The trio found themselves now parked in front of the loot house. Their journey had taken slightly longer then expected as Felt began to feel carsick halfway there, and Subaru and her had to trade spots in order to feel better.
The sun was beginning to set in the sky and everything was being illuminated in a hue of orange and pink.
Subaru and Felt exited the car and headed towards the loot house before turning back to see YN remaining in the car.
Subaru gave YN a tilted head look with a raised brow, and YN replied with a shrug.
Subaru: You're not... you're not coming in?
YN: Naw, someone's gotta watch the car.
Subaru: I see, well, a look out would be appreciated.
YN: That I can do.
Subaru walked over to his window and said in a low voice so Felt couldn't hear.
Subaru: I'll just say it... *sigh*
Subaru's face turned to one that was rather serious, with a tone of voice to match.
Subaru: If you see a woman with dark hair dressed in black, just drive away, run. She'll kill us all.
YN gave Subaru a startled look followed by a serious expression.
YN: That bad huh? What's the deal with her?
Subaru: She's the one who put Felt up to stealing what I'm after. If I can't get a deal finalized before she shows up, we'll be in big trouble.
YN couldn't think of anything to say. He had no weapons of his own on this trip and probably didn't have fighting skills to hold his own against most folks in this world.
Subaru and Felt walked to loot house door and disappeared inside.
YN moved and parked down the street from loot house. He had retrieved a pair of cheap binoculars from his belongings in the trunk, and watched the loot house from afar. It was around this time he wished he could have some way to communicate with Subaru should he spot something.
YN set down the binoculars when he noticed something in his rear view mirror.
A girl with silver hair and elf ears. Only this time she was walking down the road, outside of his car and not in the backseat, a welcome change of pace.
YN ducked down in his seat, determined to hide from her should she begin to be hostile. He was positioned in a way he could still see his side mirror as she passed. She passed without giving the foreign vehicle a second glance. YN counted in his head as soon as she was past the car, before leaning back up to peer over the dash.
The white haired girl was walking dead on to the loot house. But how could she know where to go when Subaru and him had to figure it out. Subaru had said something about a loot house on their drive to Felt's shack, but wasn't Felt the one to suggest going to the loot house in the first place? And who was this woman dressed in black he'd been warned about? How did he know anything like that?
YN was puzzled by the order of events, struggling to think that maybe he didn't have everything in line. He remembered that he still had been up for more then twenty hours at this point, and what rest he had before was minimal. Perhaps he was just really beginning to become tired?
During his mental monologue, he noticed the silver haired girl enter the loot house through the font door.
YN put the binoculars back up to his eyes to see if he could see inside the loot house but couldn't recognize anything from this angle.
He decided he needed to get closer for proper recon. All parties were now in attendance for... well whatever they were all after. And there was no sign of a woman dressed in black.
YN walked around the backside of the building he left his car next to and from there made an approach to the loot house. Walking up, he could see shimmering flashes of lights coming from the window. Sidestepping with his back against the wall to peek though the side of the building.
It was there he saw the drama unfolding inside. The silver haired girl stood resolute by the door, hands raised, and at her command large crystals of ice formed and launched at a figure that seemed to move in inhuman ways.
What caught YN's attention more then anything though was Subaru yelling at the top of his lungs.
Subaru: PUCK! SHIELD!!
As soon as he had said that a dark figure collided with the silver haired girl, but right before impact a wall of white, like a giant snowflake, guarded the girl.
And from out of the confusion, a small, gray cat like figure emerged, floating above the girl. The entity smiled and waved to Subaru.
What? YN thought. The longer this escapade goes on the more questions arise then get answered, especially in regards to Subaru's knowledge of events to come and how he reacts to things.
YN was determined to ask Subaru this now. He knew it wasn't just him being tired. Perhaps Subaru was using my obvious drowsiness to dissuade me from getting any funny ideas.
He figured though it all however though, Subaru hadn't lied. He was at best stretching the truth. Nonetheless, if YN was going to work with Subaru, the only person he could to relate to in this world, he would need a full explanation from him about these oh-so-too-many happenstances.
That however, wasn't the main priority as of right now, but rather, the battle raging inside was.
