Chapter Text
Subaru gives a sharp inhale. Shadows dance and flow around him, swirling forward and almost shaping into be that of petals. It would have been strange, yet calming…
“And he died. Again.”
“Well, he tried his best, right?”
“Tch! Will he let me fight that woman? I’ve been itching for a fight!!”
If it wasn’t for the bickering and bantering in his head, courtesy of the countless ‘Vessels’ residing in him… somehow. Subaru had been excited at first, believing it to be a sign of being chosen and summoned!! After all, having cool people to rely on for powers… that’s exactly what an isekai protagonist does, after all!
It didn’t take long for that to be wrong. And it didn’t take long to be tired of their… constant bickering. It was null somewhat at first, mere raindrops against his mind. But after the second time he… died, their voices became clear as water, as day. And they argued. So much.
So now he’s here, laying in a place of writhing darkness with a bunch of people who look like him.
Someone leans down where he’s laying. It’s a copy of him, slightly taller, more broader. His hair neatly slicked and combed back, running into a low ponytail that sweeps to the side. His eyes weren’t the typical sanpaku Subaru grew up with. The shape is there, yet a bit wider, as if giving a somewhat cute visage, which is accentuated by the light flush on his other selfs face. He’s wearing armour as well, shining brightly that one could see their reflection, and a half cape that covers the left and exposes the right, furred and purple with constellations.
“Are you okay?” His other self asks… himself. “That must’ve been painful, you know?”
Yeah. It was painful. Getting stabbed and gutted is very very painful. Subaru is still glad that his knight-self asked. He manages a nod, still feeling the phantom pain of the blade slicing through his stomach.
His copy beams. “That’s great!! We’ve been talking a bit ever since you met that girl and…”
There’s a commotion suddenly.
Subaru instantly jerks up. “H-Huh, what?”
His knight-self shrugs. “Ah, that’s Blade and Gladiator. Don’t worry, they’re just…”
Subaru stands up, staring at the big ball of violence that’s happening. Created by two people, he watches as a muscular version of himself with torn green clothing, with an orange sash around his waist tussles with one that’s smaller, yet has freaking blades for arms.
“Stay DOWN! I'm fighting her!”
“I haven’t gotten to stab someone in ages~!!!”
“Well, I haven’t gotten to FIGHT someone in ages!”
“Hmph! You simply don’t appreciate the great subtext of goring someone!!”
“How is that subtext!?”
The realisation instantly hits Subaru.
‘They’re fighting over who gets to fight the assassin.’
“U-Uhm,” he begins, raising a hand. “If you can take over my body… don’t I get a say?”
They ignore him and continue stabbing or kicking each other viciously. Wow. Rude. There’s a lot of blood. Both of them are enjoying it. What the fuck.
His knight-self pats his shoulder, smiling broadly. Wait, now that Subaru thinks about it, has he ever stopped smiling? Like at all?
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep your opinion with me at all times!”
Suddenly, a chain rings out. The dark viper curls around the two fighting, wrapping around and throwing both of them to the… the floor? Is there even a floor??? This is a place full of shadows. The metal rattles loudly as it settles, tight around the two dopplegangers.
“Enough, you two,” A voice like his, yet more cautious, grounds out. Subaru turns his head towards the source. A version of himself wearing maroon samurai armor, a collar of metal locked around his neck, a broken chain dangling down. From his arms come more of the shackles, even his wrists are cuffed.
“The best version is Blade,”
Gladiator roars in anger at those words. “HUH!?!? Why him!?”
Meanwhile, the Blade smiles happily and— oh my god his teeth are sharp. “Yay!”
“Logically,” the chained-up self of Subaru begins, gesturing towards whoever he was talking to. “He’s the best. Sure, he’s murder-happy and likes to kill, but he will kill her. You, on the other hand,” now, he’s jostling the chain that’s wrapped around the Gladiator. “Will continue to fight her until one of you drops dead, and you’ll let her get her knives if she ever drops them.”
“It’s not a fair fight if she isn’t armed!”
“But it’s a fun fight if I get to slice her to ribbons!!”
They’re… arguing again. Loudly. They both can easily break free from the chains that bind them to the ground, yet make no move to do so. The samurai version turns back, face stony. “Sorry about that. They’ve been clamoring ever since they saw that woman.”
“O-Oh, uh,” what do you say to a version of yourself??? What do you even do??? “It’s… okay? I just never… I feel calm, for some reason.”
“It’s the garden,” responds Samurai Subaru, unchaining Gladiator and Blade. The two weren’t fighting anymore, now the Gladiator was just sulking over being unable to fight while the Blade whips around with his sword-arms. “You’ll feel the full panic when you get back.”
