Chapter 2 - Moving on in the World
"You're Elsa the Bowel Hunter? Just as tactless as the name suggests." Crusch said with a confident grin. She signaled Felix to heal Wilhelm. Felix aided Wilhelm, while Subaru took Felix's place beside her.
"Blood has been spilled, and you worry about tact? Just like any other noble I've seen." Elsa spun her knives, preparing them for fresh meat. "I hope your guts make up for your lack of personality, Karsten," New target acquired.
"I would have preferred my name not be spoken by the likes of you, but," Crusch took a pause and unsheathed her sword. "If that means you won't speak the name of any other, I'll take it."
Subaru's eyes darted from Elsa to Crusch. His legs wanted to give out, as he saw a black aura coming from both sides, which meant a battle was about to begin. He stared at the wound Crusch dealt to Elsa and noticed that it healed slower than before. "So, her healing prevents her from dying? She also took longer to come back the second time she died, so maybe we have to keep killing her until she can't heal anymore?" His confidence in winning was still shaky at best, but he had to try. Subaru leaned in and whispered to Crusch, "Hey, you know she's really strong, right? Are you sure you can handle her?"
"Sure is a weak word, I prefer the word certain," Crusch replied to Subaru's worry. Crusch infused wind magic into her sword and slashed the air in front of her. A blade of wind rushed out, causing dust clouds to spread.
Elsa side-stepped it in an overzealous fashion, in order to mock Crusch. "Is this a joke to you?" Elsa launched herself at Crusch, knife in hand. Crusch held her ground, preparing for the upcoming attacks.
"Red, do something!" Subaru screamed in a panic. He wanted to believe in Crusch's abilities to fight, but after seeing Elsa's fight with Wilhelm, he would rather take the safe option and keep her at long range.
Responding to his request, Red put up a firewall between Elsa and Subaru. It spun around Subaru, looking for praise.
"Thanks, but right now, I have no idea what to do next." Subaru had no plans to defeat Elsa and was doing anything he could to defend against her instead.
Crusch turned towards Subaru. "Offense is the best defense. Have no fear, Natsuki Subaru. I appreciate you thinking about me." She smiled at him, hoping to calm his fear. "Now, you can put down the wall." Crusch stared at the blazing flames, ready for her opponent to appear from it.
The flames withered away. Elsa's cold stare could be seen as the other side of the wall started to become visible. Once the wall was destroyed, all that was left was the bowel hunter, almost as if she was born from the flames of hell.
"Ul Fura!" Crusch shouted the name of the spell. The air around Crusch changed forms. The air was spinning around so fast that it created lethal blades of wind. The blade moved around sporadically, and without proper direction for a few seconds, and then was sent directly towards Elsa.
"Oh, my~ things are getting interesting!" Elsa said before kicking the ground. A piece of the ground lifted upwards and protected Elsa from the devastating strike. The collision sent dust flying everywhere. Elsa camouflaged herself in the dust and started jumping around, trying to find the best place to strike.
"She is hiding in the dust! Stay on guard!" Crusch warned Subaru. Crusch could have blown the dust away, but she didn't have a plan after that. It would be best to respond to Elsa's attacks for now.
The way she spoke reminded him of a true leader. One that is ready to stand their ground and fight. People like that are rare nowadays. Keeping only their interests in mind and avoiding everything else like the plague. That was what society has become.
"Wait, I can still see her aura!" Her silhouette was grey, indicating that she was preparing to attack. There was one thing Subaru noticed about the aura this time. "Wait, her right arm is darkening much faster compared to her other body parts. So, does that mean she is about to attack with her right hand? So, if her legs are darkening, that means she is about to attack!" Subaru thought it would be best to inform Crusch. He waited for her legs to be the type of black he remembered from Wilhelm and then shouted to Crusch.
"Crusch-san! She is going to attack to the left, now!" Subaru said.
Just as he said, Elsa launched herself from the left. The dust dispersed with her speed. Crusch just barely blocked the attack, even with Subaru's help. She charged wind into her blade and pushed Elsa back. She slashed into the air multiple times and accompanying wind blades headed towards Elsa.
"Red, let's help out! Fireball!" A fireball accompanied Crusch's wind blades. Elsa tried to dodge all the upcoming attacks, but one of the wind blades grazed her, causing her to bleed.
"She is getting weaker!" Subaru proclaimed. His fireball hit a building behind Elsa, causing a fire to start around behind her.
"Not much of a Bowel Hunter, huh?" Crusch taunted her opponent. Even after a life or death encounter, she held her confidence in obtaining victory.
"We'll see, Karsten." She appeared behind Crusch, almost as if she teleported. Crusch narrowly blocked and kept her ground. Crusch and Elsa traded blows with each other. Crusch's wind magic was infused into her blade, so every time her sword met Elsa's knife, there was a small wind explosion.
