark purple light surrounded the cultist all of a sudden as Subaru's new spirit could be seen just to the outside, its form dark purple and strangely unnatural. Inside the dome, nothing had changed but now the fire was gone, the mana used to create what would have become bullets now unable to form into one coherent attack. The dome disappeared.
“You!” The bleeding cultist extended his hands towards the spirit in a rage, he wouldn’t have been able to touch them anyways but the spirit cast a Minya spell regardless, only creating a single crystal but it was enough for the cultist to crystalize.
Subaru had killed almost every cultist. Jedret, who was formerly ready to attack the cultists herself, could not move from the very moment he began his attack. She had been too amazed and confused by the combat that she didn’t know what to do and could only understand how the fight had progressed in hindsight despite it not being over.
She was out of her depth. She had only just realized how ultimately pointless her betrayal of the Kingdom was. She was too weak to make a difference, whether as a Knight or Cultist. She was powerless.
And yet, she couldn’t stop smiling. Now she truly understood why his death had caused such an uproar.
Subaru looked up as the wind and fire quasi-spirit circled each other directly in front of him. Heat emanated from it as the spirits intended to kill him in a single move. The attack would be too close to dodge not that Subaru was in any state to dodge. He could barely move.
“No more tricks,” The spiritualist announced as the final assassin dashed towards him while he was short of breath.
But then… he looked up. Not at the cultists but rather, he looked through them. As if there was something of interest behind them. And his eyes steeled over as his scary eyes felt as though they would burn through the assassin with his gaze alone. Subaru smiled, still bleeding from his eye, hand and head. With all of his wounds, he looked terrifying.
His spirit moved with a quickness that Jedret had only seen in the Royal Guard and those stronger. But… the spirit moved away from Subaru and behind the spirit user… and cast a screen of light. But that spell was only used to stop magic attacks. So what was it blocking?
The final three cultists’ eyes widened as Subaru grasped the fire and wind spirit in his hand. The same hand that still had the needle within it as the other clutched his chest. His blood sizzled and boiled in the fire and wind. The spell was about to be formed and he was literally grabbing it at the source. And he smiled even wider than before.
“How about one more trick?” Subaru said as the spirits began to shake and glow brighter. The spirit user’s eyes widened as he yelled at his spirits to stop.
Jedret ducked, dropping her sword.
And the spirits exploded. Od and all⁽⁴⁾. Subaru somehow redirected the blast towards the stunned spirit user and the assassin. They were incinerated in an instant. THe only reason that it didn’t destroy the forest was because his spirit stopped the mana from going further. An impressive display of trust.
Jedret was barely spared from the wrath of the spiritual explosion beam. However, the heat and wind still burnt away her cloak, leaving her in a Knight’s uniform that now felt too big for her to fill somehow. Even her sword was blown away.
How ironic.
Jedret had already realized that she was dead. As soon as her cloak burned off, she would have been found by any of the Emilia camp that managed to find her. It didn’t matter if she killed Subaru or not. Not that she had any intention of doing so. She never even had the opportunity to do so.
Subaru was now looking at his now pierced, burnt, cut and partially cauterized hand. Part of his tracksuit was now burnt off and his arm was also burnt badly and cut up, Whatever spell he used to survive and redirect the explosion was not absolute⁽⁵⁾. Then he looked down at the ‘knight’.
“Hello Jedret.”
Jedret choked on her own breath. “You… you know my name?”
“You have a particular stance. Also, I know how it feels when people forget your name.” Subaru said dryly.
“Agh…” Jedret managed to choke out once again, seeing the double meaning behind his words
Subaru smiled slightly looking at the Gospel that now lay on the floor behind her once it was caught up in the blast. Somehow, the cloak had protected it from burning up entirely. “So… you’re part of the Witch Cult now.”
“I don’t know how you can look upon me and smile.” Jedret managed. “Especially as one of your… ‘interrogators.’”
“Eh, you were one of the better ones. At least I wasn't under risk of death with you. Which is actually more than I can say for almost everyone else. Even Reinhard struggled to tell how injured I really was.”
The look of horror when Subaru said things like that was always the same, even if Subaru could currently see properly out of one eye. “That’s horrible.”
“So I’ve been told.”
Jedret slowly picked herself up. “I… would like to apologize but I have no reason to be forgiven. So… please kill me.”
Subaru’s eyebrows furrowed. “You want me to kill you?”