“Wait wha—”
“Bye~!” Says the knight version of himself, waving happily and sincerely and it’s still very creepy how he never stops smiling and——
Subaru somehow manages to not scream when he ends up back in front of the appa stand, the pain of his insides being torn out of him still fresh and rippling across his body.
When they meet the assassin, now known as Elsa, the Blade rattles in his mind. It’s both a relief and also a nuisance, because of the fact that the Blade simply won’t stop talking about how he desires to slice her apart.
Subaru stumbles around, holding his head. “Q-Quiet, you’ll get your turn—!”
“And how long is that turn? How long until I get my turn?” The Blade counters, the banging in his mind getting more and more loud. Subaru can practically feel the bloodlust radiating off of the guy, gnawing and consuming——
“Do you want to be sliced open again? Your blood on the floor, insides outside, in her hands? Do you want that? Do you? You want to feel all of that?” the Blade repeated, voice giddy as he ‘convinces’ Subaru, more akin to a rant more then anything. “But I want to do that to her, you know? Wouldn’t it feel nice to see her be sliced apart? Or do you want to be cut open again, huh?”
“Of course I don’t–—!”
“Then let me take control and cut her!!”
“FINE!!” Subaru cries out. A mad cackle erupts from his Blade-self, his arms going limp as he feels his own body go against his will. Even as he tries to will his limbs, there is nothing to be done as his body itself contorts into a more fitting shape to whoever has the reins.
He ends up in the garden, again. His body not his own, organs not his own, eyes not his own, bones not his own, not anymore. His knight-self is hovering over him in concern, even as that smile never leaves his other selfs lips.
“...oh?” Elsa murmurs, stopping in place. The black-haired boy’s stance suddenly changed after shouting out a forced affirmation. Slowly, he turns to her, and Elsa, curious, does not dive in with her kukri.
“My turn now, cause I’m bored,” he says. Then, a wet squelch is heard, flesh tearing to hang loosely at the shoulders, nothing more then thin meat. Blood drips down from the tear as he tilts his head, smiling broadly, teeth sharper then before. From where should bone be is instead steel, sharpened at the end, not a blunt side in sight.
Then, with a laugh, he lunges at her, right arm plunging downward to her. Elsa can’t help but match his grin, red lips revealing her teeth as she blocks the attack. However, feeling the pressure against her own fangs, she quickly moves her wrists, preventing them from shattering.
At the same movement, his left arm shifts, and Elsa has to move quickly to avoid being stabbed in the gut. Instead, the blade sinks into her arm, and she can’t help but bite her lip at the pain. Amazing.
She wretches herself away, skidding to a stop. Immediately, the torn flesh begins to stitch itself back together once more, no scar left in sight as it seals up. Seeing this, the boy blinks, then throws his head back. “You can heal!! That’s so amazing, that’s so funny! I’m gonna stab you now!!”
He makes due on his words, a flurry of strikes coming towards Elsa as he rushes at her again, absolute elation on his face at the thought of hurting someone over and over again.
Despite everything, Elsa can’t help but smile as well, eyes glinting as she parries, dodges, or attacks this strange boy as well. Sparks of white, violet and black against shining grey in the moonlight.
Almost like a dance.
Emilia stares at the fight before her, eyes wide. Even as her hands press against the wound of the Giant to pour healing magic into him to seal it up, she doesn’t take her eyes off of the scene in front of her.
Just minutes ago, the strange man was frantically dodging, on his toes to escape the woman. Yet now, flesh from his arms hangs limp, useless, simply a sheath to hide what, apparently, is actually his bones.
Didn’t that hurt? But instead, he smiles broadly, excited and bloodthirsty as he engages in the blade dance with the assassin.
What a glorious fight.
That runs through Elsa’s head as she waltzes with the other, pink lips having crimson run at the corners from where he almost sliced her jaw off. Her dress is somewhat caked in blood, as he had skewered her more then once. He took sheer delight in the fact that she could heal, ranting about how it meant he could slice her into ribbons over and over. That strange clothing of his is covered in what is little of his own blood, and what is most of Elsa’s.
And not once has Elsa landed a hit. Despite her remembering his moves, he had no true fighting style aside from hitting whenever he desired, cutting when he wanted.
Eventually, Elsa lands a hit, proving the earlier statement a contradiction. Her kukri blade sinks deep into the right side of his chest, blood spurting. Her half-elf target gasps at the sight, but her opponent looks down… and throws his head back, whining. As if it was a mere inconvenience then a near-fatal wound.
