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Invisible Providence. Or in other words, the Unseen Hand. The force that had resided within Subaru ever since he had taken the Witch Factor.
The origin of this power was explained to him by Echidna in the tomb in the Sanctuary. He had inherited it from Petelgeuse when the Archbishop of Sloth finally bit the dust. The boy still didn't fully understand what that entailed. He didn't know if he would accidentally be exposed to some nasty side effects. He didn't even want to think about what would happen if it turned out that this was how Petelgeuse survived in his body. He hated him the most in the world. But that didn't change the fact that he could feel something moving in his body in the form of black hands. Now it was this power as if excited by the fact that it could act, that it had some purpose, that was writhing and writhing. These were not Subaru's immanent feelings.
- What? - muttered a confused Regulus, looking around for a hand.
Dumbass, they are called unseen for a reason.
As Subaru had instructed her, the hand slowly formed, intertwined with the shadows. Now the boy had to deal with the second and third stages of the plan, and there were many more unknowns here. The hand glided towards Emilia, aiming its black fingers at her breast.
The half elf did not see all this, she couldn’t… but suddenly her gaze shifted, as if she noticed some person whose presence surprised her. She smiled at Subaru, but as if she couldn't see him.
- How? Where have you been? Juice! - She whispered affectionately, extending her arms for a hug. In doing so, she moved closer to Subaru and to the black hand, as if she wanted to specifically reduce the distance.
Black fingers slid up Emilia's chest, into her white skin. The girl trembled softly. The hand pushed further, past the ribs and lungs, to where the pulse came from. It reached the heart. Stage two had been successfully completed.
A cold sweat ran down Subaru's forehead. He wasn't sure how to guide the magical fingers so as not to hurt the half elf. He knew full well how painful their embrace was. He felt it every time he broke the taboo of Return by Death and the Witch came to punish him.
Or will what I'm doing cause her the same terrible pain? We are just now getting to the hardest part. It's all worked out so far, but who knows what's about to happen. All I have to do is make this hand tighten its fingers....
He had some doubts.
Is the Unseen Hand a power that can save lives? As a Petelgeuse’s Authority, it could only take them. It is known that everything depends on how a power is used, but it could be that its functions are limited. What if the Unseen Hands only destroy? When he was so tormented by doubts and did not know if he wanted to take the next step, Emilia's voice came to his ears:
- Subaru... It'll be fine. I... trust you both.
What "both"? Me and someone else? But who? She said it so confidently... As if she knew this hand wouldn't hurt her.
- Haaaaaa! Come on, my third hand! - he called out. His doubts were dispelled.
Never mind that this power comes from Petelgeuse. It is inside me now. I asked it to help me save Emilia-tan and that is exactly what will happen!
A hand entwined with the shadows tightened its fingers in the half elf's body. The reddened girl whined softly as they moved gently past her heart. She didn't look like she was in pain, but more like someone was tickling her. The fingers closed on something - it wasn't Emilia's heart, but some alien matter, a surprisingly small Lion’s Heart...
- Got it!
There was no time for gentle pulling. The black hand ripped out the organ that was brazenly beating away at Emilia's chest like a parasite and crushed it without mercy.
Suddenly he was punished for not focusing enough and using a power that didn't really belong to him. He felt all his insides twist. Suddenly everything made no sense, it felt like he had just lost his life. Coughing up blood, he fell to his knees.
- Subaru!
Emilia held out her hands to her knight.
- Ah...
He leaned against her.
- You survived...
- I'm fine! I'm fine! My heart is in place. It's beating like it should!
He had confirmation of those words - he could feel the warmth of her hand where the blood continued to pulsate. Regulus looked at it all confused.
- What? What's going on? It's not nice to talk in front of someone about things they can't understand! Explain to me right now what this is all about! - he called out with eyes shining with anger.
- Eh... - Subaru sighed. - Haven't you noticed yet?
- What? What didn't I notice? What are these bizarre suggestions! - He was getting close to exploding. - Is this some kind of psychological game?! Are you trying to...
- That your shoe got wet.
- What?