“Well, if I go back now then I’ll be killed by the Witch Cult. If I don’t die here then I’ll just die there. I’m dead regardless,” Jedret took a half-kneel in front of Subaru and bowed her head. “It would be an honor but admittedly more than I deserve to be killed by you.”
“Why me?” Subaru asked, not bothering to refute or even understand her words, “Why not the other Royal Guards? Why not Julius or Ferris? Why me?”
Jedret didn’t look up. “You are the only one that I believe can overturn the Witch Cult and save Lugunica. Everyone else has failed, you were executed. And clearly, you have not been back for long but your return has shown me that you possess the necessary tenacity to face the cult. If you cannot then they certainly can’t and I can do even less.”
Jedret had time to process what had happened in combat and she had finally figured out what had happened. She understood how Subaru won and she could not help but entirely respect it.
Subaru had set a rhythm from the beginning of the encounter. He always attacked head-on while he left his spirit to track the cultists and weaken their defenses. The Yin spirit killed the retreating assassin with a Minya spell while Subaru distracted them. It stopped the defense of the mages, allowing them to be killed. The smoke and dirt were used to blind and disorient the two swordsmen. The telegraphed attacks had tricked the assassin that attacked from behind. And he had somehow managed to kill the final assassin and spiritualist with their own spirits
Subaru at the moment was clumsy to the point that he was only able to move effectively when he was on flat ground and using a spell to make himself weightless. He got tired easily. Even now, despite his mana not being drained enough to hurt himself, he was hunched over with his heart being clutched. He wasn’t skilled, the most he could do was swing his whip in a simple attack, not even a particularly accurate attack.
Yet he had outsmarted them. He outsmarted them so thoroughly that, despite being weaker and less skilled than any of his opponents even individually, he was only injured, although badly and every one of the enemies that attacked him was dead. Yet he had the judgement to spare Jedret, at least for a short time.
Subaru was perhaps too kind and inept in all things relating to the body but Jedret could tell that the latter was simply due to not being able to move for some time, her training as a knight able to tell her that he wasn’t even partly in top condition.
“I believe your opinion of me is overinflated. But I’ve received quite a few extreme judgements recently so perhaps I’m the only person in the wrong,” Subaru admitted. “However, you are certainly incorrect about one thing. Raise your head.”
As soon as Jedret obeyed, Subaru threw a loop of his whip around her neck and it suddenly tightened, something grabbing the end from behind her, likely his spirit.
“As kni- No… wait.” Subaru paused and thought about his next words before continuing, “As the former knight of the former Royal Selection Candidate, Emilia, I apprehend you on behalf of the kingdom. The camp will personally hold you as a prisoner of the Witch Cult.”⁽⁶⁾
Jedret’s eyes widened all of a sudden, surely not.. Surely this was an illusion and she had failed her mission. She’d already accepted her death. People like her didn’t deserve a second chance, not even in death.
“If you want to repent, do it correctly.” Subaru ordered, and tightened the whip further.
Jedret would like to think that she thanked him. But she fainted before another memory could form in her mind.
Subaru smiled, looking around at the crystals on the ground. He threw his hands up into the air, careful not to disturb the needles that were now embedded within his body, and shouted as loudly as his lungs would allow. “VICTORRRYYYYYY!”
Fight Won!
Participants: Subaru, Cancri vs. 8 cultists and Jedret.
Loops Taken: 0
Casualties: 8 cultist deaths. Jedret was captured. Subaru’s left eye socket was fractured. Subaru’s cheekbone was pierced. Subaru’s left hand was pierced. Subaru’s scalp was slashed. Subaru’s left arm was burnt and cut.
(1) Subaru is still wearing a Cognitive Disruption tracksuit. It’s still hard to notice him, especially if he’s far away. Hence why no allies found him during the fight even filled the sky with smoke.
(2) Deltarune Reference.
(3) It’s EMT or now simply, ‘Absolute Negation Magic.’ Cancri has been adjusting the size and shape of the magic for the entire fight to avoid detection.
(4) I admit, I was tempted to add them to Subaru’s spirits. But no, I said Subaru’s emotions have killed spirits and now here they are. Killing spirits. I have to commit.
(5) It’s EMM or now simply, ‘Absolute Defense Magic.’ Cupping his hand forced the explosion in a specific direction
(6) Subaru is trying to sound like a knight would when apprehending a person (him). Of course he did paraphrase for his own context.