As the battle was raging on, Felix finished up healing Wilhelm. "Old Man Will, you work yourself too hard. Relax, for now, we will handle her." Felix said to reassure Wilhelm.
"I pledged to defeat her, it would be unjust not to do so." Wilhelm tried to convince Felix to let him fight. He clenched his fist, and his muscles tensed up. He knew Felix's nature of wanting people to rest, but it still burdened him.
"No can do. You aren't in perfect condition yet. Stay here and rest. I need to check up on the giant over there." Felix pointed to Rom.
Felix left Wilhelm to rest his leg and walked up to Rom. Felix noticed Emilia trying her best to heal him, and smiled.
"You've been healing him nyow, haven't you? It's not the best I've seen, but you've kept him alive, so I thank you on behalf of all healers. I'll handle it from here." Felix lifted his hands and started his healing on the cut-up giant.
"Oh! Thank you for the praise. I don't deserve it." Emilia stopped her healing and got up. "They're in trouble, aren't they?" Emilia asked Felix about the raging battle between Crusch, Subaru, and Elsa.
"Crusch-sama is the greatest! If she says she'll win, she will. So, you don't have to worry. Any help will be appreciated, though."
Saying nothing else, Emilia ran over to the battle. She wasn't too confident in her abilities without Puck, but she was ready for action.
Meanwhile, the battle between them was going in Crusch's favor.
"Up! Bottom left! Right!" Subaru shouted commands at Crusch, and she replied by blocking in whatever direction he tells her to. Subaru was able to tell the general direction of where Elsa was going to attack based on how dark each part of her body was. So, Subaru acted as the brains, and Crusch acted as the bronze. Even while Elsa was injured, Crusch wasn't fast enough to continually block Elsa's attacks without Subaru.
"You two are partners, huh? My partner seems to have gotten captured. How devastating." Elsa didn't sound as if she cared, but with every word she said, she hit faster and harder.
"She will most likely be tortured," Elsa's attacks pushed Crusch back "neglected," Her attacking speed kept on increasing. "and most importantly... she will feel lonely once again." With her final sentence, she kicked Crusch's sword out of her hand. The wind that emitted from the kick damaged Elsa's foot, but she didn't seem to care.
"Damn it..." Subaru said underneath his breath.
"I'll want to enjoy my meals, but I'll have to eat quickly this time," Elsa said.
Before she could even try to stab Crusch, a blast of icy wind shot at her. Because of Elsa's slow healing, and her injured leg, she wasn't able to dodge the icy wind.
Crusch and Subaru leaped back. They watched as Elsa's lower body froze over. She was now stuck in one position.
"I'm sorry for your lost partner, but you harmed too many people today." Emilia walked toward them and apologized to Elsa about her partner.
"Hahahahaha, don't pretend you know me. None of you could ever imagine the beauty of guts, the warmth of blood. Nobody besides Meili could truly understand me." Elsa laughed manically. She struggled to get out of the ice cage.
"I wouldn't want to in ten thousand years!" Crusch and Subaru said in unison.
"Elsa, you are a murderer and a crazy one at that. So, just stay dead this time." Subaru yelled as she signaled for Red to attack Elsa.
"I told you I'd win, Bowel Hunter." Crusch smugly said. She extended her hand, preparing for one last attack.
"Fireball!"
"Ul Fura!"
Wind and Fire clashed together and fused. The stronger wind attack picked up the fireball and made a fire tornado. Sweat formed on Subaru's face as the powers combined, unleashing a deadly creation. Everybody around the attack had to cover themselves.
All that could be heard was Elsa's laughing as the attack got closer and closer to her. No fear, no sadness, just laughter. The attack finally collided, and the explosion of ice, wind, and fire occurred.
As the dust from the explosion settled, everyone's eyes were on the place of climax. All that remained were the ashes of Elsa.
Felix checked to make sure Rom was ok and then got up, walked towards the climax of the explosion, and inspected the ashes. He picked some of it up and threw it into the air.
"You won, Crusch-Sama. You too, Subaru-Kyuh. She's dead." Felix confirmed Elsa's demise.
"Finally!" Subaru and Felt yelled in unison. Jumping up and down at the defeat of the monster.
"That's what you get for hurting Old Man Rom!" Felt started kicking at her ashes to get some stress off. Subaru looked at her, kind of worried.
"I'm happy she is gone too, but that just makes me feel like her ghost is going to come back and haunt you." Subaru slowly backs away from the ashes to not get cursed. Knowing his luck, he'd get cursed anyway.
"Let's not try to Fear monger now. A triumph in battle deserves nothing but a reward!" Crusch said with confidence. She held her sword high, the blade pointed to the night sky that snuck up on them. Her sword could only represent the hopes of everyone she had carried to victory.