“Ow, ow, owwwww!!” He cries out in exaggeration, arms hanging limply at his side, which are covered in Elsa’s blood from where he had sliced her skin. “What are your knives made of? Well, what are they?”
“Metal, of course,” Elsa says, sinking the blade deeper to see if she was correct in what she saw. Even as she did so, his face did not change — he did not feel pain whatsoever. “And what are those beautiful blades of yours made of?”
He smiles broadly at her words, his leg inching closely. “My bones are made of steel!” He chirps out, eyes closed. Then, from his thigh that tears his pants pops another blade, slicing straight into Elsa’s gut.
She inhales sharply, feeling the air against her blood vessels. She dislodges herself, losing her blade that is still embedded in her opponent's chest. Once again, she begins to stitch herself together.
However, her breathing becomes a low chuckle, then that chuckle morphs into an ecstatic laugh. “Wonderful!” She declares looking back up as she took out another blade of hers — this one more longer and with more depth, end serrated to gore instead of slice.
“You’re incredible!” She adds on, flush against her cheeks as she pushes herself into a stance. Elsa is not only enjoying this fight, she’s enjoying that her enemy is someone that loves to do the same thing as her — slice up, kill, maim.
An equal in desire. An equal in personality.
“I think I’m in love with you~” she purrs out, dashing forward to attack. He tilts his head at her words, arms moving to either parry, block, or attack her as well. Not once has he taken the short knife out of his chest. “Oh, is that how it is?”
“Neat! I like you, but not in the way you like me!” He replies with, backing away to place the edge of his sword near his mouth, reminiscent of that of placing a hand over one’s mouth when surprised. “Even though that’s the case, we can enjoy the fight more with the one-sided romantic subtext!”
He quickly closes the distance between them both once more, grin splitting to reveal a smile, teeth as sharp as a razor as he prepares to skewer her——
“——that’s enough,”
A powerful voice echoes, the wall of the loothouse being destroyed at the same time. Dust and debris fly as a person clad in white steps through. With vibrant red hair that seems to be flaming in the moonlight, eyes as blue as a clear sky, was Reinhard van Astrea.
“I see you held out long enough,” he notes, looking at where the two melee-wielding people are. His eyes then run over Subaru, blinking at the sinew and flesh that hangs off as a sheath to reveal the blade that would’ve been bone. The Bowel Hunter turns to him, a smile gracing her lips. “You are…”
Then, Subaru begins to whine. “Ehhhhh??? Seriously??? I was finally gonna skewer her again!!”
…
“My deepest apologies for that, Subaru,” Reinhard decides to say. “I can handle this, now.”
“But I finally got to cut someone up——” Subaru jerks suddenly, backing away as quick as he can from Elsa. He hunches over, and when he brings his arms up, they’re normal again, although his uniform is still stained red.
“O-Ow, what the——” he looks down, eyes bulging at the sight of his soaked, ruined clothing. “EH!?”
“Why’d you do that!?” The Blade whines out, the tips of his weapons poking the cheek of the Bystander. Well, would have, if it wasn’t for the fact that chains are locked around his shoulder to prevent him from doing so.
“Shut it,” Bystander hisses out, trying to shove the other away. “You were going overboard. Let the Selfless handle this.”
Subaru, who had made his way to the side with Not-Satella, Rom, and Felt, blinks. ‘The Selfless?’
The Smitten perks up, flowers with dark petals in his hands somehow, weaving the stems into a crown to pass the time. “The red-haired knight that came by! He sounds like someone we got to know!”
‘W-Well, yeah, Reinhard seems selfless and stuff——’
“He’s the selfless, we’re calling him that,” Bystander cuts in, succeeding in shoving away the Blade, who whines at being ignored and not stabbing someone that looks like him. “Done and done. Now just wait this out.”
Subaru, does, in fact, wait it out.
Then when Elsa bursts forward again, his body is once again not his own as the Blade dashes forward and slices off her limb.
There’s silence. Mostly in Subaru’s mind. Outside is a clamor, Reinhard trying to go after the assassin, Elsa getting her knife back and leaping away, telling Subaru that he, “Better be waiting for her.”
“What the fuck was that!?” Bystander hisses out, his chains locked tightly around the neck of the Blade, who looks absolutely fine. Probably because he’s all just… steel. Everything about him is steel. His body is a sock.
Subaru tunes out the ensuing argument this time, turning towards Emilia with a relieved smile. This time, he managed to save her, managed to save Felt and her grandfather, and made it out intact.
“Do you need a change of clothing?” Emilia asks as they roam around, looking for her guide.
Subaru looks down, remembering his bloodstained clothing of Elsa. He stares for a moment before sighing, nodding. “Y-Yeah that… would be nice.”