The archbishop followed Subaru's finger with his eyes. And when he saw his feet, he seemed even more confused. He was standing in a puddle, one of the many that had formed when the banks of the canal had been destroyed during the battle.
He looked at the soaked white shoes. Only after a moment did it occur to him what this meant. The Lion’s Heart, the representation of his power, his Authority, had been destroyed.
He touched his chest with his hand. He felt his own heart beating.
- You gnats! - he boiled over.
He raised his hands to attack, but received a graceful kick to the face that sent him straight to the pavement. He screamed. He was no longer invulnerable. A boot mark remained on his skin, and his white suit was wet and stained with mud.
- W... what?! What do you mean! - he breathed out in astonishment, rubbing his red cheek.
- We did it! - cried Emilia, clenching her fists in triumph. - He finally got it!
- Lice. Bugs! - He covered himself in crimson all over. Standing up, he grabbed some water to use as a weapon, but the blow he had received moments before had injured his hand, making it fail him now. The drops flew in a completely different direction than Regulus had planned.
- Icebrand! - Emilia shouted, and an ice golf club appeared in her hand. She hit Regulus as if she were bouncing a ball.
- AAAAA! - With a shriek, he flew at the nearest building. He first received a blow from a full sweep, and then hit the wall with his back, which surely must have hurt him.
Subaru and Emilia watched as he picked himself up off the ground and vomited blood. The boy guessed that there probably wasn't much left of his organs.
- Why, why, why! Why, why, why! What are you... Why did you... What did you do to the Authority of Greed?! How?! - he despaired.
- You still don't understand? You're slow to understand, aren't you? It's very simple," Subaru replied, even feeling a little sorry for him. He tried very hard not to let anyone notice how much pain what he had just done had cost him. - You were flying in circles, and the enemy attacked you from behind!
Subaru burst into laughter that would have made Petelgeuse proud.
Regulus was shocked. He didn't quite understand the phrase his opponent used, but the taunt reached him. He whined inhumanly and threw himself at the boy, completely ignoring Emilia who was standing closer.
- First for the girls – said the half elf. She wasn't going to just stand by. - I'll do it in a way that’ll make you feel it.
- This is a mockery," Regulus wailed, then received a sharp kick to the jaw.
Emilia attacked in such a way as to boost her enemy upwards. She already had another blow in store, which sent him crashing into the wall of the building. A hail of punches rained down on the Archbishop, so hard that they must have already rattled his spine. The half elf treated him like a boxing sack.
- That's the last one! The fifty-third! - she cried out, striking once more, right in the center of his chest, his true heart. The wall behind his back trembled from the impact, and then shattered into pieces.
Regulus groaned and settled down on the rubble.
That was good... I'd have died three times by now... And I don't think the girl has had enough yet!
- So much for the ex-wives. Now it's my turn! - she announced. She jumped slightly away from the building and released her mana. Hundreds of sharp icicles appeared in the sky.
The Archbishop had so gotten under the skin of the gentle Emilia that he deserved first a series of painful but not lethal blows, and then certain death by shredding with ice.
But she must be furious...
A bang sounded. Debris rained down on the building, and the air was filled with frosty dust. Subaru suddenly realized that he was kneeling on a thin layer of ice.
Oh, my... She's got a big head... It got to me. Regulus couldn't survive that!
- You thought... ...me...
Among the dust, a white figure blurred.
Regulus walked towards them, rubbing his angrily contorted face. His previously immaculate clothes were now filthy with blood. He was breathing heavily, his forehead cut open. However, none of the icicles had pierced or froze him.
It was as if Lion’s Heart was working, but... After all, Emilia-tan's attacks had hurt him before. Maybe he turned on the Lion’s Heart for a while to survive the bombardment?
Subaru looked at Regulus, who was panting heavily, rubbing his chest... and he understood. The Lion’s Heart was gone.
- You can become immune to our attacks for a while! All you have to do is stop your heart time, right?
Regulus was furious. Also, he was clearly in pain.
Okay, so he can turn on the invulnerability, but only for a while! So we have to keep hitting him. Eventually we'll hit a good moment and beat him! It turns out that the guy isn't a boss at all, just a little kid with one superpower!