"I got teleported to a random place, was immediately questioned, and then put into a life or death situation. This game is rigged, you know?" Subaru sighed as he rubbed his head. "I have to admit, I like the sound of a reward though!"
"Well, you all fought hard to destroy two threats that were roaming around the world for far too long. I'll give all of you one reward. Feel free to redeem it anytime you wish." Crusch said. If you work hard, shouldn't you be rewarded for it?
"um, well, if you're going to offer," Felt shyly started her sentence. "I kinda need a place where my Old Man, and I can stay." She simply pointed to the destroyed loot house behind her. Felt had a place to stay for herself, but it was only being held up by sticks, and almost doesn't even fit her. Old Man Rom, on the other hand, doesn't have any other place to go, especially for someone his size.
"Mark it as done, young lady." Crusch smiled at her and squatted down to pat her head.
"Hey Hey!" Felt understood this lady was offering her family relief, but she still didn't approve of anyone touching her head. She backed away from her.
"Ah, sorry if I have offended you. Your hair just reminded me of someone from my past. Both of you had the same eyes, and even your tooth sticking out are similar." Crusch apologized for her selfishness.
"Someone from your past? I don't remember much from back then. Sorry if I reminded you of anyone, Crusch-onee-san.
Subaru looked at the conversation with a smile on his face. He had successfully stopped the frozen calamity, figured out how to use his aura for battle, understood Emilia and Wilhelm better, and even reunited with Red.
"Well, Crusch-San, I'm actually in a similar situation to Felt, as you know. So you don't mind if I crashed at your place, right?" Subaru waved his arm in front of his head as a sign of humbleness.
"That's a rather crude way to put it," Crusch shook her head in slight secondhand embarrassment. "I was thinking of requesting something from you." She put her hand on her hip and looked at the night sky for a second. After having calmed down a bit, she continued. "You've impressed me, Natsuki Subaru. You dared lied to me knowing of my divine protection just to help a girl you had no clue about. You seem to have an ability to tell what someone is about to do, more or less. Wilhelm also has a soft spot for you, which is rather rare. With all that said, I would love for you to become our Battle Coordinator. You have potential, and I would love to have it on my side. You will be compensated well." Crusch extended her hand with no hesitation.
Subaru's eyes widened and pointed at himself. "Me?! Battle Coordinator? You have people like Wilhelm or Felix. Hell, Felt might be a better one than me. I would love to accept, but it would only harm you." Subaru looked away from Crusch. His right hand rubbed his other in shame.
"You aren't entirely speaking truth, nor lies. You are correct, many other people would be better than you right now, but I can see it within your eyes. You have the potential to best any other strategist that has come before. So, take my hand, and allow the resources of the Karsten family to shape you into the person you'd dream of becoming." Crusch kept her hand extended, waiting for him to respond.
"Well, if you say it like that, how can I say no? Don't say I didn't warn you if I fail." Subaru extended his arm and meant with Crusch. A handshake that would change the rest of Subaru's life, forever.
"Failure is the only way to success, so I expect you to fail." Crusch let go of his hand and crossed her arm.
"Um, sorry if I'm interrupting your moment, but I have a question for you, uh, Natsumi-san?" Everyone looked in the voice's direction. Emilia stood in her original spot, seemingly unsure of what to do next.
"Well, I've been hearing you be called Subaru. So I was just wondering which name you prefer." Emilia's innocence completely glanced over the actual problem.
Crusch let out a chuckle and finally asked what was on her mind. "Sorry if I ruined a strategy you were trying to do. I wasn't aware of your name change, but I have to ask..." Crusch stared directly at Subaru's eyes with a smug look.
"Why are you dressed as a girl, Natsumi-sama." Crusch finally asked her question.
"Welp, I'm doomed." Subaru accepted the embarrassment he'd probably have for his whole life.
Arc 1 (Emerald Start) - Finished
Arc 2 (The Missing Candidate) - Next
Arc 3 (Feasting on Greed)
Arc 4 (Crimson Eyes of Priestella)
Arc 5 (Pride of Red Head's)
Arc 6 (White Dyed Black)
Arc 7 (The Gang's All Here)
Arc 8 (Here and Back Again)
Next Chapter - Truly Forgotten
Author Notes:
I'll be taking a 1-week break in order to plan out arc 2 properly, finish some side stories/ram one shot, and to relax a bit during summer. I'll be back to the normal schedule on July 26th. (Chapter 8 release date)
2.6k words, not the best I could have done for this chapter, but I feel like I still ended it without being rushed, so I won't add on.
Thank you for all the reviews! I love each of them so much.
Shout out to all of ya'll on wattpad :)
Once again, you guys are outstanding! :)
-TonkaDev