YN was shocked to see the scene unfolding on the inside. That very same cat was now also shooting ice crystals. After several volleys, it had appeared to have finally stuck the black figure jumping about the room. Before he could get a good look at the figure, a glimpse of Subaru, Felt, and a rather gargantuan man in the corner of the room stole his attention. All before a wall of ice blocked them from view.
YN: D-did they get it? I don't see that black figure anymore—
YN stopped his outside thoughts when the figure re-materialized between his window view and the wall of ice.
It was a woman. A woman with black hair in a single braid, a woman dressed in black...
Subaru was right again.. but how?
With some unheard words from behind the glass of the window, the floating cat retreated, leaving only the silver haired girl.
YN continued to observe the fight, awestruck by what he saw.
With only a few tactile guards by the silver haired girl, the woman in black had managed to overpower her and launch her behind a counter in the store.
I have to help. YN's mind groaned —but what good can I possibly do?
YN thought hard about what he had at his disposal.
It's not like I thought I'd have to fight on this trip! I didn't bring anything I could use as a weapon. YN wracked his mind for ideas.
Could he use the car? No, the car was far too small to have the inertia to carry itself through a wooden wall and still have any power to strike this woman. YN thought and thought and thought, his vision not being able to take itself off the fight.
The gargantuan man tried his club at the woman in black. With only getting a few unsuccessful swings, he was quickly dispatched by her knife work, but not before Felt launched her sword to parry the blow. She had perhaps saved him a lethal blow, but he was seriously injured and taken out. With this exchange, the silver haired girl had gotten back and up and continued the fight.
Fighting head on doesn't seem to work YN began to ponder. Someone has to have an element of surprise, but who—
YN realized there was one element she wasn't aware of.
YN: Me...
YN was determined to find an opening, but he still needed a weapon.
He peered back into the window, scanning the floor by the door for a sword, a knife, a club, a fork... Anything. But there was nothing but ruble from their fighting.
It was then that YN heard something drop from behind him, his adrenaline punching, he turned and fell against the wall of the loot house in surprise. Making her escape as her silhouette ran against the moons gentle light, Felt had abandoned the loot house and the fight inside.
YN determined what he needed to do was dire. He was done being an observer. He opened the door to the loot house. Stepping in, YN was surprised to see Subaru gesturing the giant's club at the woman in black, before taking a lunge at her.
With that they began a desperate skirmish.
Subaru was saved by a few choice slashes thanks to the silver haired girls precision shots of ice countering the woman in black's blade. With this, the woman changed her position in the fight, swaying side to side, keeping Subaru's back to the silver haired girl, making her shots more difficult to hit without possibly hitting Subaru.
YN balled his fist, waiting for his time to strike. He had to make this count. He thought about his foot work, he needed to reach the woman in black on the correct foot to give the maximum impact of his fist and put his entire weight into it.
Subaru, in the midst of his fight was about to come to one final blow with the woman. He reached up with the club to bring it down upon her, but instead chose to go for a face-kick, which the woman had caught easily.
YN knew from the position of both candidates, this was the moment he'd been waiting for. YN began his charge, fist tight, counting his footsteps, calculating when to swing, aiming for the back of her head. Subaru and the woman in blacks angle to one another from the silver haired girl made it extremely risky to engage with more ice, but it was a choice angle for a sucker punch.
YN dashed past the silver haired girl, causing her hair to sway with the wake of the wind. She couldn't understand who or what had just gone by. Subaru's attention was taken by the knife coming down from the woman in blacks hand held above her head, ready to amputate his leg.
One footstep away from showing her what a freight train felt like, YN charged forward. His adrenaline was pumping harder then he could ever remember it, he felt he could punch through steel.
But behind his adrenaline, he felt another force, propelling him forward. He didn't have time to ponder what that could possibly be, but this was the footstep, perfectly time and distanced. He had the momentum. He had the adrenaline. He had the angle. And most importantly, he had the element of surprise.
YN had practically rolled a perfect nat twenty.
As soon as YN launched his arm forward, a full send of all of his limited power, his eyes locked with Subaru.
Subaru had just noticed him, and time seemed to slowed down. No sooner then Subaru's eyes turned back to the woman's, her entire head had already turned to meet YNs eyes, a smile on her face.
