"You...!" Older Subaru said with an angry tone, having flashbacks of the beatdown he received twenty years ago.
The handsome knight tilted his head as he didn't think he would cross paths with him once again.
"It is good to see you again."
"Whatever! What are you even doing here, Julius?"
"...?" Julius was puzzled by this sudden question. "You are the one who brought me here, asking for my help."
"I would ne—!" There was a momentary pause as Older Subaru realized that his young self had asked for this man's help.
He had assumed it would've been Reinhard by the way he described one of the two people he went to ask for, but he didn't ask for further clarification.
'...damn it, young me!'
He closed his eyes as he calmed himself down before he continued the small talk.
"Besides that, what can you even do?"
"Is...that really a question?"
Older Subaru looked at him annoyed, hating that response to his question.
"L-Let's just focus on the task at hand."
As he said this, he turned towards Petelguese's direction as he prepared to continue his fight with the Sin Archbishop.
Julius remained silent for a moment before turning towards Petelguese, surprised that the same Natsuki Subaru he had humiliated many years ago managed to hold his own against the Sin Archbishop.
"Well then, allow me to lend you my sword."
"What? The same sword you used on me?" Older Subaru asked in a condescending tone, showing that he still holds a negative view on the finest knight.
Julius figured that this would be the case though he had hoped Natsuki Subaru wouldn't still harbor that much hate towards him.
He did what he did for his own good, that is the view he has always held...though he can admit now that it was probably harsh the way he went about it. He closed his eyes for a moment before responding to Subaru's question with:
"That situation...it was something that harmed your relationship with Emilia-sama. I do not regret my actions, but I do regret that you weren't there for her when she...perished. My condolences."
"I don't need your pity, not to mention that's like 20 years late!" Older Subaru responded swiftly, hating this...soft side he was seeing.
"My apologies then."
"Are you done?" Petelguese commented, as he found their conversation a bit annoying.
"I'm surprised you just let us have this conversation, Sloth."
"I'm very curious, just how many people need to die to help you on your quest, slothful one?"
Older Subaru gave a death stare at sloth before turning towards the finest knight, understanding that his younger self wouldn't have recruited someone like him for the hell of it.
"Can you do anything about spirits?"
"I've been called the Spirit Knight for a reason, Natsuki Subaru."
As he says this, a few quasi spirits appear right above the finest knight. Seeing this annoyed Subaru for a moment until he noticed Petelguese look with fear in his eyes. This caused him to have a sinister, cheshire cat-like grin on his face.
"What's the matter?" He spoke in a mocking tone.
Petelguese clenched his teeth, not necessarily for the Older Subaru's comment or Julius's arrival but more so towards the quasi-spirits nestling close to him. The madman glared at Older Subaru and spoke with that same anger:
"So this, too, is YOUR doing...! Never before have I been so humiliated...!"
"Now regretting that you didn't kill me all those years ago?"
Petelguese didn't respond to the question but he indeed regretted having not killed the man in front of him when he had the chance twenty years ago.
Older Subaru just smiled mockingly at his opponent, seeing that his promise to Rem to avenge her is about to come true.
Before the fighting commence, Julius took this opportunity to tell him:
"I am the man who beat you terribly all those years ago. Though I swear even now that I had a significant reason for doing so, that is no more than self-righteousness so far as you are concerned. However, I'm not digging up the past in the hopes of washing away the shame. Your resolve is weighty, formed by each decision and action you have taken along the road to this point. Accordingly, I ask you: Can you trust in me?"
"..."
Older Subaru remained silent as he needed a few seconds to think on the question he had been asked.
Although he did hate Julius for what he did to him, it would be hypocritical of him to not put his trust on a knight when he has put his trust on many scummy people since Rem's death...with one of those people being the Bowel Hunter herself.
He sighed before responding:
"I despise you. For sure not as much as before but that feeling won't go away so easily. But I rather have a better chance at killing this madman, so yes, I trust you...you jackass."
Julius nodded at this before the two pointed their swords at the Sin Archbishop of Sloth.
Petelguese looked with anger but before he could even react at this, Al took the chance to sneak attack him just as he let his guard down.
Just as he was about to land a hit, Petelguese just simply exploded with anger as his unseen hands were all shooting around the area.
"Duck!"
Older Subaru warned Julius, prompting the finest knight to listen and duck, managing to avoid one of the unseen hands.
Unfortunately for Al, he was hit in the chest area by one of the unseen hands which sent him flying a few feet away.
Old Man Rom could tell that it was dangerous closing in on the Sin Archbishop, prompting him to keep his distance for now.
