Chapter Text
What if... the witch traded a soul for a soul?
"Ugh, I shouldn't have been reading fanfics for so long, but can I even blame myself when they were so damn peak? My eyes are definitely not willing to open up, though... aren't they hurting too much? Eh, not the first time, I've had worse, so open up! Huh, I can't see anything, is this still night? Strange, at this time in the summer the sun should be already up. Ah, I see some light- Wait. Why is it green, and so far up? I need to get up-"
"ARGHR-" I yelped when just a slight attempt at moving my body led to unparalleled painful reaction from my nerves.
"What the- Why it hurts so much?! Why am I feeling a cold floor under my knees and shackles around my wrist?!" A try to move my hands ended up in more pain and metalic jiggle of chains "WHERE THE FUCK AM I?!" I try to stay silent and look around, but I can't see anything. My mind runs from one possible conclusion to another in panic, not daring to move too much right now. I can't look at myself, however, I'm able to tell I'm much thinner than I'm suppsoed to be. Touching my own fingers led to finding out almost all of them miss nails, and the rest might or not might miss nails - I can't tell because they're not on my hands.
"H-Holy fuck, what happened to my fingers?! Did I get kidnapped and then mutilated while I was sleeping? How I didn't wake up from that?!"
My body shivers, not only from terror, also from cold. It's so cold here. My teeth are chattering. Now I found out half of them are missing, some of them are cracked, which leads to-
"MHHGMMH!"
My face grimaces and my eyes are tearing up from pain that haunted me back when I was 7, when I broke one tooth, and this pain today came back with vengeance in multiple teeth.
"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts! Why why why why it happened to me?!"
Tears rolls down my swollen cheeks, for some reason I have a feeling they're going the route they've gone through hundreds of times. My eyes barely sees the light of the lamp from crying so much at the current moment. I try to calm myself down by deeply breathing in and out, the first try is interrupted by painful sensation from the ribcage in multiple places. Second try is more successful, though my windpipe was on fire for unknown to me reason. I don't want to even imagine what have been done to it.
It felt like just existing is a torture to me.
"Please, someone, anybody, help me..." I dare not to speak aloud because I'm too afraid to confront my possible kidnappers that hurt while I was sleeping.
My plea seems to be heard, either by god or a monkey. I heard footsteps ringing against the concrete floor, each next one was closer than previous. I noticed there were few pairs of footsteps approaching me, until they stopped in front of the door that soon started to be opened. When first people I've found since waking up came into my sight, I saw human figures in white capes with black rear and red lines. "It's quite a drip, but why the fuck are they wearing it?" Despite the current situation, this question popped in my mind. Three people walked inside in total, all wearing the same outfit, and one of them carrying the purple color on his head. He was standing in front of me, looking at me with such disdain in his yellow eyes I felt a shiver, colder than the air in this room, running down my spine.
"Today is the day of your execution, Natsuki Subaru, the Archbishop of Pride." The man declared a death sentence of someone while staring at my soul. "Huh, is he talking to me? But I'm not Subaru
...". My mouth opened to ask him questions, but all that went out of it were incomprehensible silent sounds and, once again, pain. "You're accused of being a part of the Witch Cult as the Archbishop of Pride, participating in attack on Priestella that led to thousands of innocent people's deaths. Your punishment is death sentence. The Sage Council has decided for it to be carried out in private, not under gazes of people of the capital." He said without a pause with a tone full of hatred, and then he pulled out his sword out of the sheath.
"What in the goddamn fuck are you talking about? Witch Cult, Archbishop of Pride, Priestella - I'm not a part of this!" I screamed in my mind since my voice is as good as dead. The sound of steel sliding against sheeth's wood put this string of thoughts to a halt, letting the new one rush forward. "Is this a real sword? Is he really going to kill me? Am I really going to die?" The expression on my face was one of pure shock and terror, but it did not hinder the armed man in the slightest.
"No no no please no! You've gotten the wrong guy, I'm not Natsuki Subaru, I'm Kaze Anzu! I didn't kill anyone! I'm just a NEET from Kyoto that is still living with his parents!" Many pleas run through my head as my body visibly trembles and new stream of tears slides across my skin, but the man rises his sword up with his right hand, putting it in diagonal position above his left shoulder next to his head. It seems he's aiming for my head, or neck, it makes more sense.
"Don't you even dare to plead for your life like those who you mercilessly murdered, cultist!" He roared with newfound hatred and quickly moved his right hand to my left, unbending his arm in elbow, letting his sword make an arc under my chin. After he finished his move, some trails of blood was left on the blade, and suddenly my vision started to fall down. My head hits the ground and lies on the side, I try to get up or at least move my neck but I can't feel them. I try to breathe, but I can't feel my lungs. I can only feel pain from my neck, close and open my mouth like a caught fish and blink, as the world around me becomes darker.
"Ah, I was decapitated... It's a really creeping feeling" Those were my last thought everything became black.
"Well, boy? You want this appa?"
"Hey, mister… "
"Huh?"
"How many times have you seen me now?"
"What do you mean? I've never seen you before. Well? Are you buying it or not?"
"Sorry, but I'm broke beyond compare!"
"Get the hell outta here!"
What a strange conversation between the teenage boy and an apple saler. Why did he misspoke it as "appa" though?
What a strange feeling, I'm watching from the side and yet they ignore me. I don't feel my own body at all. How did I get here? Eh, doesn't matter.
...
"Wallet, cell phone, corn potage snack, cup noodles. My tracksuit and sneakers are intact, too. And naturally…"
The black haired boy raises his shirt to inspect his back, finding nothing but flawless skin.
"Thank god. A wound to the back is a warrior's greatest shame."
"Well, with so much circumstantial evidence, there's no denying it. It's hard to believe but this has to be… a time leap. And each time, I return to my initial state. I'll call it…."