- Do you really not see what cowards you are! - cried Regulus suddenly. He pointed his finger either at Subaru or Emilia and gave them hateful glances. - Two against one! How can you do that! Have you no remorse? Doubts? Any normal person would have hesitated!
- You're really amazing... - muttered Subaru.
When the Lion’s Heart was protecting him, he could talk because he knew nothing would happen to him anyway. Now he's unprotected, but he keeps on talking! He makes up his twisted arguments because he knows we have the upper hand.
Subaru even admired him somewhat. I don't think he'd had the opportunity to meet an equally twisted creature before.
- So you mean to say that two against one is only fought by cowards, and you would like one against one, as it should be? - he asked directly.
- Exactly! I think it's obvious! I, uh... Who do you take me for?! I am the Archbishop of Greed, Regulus Corneas! The most fulfilled being in the world! - he spoke with a trembling voice, staring at his own hands as if with hope.
Subaru became so sad that he would most likely look away.
- In a moment you will say the opposite anyway," said Emilia, "Everything you say is completely empty. For me you are the saddest person on earth...
- You wretch! You'll regret your mockery of me!
Subaru sighed.
A hopeless case. He can only really win when he has an incredible lead. Everything else is beyond him. After all, that Lion’s Heart of his still works, just in a truncated version. He could come up with a thousand different plans, but he hits a snag and gives up right away, without even thinking about what else he could do.
- He's flying balls all through the fight, and at the very end he suddenly gives up.... - he muttered. Regulus' behavior caused him to reflect on his former self.
All right.
- Hey, Mr. Greed! Let's make this a one-on-one duel.
- Great! Great! - cried Regulus eagerly. This development suited him very well. - Of course, you won't let your lady go first? What knight would hide behind his lady's back!
She's trying to improve her position with this talk. She knows I'm a hundred times weaker than she is. He wants to kill me first, then he'll pounce on a distraught Emilia-tan. Not bad for such a jerk. But I'm the master of the cowardly game here! He won't win against me in a duel of finding chances for survival in hopeless situations!
In a sense, Regulus had already lost by then - the moment the decision was made that a one-on-one duel would decide the winner.
- That's right," Subaru added. - A knight should stand up to this fight.
- Right! So... - Greed began, but Subaru interrupted him.
- Therefore, I will leave the rest to you. Again! - he called out, but not to the Archbishop, not to Emilia, but to the heavens.
Confused Regulus looked at him questioningly.
- Of course. As a knight, I will accept the challenge," a familiar voice spoke up from above.
From the night vault, a great ball of fire fell onto the battlefield, and in it, a flame-haired youth. Where the Sword Saint touched the wet cobblestones with his feet, the moisture evaporated with a hiss.
- No... Impossible! How did you...?
- I admit it wasn't easy. You did a great job on that shot. But you made one mistake... You shouldn't have thrown me at the moon.
- What? - A bewildered Regulus opened his mouth and stayed that way.
WHAT? He flew to the moon and bounced off it to come back here! I don't blame Greed for being so dumbstruck... Reinhard is a warrior extraordinaire! That crazy Archbishop wields some weird, complicated power, and the redhead is so powerful because everyone and everything loves and blesses him.
- I am Reinhard van Astrea, a member of the Lugnica Kingdom Guard, the first knight of Lady Felt, and the Sword Saint," he introduced himself again with a serious face.
He reached for the sword at his side.
Well, well, well. This must mean that it's time to fight for real! Even Elsa knew that when the Sword Saint introduces himself, he's no longer a joke. And in response, she politely introduced herself.
- Wait! - cried Regulus, waving his hands in panic. - Wait a minute! It's just... It's not... isn't... Isn't it strange? It's...! - He had no intention of following the sacred custom. Instead, he tried to extricate himself from an unpleasant situation.
Reinhard had no mercy.
The slash happened in the blink of an eye. The Sword Saint simply disappeared, then appeared right next to Regulus and instantly struck from below. The white-haired man didn't even have time to scream, but he soared so high that he could admire the entire city that he was destroying with such persistence.
A barrage of curses roared across the night sky.
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