While Petelguese was throwing a tantrum, he began to shout in pure rage:
"Do you truly believe this will end me?! This FARCE?! And what will the addition of a single spirit knight do?! It is absurd that any mere spirit could hinder ME, MY path, My love, MY diligence! You all shall fall! I shall tear you all to pieces! I will not allow any of you to escape! For my diligence knows no slothful surrender, nor demise!"
Petelguese continued to go on a rampage, destroying the majority of the area he was in.
Older Subaru and Julius waited until finally the Sin Archbishop had calmed down.
The two got up and without hesitation they charged at him, with Older Subaru being the one in front while the finest knight was behind him.
Sloth noticed this and quickly threw every unseen hand towards the pair.
The Elder Subaru smiled as he began to eliminate each of these unseen hands on his own while the finest knight attempted to close the gap in order to land a fatal blow on the witch cultist.
As he was about to close in on Sloth, Older Subaru noticed one of the unseen hands about to hit Julius on his right side.
"Julius, to your right!"
Julius swung his blade towards his right side, barely managing to destroy the unseen hand.
"What?!"
Petelguese was caught off guard by this all the while Older Subaru ran as fast as he could to protect the spirit knight, knowing that he can't see the unseen hands like himself and his young self.
The Sin Archbishop was displeased with this, seeing that eliminating the Older Natsuki Subaru comes first.
"You shall perish first~DESU!"
"I'd like to see you try, Petelguese!"
Petelguese sent a barrage of unseen hands towards Older Subaru while having a few hold back to protect him from Julius's incoming attacks.
As Julius swung his sword, the barrier of unseen hands caused Julius to be taken aback.
He was suddenly pushed back as all he could see was nothing but the Sin Archbishop focused on Natsuki Subaru.
The finest knight closed his eyes as a rainbow-colored glimmer flashed around him.
"Al Clarista."
Julius swung his rainbow aura sword towards the Sin Archbishop, although he could not see the unseen hands, he was able to tell that he had broken through the invisible barrier.
Petelguese turned his attention back to spirit knight, noticing that he broke his unseen hands barrier.
As he prepared to target Julius, he had failed to notice Old Man Rom returning to the fight.
The giant landed a hit on the Sin Archbishop, sending him flying onto a tree, destroying it on impact.
Old Man Rom felt good landing that hit, considering that he has had to deal with Subaru's bullshit thanks to Sloth.
Petelguese looked at the giant with an intense glare before turning back towards Older Subaru, blaming him for this situation.
"I shall...not...let YOU...!—Ul Doona!"
He spread his arms wide, intoning a spell as he took a counterattack posture.
The next moment, the earth burst upward and stone walls, a mix of boulder fragments and black soil, enclosed the madman on four sides.
Julius and Older Subaru both knew that they weren't going to be able to break through the barrier.
Despite this issue, he knew Old Man Rom's strength and with his spiked club.
"I got this." Old Man Rom said this, figuring that he should be the one to destroy the rock barrier Petelguese made himself.
Before he moved towards the barrier, Older Subaru halted him.
"Hold on, allow me to do this first. Everyone, cover your eyes."
As he warned this to Julius, Old Man Rom, and to Al who was returning back into the fight, he tossed the stone right into the small hole Petelguese made to see what was going on.
"What IS...?"
Petelguese was not aware of what the stone was, Older Subaru closed his eyes as he smiled confidently.
'Night Banisher. The thing that'll lighten the way to victory.'
As he finished his thought, Petelguese looked at the stone, noticing it wasn't a red one.
"Wait..."
Just before he could figure it out, the stone emits a flash of light so strong that it makes even the night as bright as daytime. Subaru, Al, Julius, and Old Man Rom may have their eyes closed, they saw white light scorching through their eyelids.
"I see, so that's your plan."
Julius began to understand Natsuki Subaru's plan. The four waited before the shining light had died down. Once this happened, they looked and could hear Petelguese:
"Ah, ah, ah, ah...My eyes...My eyes..." There was a pause, with Older Subaru and the others hearing that this indeed worked. Petelguese continued, his tone being in pain: "It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts! I can't see anything! Even though I have my eyes open! There's nothing, nothing!"
Petelguese, whose eyes were burned by the powerful light source of the Night Banisher stone, crouched on the ground. Older Subaru turned towards Old Man Rom:
"Let's finish this."
Old Man Rom nodded at Older Subaru before charging in at the barrier the Sin Archbishop had made.
Using all of his strength on his spiked club, he was able to smash down the barrier which allowed both Older Subaru and Julius to go for the finishing move.
"Julius, we better hurry before he tries to possess any of us."
"...understood."
With that warning, Julius knew that they would need to destroy the soul to permanently end the Sin Archbishop of Sloth. As the two were about to stab the witch cultist, Older Subaru had one last thing to say to him:
"This is the end for you, Sin Archbishop of Sloth! You won't be seeing anything anymore!"