His face made a disturbing grim expression.
"… Return by Death."
...
"That's enough."
"Red hair."
"And a knight's sword, with scratches made by dragon claws."
"It can't be… Reinhard?"
"The master swordsmen Reinhard?"
The charming knight smiled at this.
"Seems I needn't introduce myself. Though, that nickname is a bit much. I don't know how much my modest strength could aid him. But if you wish to resort to extreme measures, as a knight, I would have to fight back." Reinhard stood side by side with the boy and faced the goons.
Slowly, Reinhard moved his hands over his sword handle as if he was about to unsheathe it.
"S-Screw this! It's not worth it!" The three thieves ran away scared from the Sword Saint's glare.
Reinhard smiled as he let his hands fall at his sides and looked at the bewildered teenager.
"I'm glad we're both safe. Are you unhurt?" Reinhard charmingly asked.
He smiled and straightened his back with his hand on his heart.
"A-Allow me to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for saving my life! I, Natsuki Subaru, deeply admire your selflessness!" trying to act cool and respectable in front of Reinhard, Subaru spoke in a grateful tone.
Reinhard just smiled at this. "No need for such formality. Once it was three against two they lost their advantage. If I'd been alone, it would have been different."
Subaru just looked at Reinhard in disbelief.
""H-His nice-guy index is off the charts.""
So you're Subaru that man mentioned... Wait, who and when mentioned him? How do I know this?
...
"My name is Natsuki Subaru! And I just saved your life from a heinous villain! Are we okay on that?"
"Okay?"
"It means are we clear on that? So… Okay."
"O-Okay…"
"I, your rescuer, saved your life. And you are the heroine I saved! So, wouldn't that mean you should repay me in kind? Wouldn't it?"
"All right, I get it. Only if it's within my power of course."
"In that case, I have only one request!"
Emilia steeled herself and glared at him. She was ready.
"My request is…"
Emilia stared at him with anticipation, gulping.
"Tell me your name."
Are you deadass, dude?
Emilia stared at the boy for a few seconds. Then she giggled softly.
"Emilia."
"Huh?" Subaru looked at her with surprise.
"My name is Emilia. Just Emilia." Subaru stared as she smiled under the moonlight. As if she was an angel.
Emilia smiled warmly at him. "Thank you, Subaru. For saving me." Emilia opened her palm for him.
..-
"Anyway, Subaru, I'm impressed that you're unhurt."
"That thing protected me just in time. If not for that, I'd be in two pieces right now."
"True, if not for this…" Reinhard picked the bat from the ground.
But it was cut in half…
"Eh?"
All three of them slowly turned or looked down at Subaru's belly.
Where his clothing was cut.
"Uh-oh. I should have seen this coming."
Subaru's guts burst open and blood spilled everywhere as he fell down fainting.
Even if he's the one who got cut, I still somewhat feel it... Ow.
"Subaru?" Emilia worriedly knelt by his side.
Subaru looked up at her as she looked down at him.
""Man… she's so cute when she's panicking… A parallel world fantasy...""
You know what? I can respect his priorities.
...
"What profoundly aggravating man you are, I suppose."
"First NPC found! You're gonna ruin your cute face with that cold attitude. Come on! Smile! Smile!"
"The only smile worth giving you is a derisive sneer."
...
"N-No way… Maid costumes exist in this world too?! Maids were always the very personification of elegance in my mind… This ain't so bad, either!"
"How terrible. You are being violated in the mind of our guest, sister."
"It is terrible. It is terrible. You're experiencing the ultimate shame in the mind of our guest, Rem."
...
"For our date tomorrow, I'll have to come up with an excuse to ditch the kids in the village. Oh! First, I've gotta find out where all the good views and flower fields and stuff are… "
"Crap! I can't sleep while I'm thinking about this! Oh, I know!"
"One Puck… Two Pucks…
A hundred and one Pucks…"
...
I started to open my eyes, waking up from a strange but very, very vivid dream, dream about a man called Natsuki Subaru. "Are you the one who that purple hair talked about? How did you come to become a part of the cult? I suppose dying multiple times can do things to your sanity- Hold up, about dying... Didn't I just die?" This thought made my eyes open wide. I saw the same bricked cylindrical room with a single green lamp hanging from the ceiling in shape of a dome.
"I did, my head fell off, and yet I'm still here... Did I just returned by death, like Subaru?" I started to brush my fingers again to check on them. All of them had no nails, however, all of them were also in place unlike the last time. "I got some fingers back... Or I got transported to the moment before they were lost? Wait, that dude called me Subaru..."
"Am I..."
"In his body...?"
I looked down, trying to see my chest. I saw a much more lean body than mine, well, to be correct, very malnourished body with a lot of scars. It had no mole.
I looked at "my" arms, they were covered in scars and the skin was wrapped tightly around the bones, also my whole right arm was covered in something dark. They had no dark dots on the skin... not like I could see any on my black right arms but there were none on the left one as well.
"It's really not my body. It's not my body but Subaru's. What the fuck happened? Is he still in there somewhere, just sleeping and I need to wait for him to explain what the fuck is going on? Is he just gone and left this body for me? How did he dragged me into his body in the first place?!"
Before my thought could spiral further, I noticed something strange with my vision, but I couldn't tell what was wrong. I closed my left eye, I see normally. I closed my right eye, everything is more blured than Unreal Engine 5 games.
"Great, my left eye... his, my? Whatever, left eye is damaged. So, my body is in a horrible state, this body belonged to an insane terrorist and I inherited his ability to go back in time after death... but I came back into his cell, though earlier."
While I was thinking about the worst situation in my life I just was put in, only one thought lingered in my mind on the background:
"Wallahi, I'm cooked"