In the blink of an eye, the woman had released Subaru's foot and sidestepped away, as if she was given a premonition of YN's attempted strike.
With YN's fist flying forward with nothing to stop it, it continued, shifting his entire weight far to forward, causing a massive shift in his center of mass and a sporadic change in motion for his inertia.
Needless to say, he was falling from losing his balance.
YN slammed into Subaru's still extended leg, bringing him in ward towards him, causing their heads to collide side to side before falling to the ground. Sitting back up, YN and Subaru both groaned and grabbed their heads.
YN: Ooohh that's smart...
Subaru: Ehhhhh, I gotta give you points for style but your delivery was way off.
Silver haired girl: Now's not the time!
Woman in black: I've grown rather tired of this. First one gets away and another enters the fray. I'm finishing this now—
Just as she began to lunge at the two holding their heads on the ground with her knife, something, or rather someone, propelled themselves through the roof of the loot house and between them and the woman in black.
Subaru: Reinhard!
And so began round two of the loot house melee.
***
During their fight, Reinhard had introduced himself to the woman in black, who had been determined to be 'from the northern provinces,' and was famously known as 'The Bowel Hunter, Elsa Granhiert.' In the midst of their parlay, Reinhard's sword at his hip had refused to be drawn, instead, he was forced to use a sword that was laying at his feet, knocked off its rack among all the fighting and destruction in the loot house.
The silver haired girl had rushed over to the fallen giant, where YN had snatched some cloth from the debris and was trying to keep pressure on the man's wound.
Girl: I need you to move so I can heal him.
YN: Are you crazy?! I've got some of the bleeding down but if I let up now he'll start gushing again.
Girl: Good, now let me take over then.
YN: No! Unless you plan to stitch close the wound I-
Subaru couldn't take them bickering at a moment like this and intervened.
Subaru: I really think you should listen to her!
Girl: That's right.
Her hand began to glow a deep blue color.
Girl: You only have the means to treat him, I have the skills to heal him.
As much as it tore YN to do it, he let up on the wound and let the girl have her way with this. He could only tell it was some sort of healing, magic based, something be hasn't realized existed in this world.
YN and Subaru watched as the wound began to close.
Subaru: So, will Reinhard really be able to defeat Elsa?
The girl shook her head 'no' while still preforming her magic.
Girl: He hasn't even gotten serious yet. If he were, he would have sucked all the mana out of the air and I couldn't heal this man at all then.
YN: That strong, huh?
Girl: Give him the signal on my queue after the wound closes.
A few moments more of healing and the wound was back to normal flesh and skin.
Subaru: Alright, Reinhard! Let her have it.
Reinhard: Will do. Thank you.
Reinhard lifted his sword and began charging his strike, the entire loot house began to rumble with mana rushing in.
Feeling the mana wash over good his body, YN began to feel very weak and heavy. His breathing became heavy and shallow, unable to get a deep breath in, his knees began to buckle.
D-Did Elsa poison me? She hasn't used anything like that yet but— YN thought, but in midst of it, he collapsed backwards, trying to fall down to one knee, he found himself on the ground, back against the wall. The silver haired girl's attention was only brought off Reinhard's display of power by YN's coughing and wheezing. She crossed Subaru's line of sight to bend down to YN's level.
Girl: Hey! What's wrong? Why are you over here acting like you can't breath?
YN's head was tilted down until the girl lifted it up so she could see. The girl gasped.
Bloodshot eyes stared right through her.
At this point, even Subaru was concerned enough to take his eyes off the soon-to-be final blow of the fight at hand, and step over.
Subaru: Hey what's going on?!
The girl returned a look to him and explained:
Girl: He's lost all of his mana somehow! It's like his gate was opened up and began to pour out everything to his Od as soon as Reinhard began gathering mana...
The girl stared in disbelief.
Why did this happen? This shouldn't happen! She thought to herself.
Girl: Reinhard! Hurry and attack! We've got another problem over here!
Reinhard, at those words launched his attack, sending the entire structure of the loot house into low orbit with just the swing of his blade.
The three in the back of the loot house; the girl, Subaru, and YN found themselves in what was now a moon lit patio decorated with rubble. The colder outside air filled their lungs as they could only breath and observe the destruction, one noise broke the silence
YN: *GAAAAASSSPPP*
YN rocketed up to standing position, sucking in wind and life force that could now return to him.
YN: *Pant* Nothing like, *pant* drowning in mana, *pant* to really wake you up *pant*.
The silver haired girl turned towards YN and put a hand to her chest, giving him a shake of her head.
Girl: Not quite. It's more like you were suffocating from lack of mana. That's what Reinhard's attack does, it takes all the mana in the air, and that's why I needed you to let me heal that man, so Reinhard could fight.
YN simply looked down at his trembling hands, slightly stained still from holding the cloth on the giant's wound.
YN: I see
With their exchange, the girl thanked Subaru and YN for risking their lives to retrieve her pendant and Subaru asked for his reward to be knowing the girl's name, which was Emilia.
No sooner then that, Elsa lunged out from behind a pile of rubble, taken to going straight for Emilia, but with quick movement, Subaru used the club from before to block her strike, and with that, Elsa vowed her revenge and retreated into the cover of the night.
However, Elsa's strike had a delayed effect on Subaru's gut, creating a nasty gash, where he passed out.
Emilia immediately set about healing Subaru, and after he was stabilized, her and Reinhard spoke, and he took Felt with him as "punishment" for her thievery against Emilia.
The giant, who everyone referred to as "Old Man Rom" remained passed out, but otherwise healed and stable.
With Reinhard and Felt's departure, the only two left standing and conscious were YN and Emilia. YN informed Emilia of that days event, but not of his and Subaru's shared origin, but did tell her of his "car" that held his belongings and that she had walked right by him on her way to the loot house.
They had only been speaking for a few minutes before YN abruptly changed the topic as he collapsed to one knee.
YN: I'm really sorry but it looks like I'm gunna have to drift off to sleepy land now.
Emilia turned and blinked twice, surprised.
Emilia: Wha-what? Why so abruptly??
YN looked down at his hand, shaking more now then before and opened and closed it a few times before responding.
YN: When I ran into Subaru this morning, I had already been up for almost an entire day, and now it's been much longer, and all this is being done off of a few poor hours of sleep.
YN slowly stretched out on the ground, ready to slumber where he had just stood.
YN: Between fearing for my life and getting the wind knocked, or I should say 'sucked' right out of me, my adrenaline has already been zapped twice for the extra strength, and I've officially ran out of steam to even keep standing.
His eyes began to close and his voice grew softer.
YN: Sorry I'm leaving you by yourself here like this but, I have a favor to ask.
Emilia expected a request for a reward or money, but what YN asked in his drowsy slurred speech surprised her.
YN: Just do something with my car. Hide it, move it, bring it with, just don't leave it out here to get stolen.
Emilia smiled softly YN and nodded her head.
Emilia: Yes, I can see what I can do.
The half-elf smiled and cast her gaze down to the ground as she continued her agreement.
Emilia: It's the least I can try and do for the strangers who have helped me so much today.
YN: Naw I didn't much. This was all Subaru's idea anyway. I'm just a wayward traveler who was along for the ride.
Emilia: It still takes a good person, a kind person, to accompany a stranger to help another stranger.
Emilia brought a hand to her chest and gazed up to the moon once more, and in a more serious tone, trying to make a serious face to her listener who she knew wasn't looking, asked her question.
Emilia: I'll want to ask why you two knew about this when you both wake up though, about the pendant, Felt-chan, the loot house, all of it.
YN nodded.
YN: Fair enough.
And with that, YN closed his eyes, and let his body begin to be refreshed.
Emilia stared at the two strangers who had come to assist her in her time of need, both of them resting from extreme exhaustion.
She put her hand back to her chest, this time lightly touching her crystal that adorned her neck, the one in which her contracted spirit, Puck, rest.
I wonder, she thought. does he know? I was certain I felt it, but he might have been too tired to notice it. But with my abilities, I'm almost certain he is...
As Emilia stood under the moonlight and reflected on the days happenings, one thought struck her hard enough to get her to wonder it aloud.
Emilia: How am I going to get that 'car' moved?