Julius's sword along with the Older Natsuki Subaru's weapon, the life sword Zeam, are thrust into Petelguese's chest.
"Bah."
At that moment, Petelguese's body stopped moving.
"Is he...finally dead...?" Older Subaru said hesitantly since he knows that the sword he was wielding was given the mana it needs to eliminate Petelguese prior to the fight happening. Julius noticed what Older Subaru had asked as well as the tone he was asking in.
The two look at the body for a moment before concluding that Sloth was dead.
"Rem..."
Older Subaru dropped his sword as he fell on his knees, feeling an overwhelming amount of emotions.
'I did it...I did it! I finally killed him! I avenged Rem!'
He couldn't help but tear up a bit, having finally reached his goal.
Julius looked at him for a moment, understanding that this fight must've been more truly important for Natsuki Subaru than he originally thought.
He looked back at the corpse of Petelguese.
'I presume this witch cultist was responsible for the death of Emilia-sama.'
That's the only thing that he could think of.
Regardless, it was a big accomplishment though he feels like this should've happened years ago.
Older Subaru looked up at the sky with a smile on his face, feeling at peace at first before feeling something's off.
"What?"
Older Subaru felt something mock the peace his heart wanted, as if this thing was refusing to let him finally fulfill his promise to Rem.
"Ah, Aguustsu...! But ah ah!"
'Why is...?'
As Older Subaru was stunned for a moment, Julius, Al, and Old Man Rom had noticed that something was up with him.
"Natsuki Subaru, is something the manner?"
"You okay, bro?"
"What's the matter with you?"
The three asked, each worried in their own unique way.
It only took them a few seconds before they understood that the Older Natsuki Subaru is no longer himself.
The body of the older Subaru looked with a sadistic expression:
"I'm the Sin Archbishop of the witch's cult, representing Sloth, Petelguese Romani-Conti, bringer of death!"
"tsk."
Julius looked with anger as it seemed their attempts to kill the witch cultist was once again in vain.
'How long? Just how long are you going to cause so much pain to this world?'
The finest knight thought to himself, hating that Petelguese had chosen to possess Natsuki Subaru.
"Subaru, you need to fight it."
As the finest knight said this, the three could see that Older Subaru was able to have some resistance to the witch cultist's attempts of possession.
"G-Get...o-off th-this body...! It's mine!" Older Subaru shouted in frustration and hate, his anger towards the Sin Archbishop having increased even more.
"No! This body is well acclimated to the witch factor...! Not a bad body! In a healthy state, you have enough qualities to be a 'finger'!"
"Sh-Shut up!"
Older Subaru showed that he was fighting off the possession, which caused Old Man Rom to shout at him:
"Come on, you've come this far! Don't let him win."
'After so many years of you hunting this man down, it would be travesty if he won after all the shit you put me through...put yourself through.'
As Old Man Rom shouted this, the Older Subaru continued to use his will power to fight off Petelguese with his first thought being to use the Life Sword only to remember that it needs to be filled with mana if he wants it to work.
This prompted him to think on what is the best course of action in eliminating Petelguese. All his mind can conclude is...to be killed.
"Julius...you're going to have to kill me."
"What?"
The spirit knight was taken aback by this, not expecting Natsuki Subaru to ask such a thing.
"Hold on, there has to be another way."
Despite how long it's been since they last crossed paths, Julius was not about to kill him, especially after having seen how much Natsuki Subaru has suffered.
Before he could say something to the Older Subaru, they all heard another voice speak out to Older Subaru's comment.
"So, nyower gonna let nywerself die just that easily?! After everythin' nyow've done?!"
Older Subaru, Julius, Old Man Rom, and Al all turned towards Felix, all of them having recognized his voice right off the bat.
"Felix..." Julius had not seen his friend in a long time, not since he had suddenly gone insane twenty years ago.
Felix noticed him and was surprised but his emotions were all over the place, mainly focused on the Older Subaru.
He was taking the last remaining wife of the Sin Archbishop of Greed to safety only to end up near the fight with Petelguese.
He had watched everything and wished to join at some points but knows that he can't really offer much other than healing wounds.
Once it reached the end, he felt something was off only to see that his world's Subaru had ended up being possessed.
This pissed Felix off since he's seen everything Older Subaru had gone through to just find Rem's murderer.
("Nyow've got to stop! Nyow already lost an arm!")
("...Not until that bastard dies.")
("I know nyow are hurt about Rem...but nyow will die if nyow continue like this, nya.")
("I can't.")
("Nyow can't...or nyow won't?")
("...")
He remembered that day very clearly, seeing that vengeance in his eyes not going away after the amount of injuries he had received.
That's what makes the cat boy angry at him, he's willing to die just to kill this witch cultist bastard.
