Chapter 9. Wrath
Subaru watched the eccentric who appeared before him vigilantly; she indeed exuded that disgusting feeling unique to the Witch Cult.
"You over there, and you, and then the young man over there. I'm sorry, okay, please don't be so angry. I sincerely apologize for you all being willing to give your precious time to me. So, I'm sorry, okay, thank you all."
Subaru stopped the action he was doing, then shook his head at Beatrice, and Kiritaka also waved his hand at Dynas, the captain of his guard unit, the [White Dragon's Scale].
"Okay, thank you. It looks like you all have calmed down a little. I understand your unease. The impression of the Witch Cult's Archbishops of Sin is indeed not very good. So I don't want to say that I am the same as them. It's just that there is one thing I absolutely wanted to confirm today, which is why I'm taking up your time like this."
"Something you want to confirm…?"
Kiritaka stood up and asked.
"I'm sorry, okay, please don't speak up. If I am interrupted once, it will be very troubling for me, as I'm not very smart. It will be very sad. That wouldn't be good, right? If there's anything, why don't you say it? For everyone's sake, I can discuss anything, okay?"
"Then, may I ask you one question?"
"Good! Please, go ahead and speak, this person?"
"I am Kiritaka of the Ten-Man Council of the Water Gate City."
"Ah. Thank you. I was unintentionally emotional just now. I'm sorry, okay. Although I reminded myself, I still get excited easily. I'm so happy you're still alive."
"It's alright. If we can calm down and let the conversation proceed, I'll be happy too."
"I'm sorry. To express my apology, please ask whatever you wish."
—I never thought there was such an amicable, ordinary person among the Archbishops of Sin.
Subaru thought this in his heart as he watched the scene, and the expressions of the people in the room also shifted from tense to calm. Everything seemed to be progressing in a positive direction.
"That is utterly disgusting!"
The tone, full of revulsion and disdain, completely destroyed the amicable atmosphere. Subaru subconsciously looked towards the source of the voice, only to see Liliana standing against the wall, holding her head. Shaking unsteadily, she was looking at the amicable Archbishop of Sin with eyes full of loathing.
—Why is she so incapable of reading the room?
—Why provoke the Archbishop of Sin at this moment?
—Why is she always so self-willed?
Subaru felt an immense, unimaginable degree of rage, rage so intense that he wanted to kill her right there.
—Yes, if I kill her, there won't be so many problems.
Subaru drew the sword in his hand, but just then, Subaru felt a small, warm hand gripping his own.
"Subaru!!!"
Subaru's eyes met the blue pupils. The next instant, his head felt as if it had been struck directly by a hammer.
"Beatrice…"
"Have you calmed down, Subaru?"
Subaru clutched his dizzy head, then looked at the angry people around him and the distant Sirius.
"Manipulating other people's emotions as you please, that's truly awful. Beatrice!"
Subaru, realizing what had happened, shouted immediately.
"Sorry, that person's ability directly affects the soul! And it's constantly getting stronger. Not only is it impossible to dispel it from so many people, but even keeping Subaru and Betty functioning normally is extremely difficult."
"Ahhh, honestly! How, how awful! We just started down the path of mutual understanding. To forcibly drag him back! To steal him away! I'm so sad, truly sad, extremely sad! So sad that my chest is about to split open! So sad I can't stop—!"
The roaring Sirius swung the iron chains on her wrist. Subaru instinctively blocked with the sword in his hand. An unimaginable force sent Subaru flying.
Beatrice used magic to lighten the weight of the flying Subaru, while simultaneously attacking Sirius with purple arrows. The chains wrapped around Sirius's hands ignited with flame and accurately struck down the airborne arrows with fierce speed.
"You wretched spirit, I'm going to burn you to death."
Sirius, hands burning with crimson flames and utterly enraged, screamed.
With Beatrice's help, Subaru landed safely on the first-floor ground, then caught Liliana, whom he had knocked flying earlier.
"Woahhh, is this what they call adventure? Inspiration keeps flooding in."
"Calm down, we need to run for our lives now."
Subaru looked around. Everyone was looking at him with rage, then grabbing various weapons and lunging. In a normal situation, Subaru could cope, but the main industry of the Muse Trading Company was magic stones. This kind of mineral, usually used to provide magic power, had another use: Kiritaka's grenade-like usage just now.
"Waaah—! Papa! Mama! Mister Kiritaka—!!"
Subaru hurriedly untied the whip from his waist, used it to wrap around several magic stones in the air and smashed them against the wall behind him. At the same time, he rolled while holding Liliana. After a series of continuous explosions, Subaru, covered in blood, pulled Liliana and ran out of the stone-built structure through the massive hole created by the blasts.
At that moment, many angry gazes turned towards the two of them. Some were evacuating citizens, some were mercenaries coming to report to Kiritaka, and some were simply curious onlookers, but now their identities were all puppets controlled by [Wrath] Sirius.
—Beatrice.
Subaru subconsciously turned his head. Flames occasionally pierced through the roof of the building, and the sounds of fighting were incredibly clear. Subaru knew that calling Beatrice would mean moving the two of them's battlefield here. Seeing the surrounding crowd, Subaru instantly abandoned the idea of calling for help.
"Liliana, you absolutely must keep up!"
Subaru looked around, then broke out toward an area with fewer people and no obvious weapons. Under Reinhard's guidance, Subaru's close-combat ability and physical fitness were decent, but the difference in numbers still brought immense pressure to Subaru.
"Sorry! Sorry!"
Subaru said guiltily, but his hands were merciless, knocking down the person who lunged from the side with one punch, then picking him up and throwing him forward, taking down a group of people.
"It hurts so much! You bastard!"
Subaru grabbed the hand of the person who attacked his wound, and punched him several times, beating him until his head bled profusely.
"Get lost! You bastard!"
Subaru roared while breaking the arm of the person in front of him.
…
Subaru looked at the dense crowd around him.
—So annoying! So annoying! Is there really any way to save them?
"Ahhhhh."
Subaru roared in frustration. He finally stopped holding back. The injuries on Subaru's hands worsened at a visible speed. The pain further stimulated Subaru, and finally,
—Go die.
Thinking this in his mind, he drew the sword from his waist and swung it at the person in front of him. Then, a violent pain surged into Subaru's brain. Subaru realized his field of vision was dropping. In the last second of consciousness, Subaru saw the upper halves of everyone's bodies moving away from their lower halves.
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