Despite showing anger and hatred towards the Older Natsuki Subaru for hiding the fact that he knew the truth about his amnesia and the person missing in his life...he's got to know this Subaru long enough to grow some connection towards him.
He also feels like he's seen what the true Natsuki Subaru could be like after having interacted with the younger Natsuki Subaru.
All this cumulated together is what prompted him to shout out:
"Is this what Rem wanted?! Do nyow want to break that promise to stay alive?!"
("Live...Love...you...")
Those words hurt since it is a reminder of someone that should've still been alive...but they were enough to reinforce his will to survive.
'I won't let your sacrifice be in vain...Rem!'
"You can do it, Subaru-kun!"
The illusion of Rem spoke, causing Older Subaru to quickly think on how he could leave this predicament.
Before Petelguese could take full control, he remembered something his counterpart had mentioned.
("How'd you deal with his possession?" Felix had asked, catching the attention of everyone. Subaru realized he was put on the spot.)
("I got lucky with a specific curse I can't detail.")
'A curse...what curs—?'
It finally hit him, something he hadn't used since Rem's death and the promise of fulfilling her dying wish.
"H-Hey...Sloth...I got something to tell you...jackass..."
"What's your final words...DESU?!"
Older Subaru as he smiled.
"Return by dea—"
Before that sentence could finish, he had brought someone he wasn't fully aware of since he had stopped using the one ability that could've made a difference many years ago.
As time froze around, Subaru could sense that something was up. He hadn't sensed this...uneasy feeling in a while, making him think:
'So, you are relying on her to help out.'
Subaru suspected that possibly Petelguese was possessing his older self and needed to be kicked out without resulting in his counterpart's death.
'Lucky for me that you figured out the hint.'
As he thought this, he remained still as time was beginning to move once again.
It was surreal since the only other time where this had happened with him not having his heart crushed ever so slightly was when he attempted to tell Emilia about Return By Death.
Not a fond memory to think about that moment.
While Subaru with Felt and Reinhard were reaching the others, Older Subaru realized that the world had paused for a moment.
He hadn't felt this since he attempted to reveal Return By Death to Emilia, learning what were the consequences for even attempting to reveal such a thing.
He had forgotten just how damn scary being in the situation though luckily for him, this helped push Petelguese out of his body.
After a few more moments the world seemed to have returned to normal.
'...I fucking hate that.'
As he thought this, he looked around as Julius, Al, and Old Man Rom were on their guard.
"You got a hold of your body, bro?"
"Yeah. Kicked the bastard out."
"Wait, then where did he go?" Old Man Rom questioned to which this would be answered when they heard a weak Petelguese speak:
"...How...can...this...be..."
The four approached the body with Older Subaru picking up the Life Sword.
"I love...love, my love...my love is..."
"He looks broken." Al commented. Not sounding any ounce of sympathy towards the Sin Archbishop.
The others didn't care, especially the Natsuki Subaru of this world since all he wanted more than anything was the Sin Archbishop's death.
"Julius." He spoke with conviction. "Can you eliminate his soul before he tries anything?"
Julius did not hesitate to nod at this before preparing his sword to eliminate Sloth, putting an end to his reign of terror.
He slowly approached Petelguese's body and prepared to eliminate him as his sword began to glow.
"The rainbow aurora will bite into your very soul. No matter whose body you reside in, the wicked soul within shall find no escape— Now, fall to pieces at the rainbow's end!"
As he started to pierce the Sin Archbishop's chest, all he began to do was shout one simple word.
"Why, Why...WHY?!"
As tears were flowing down his eyes, his authority was preparing to go out of control only for both Al and Older Subaru to quickly react to this by cutting down any unseen hands that were summoned by the madman.
"Julius, hurry up."
Julius understood that it's now or never.
"This is the end, Sloth! Let this be your atonement for all the destruction you've caused."
With that, the area became alit with a rainbow glow that encompassed everything for several moments, until finally everything returned to normal with the world as well as the increased amount of unseen hands having disappeared entirely.
Just as this had happened, Reinhard had finally arrived with Felt and Subaru. All three of them looked with the others as they saw Sloth looking lifeless, having finally been defeated for good.
"Is it over?" Old Man Rom asked, hoping that this fight could finally reach a conclusion.
As he asked this, Older Subaru looked at the lifeless body for a second before kicking it with enough force to break some ribs.
Everyone took notice of this but didn't say anything. Older Subaru looked at the man he had been hunting for so long before looking up, noticing Rem.
Although an illusion, he couldn't help himself but smile at her.
"I did it...Rem."
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Author's note:
Yup, we are at the end of this arc. Took a little longer than expected but I enjoyed writing the Aganua story. Hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter.