To change the current situation, some kind of support was absolutely necessary.
“All right, I’m going!”
Apparently Rom had thought the same as Subaru, and after letting out a yell, Rom joined the fight.
As Rom swung his club, it brought a gust of air along with it, and as Elsa ducked her hair was caught up a little in the blast.
“Oh, how rude of you to interrupt our dance,” said Elsa.
“If you want to dance that much then I’ll make you dance a fine dance, so give it your best shot!”
As Rom swung his thorny pointed club at Elsa, he changed his line of attack. He thrust the club toward Elsa’s throat, but Rom froze at the result.
“What the hell is this?!”
“I’m only able to do this because you’re so strong,” said Elsa from above as she stood on the tip of Rom’s club.
That kind of technique could only be accomplished with a godlike sense of balance. Before that balance could be broken, Elsa swung her blade horizontally at Rom. The strike was level with Rom’s forehead. If it landed, the top of his head would be sent flying.
“You think I’d let you?!”
Shing! went the sound of Elsa’s sword as it collided with a knife thrown by Felt. The collision had altered the path of Elsa’s sword, but the side of it still collided full force into the side of Rom’s head. A dull sound rang out as Rom toppled over to the side.
“What a naughty little girl,” said Elsa as she landed lightly back on the ground and turned just her eyes toward Felt.
“…”
Felt’s small knife had saved Rom’s life. She probably had aimed for Elsa’s arm, but in the rush of the moment her aim was a little off. However, without that slight miss, Rom might not have been saved.
“You don’t have the determination or power to fight. You should have just cowered in the corner like a good little girl.”
The high-pitched click of Elsa’s step rang out as she instantly closed the distance between herself and Felt. Rom was unconscious, and Not-Satella, who had been trying to keep her distance, was now too far away. Felt herself had frozen like a frog being stared down by a snake, and…
“Aaaaahhhh!!!”
…so the only one who was able to tackle her to safety was the coward who had been shivering beside her moments before.
3
Subaru dove into Felt at about hip level, and while hugging her light body tumbled across the ground. Just before he hit the ground, he felt something metal scrape across the back of his head, which made all his hair stand on end. But, feeling the weight of the person in his arms, he did his absolute best to ignore it and kept rolling to put as much distance as possible from where they were before.
When at last Subaru looked back, standing on his knees, Elsa was staring back at him in surprise. Feeling as though he had pulled one over on Elsa, Subaru couldn’t help but smile back, awkwardly but proudly.
“Are you all right?!” he said to Felt. “I was desperate there, so if I accidentally touched somewhere I shouldn’t have, please forgive me, okay?!”
“If you hadn’t said that I would have thanked you like normal! …But why?”
“I don’t know! My body moved on its own. If I had to give a reason…well, you don’t know about this, but with this now we’re totally even, okay? Remember that! We’re even now!” said Subaru, clenching his fist after he let Felt go.
The second time around, Felt had saved Subaru from Elsa’s blade. That memory didn’t mean anything in the world this time around, but with this he was able to repay his debt.
Subaru thought that even so, his debts should be returned, so nothing about what he needed to do before had changed.
“Listen here, Felt. Right now I’m going to do the same sort of thing as Rom did before he was knocked out to help stall for time. When that happens I’ll be sure to open up a window for you, so I want you to use that opportunity to run out of here as fast as you can. You got it?”
“What?! No! Are you telling me to just turn tail and flee?!” said Felt, glaring up at Subaru with her red eyes. But Subaru just got closer and stared right back at her. As he did so, he was sure not to miss the moment when Felt looked as though she was scared at what Subaru was trying to say.
“Yes. That’s what I’m telling you to do. Turn tail and flee. To be honest, that’s exactly what I want to do right now. I don’t want to stay another second in this violent space,” Subaru said, patting Felt roughly on her head.
As Felt started to say, “But…” Subaru interrupted her and continued.
“You’re fifteen and I’m seventeen. Out of all of us, you’re probably the youngest one here. So it’s the right thing to do to give you the highest possibility of getting out of here alive. It’s what’s only natural.”
“D-don’t give me that… You were just shaking yourself a minute ago!”
“That was then, this is now! I’m not shaking now, so it’s okay! Really, before I remember and start shaking I’ve got to do this now. Okay? So get ready to run!”
Subaru put his hand on Felt’s forehead as she looked as though she was going to object again, and then pulled himself to his feet. Not far away on the ground was Rom’s club. It looked really heavy, but Subaru thought he would still be able to swing it.
As Not-Satella continued to shoot barrages of ice at Elsa, there was not a sign of dullness in her movements as she danced to avoid the shots. In the first place, Subaru wasn’t really sure if he, faced with a superhuman like Elsa with absolutely no real fighting experience himself, could open up a window for Felt to run. All that he could do was wordlessly spring a surprise attack on her when she wasn’t paying attention to him.
So right after Elsa had swung her knife and shattered a large icicle, and Subaru was completely in one of her blind spots, Subaru sprang forward at her, forgetting even to breathe, and swung the club down on her.
Perhaps Subaru’s adrenaline had finally kicked in, because the speed of his swing was far faster than he had imagined it would be. It sliced through the air toward the back of her head, and…
“You picked the right moment and angle to target me, but unfortunately I could have sensed your intent to kill a mile away.”
“Intent to kill?! I have no idea how I’m supposed to hide that!”
In order to block the swing that came directly behind her, Elsa struck the club with the blunt edge of her blade, changing the course of the swing enough for it to miss its mark. However, at that very instant Subaru opened his mouth wide, with his teeth bared, and yelled.
“Now, Felt! Run!!”
“!!”
Like a spring Felt launched her small body onto the wind and raced forward. She was going so fast that Subaru couldn’t keep track of her with his eyes, and the girl, now turned to wind, rushed to the exit.
“Do you really think I’d let you go?”
To stop Felt, Elsa took another knife out of her breast pocket and threw it toward Felt. As if it were a symbol of payback from what Felt did before, the simple undecorated knife flew straight at her back. However…
“Too bad, but I wanna let her go!”
Subaru kicked the round table that was beside him upward, which collided with the knife and sent it off course.
“Man, I’m awesome! That was awesome! Wow, my toe hurts more than I thought it was going to! …Uwah?!”
Maybe it was Subaru’s adrenaline again, or some power that had awakened in him that failed to activate the last three times, but as Elsa’s long leg came up and kicked him in the side of the head and sent him flying, his self-congratulations were cut short.
He was hit so hard the world seemed to spin around, and together with the onset of pain and taste of blood in his mouth, Subaru threw up.
“That’s the first time in a long time someone’s made me actually a little bit angry.”
“Well, that’s something I’m happy to hear! Ha-ha! Serves you right! I let one of us get away!!”
Subaru
stood back up and pretended to be in better shape than he was, doing his best to continue drawing Elsa’s attention.
As if Elsa had read Subaru’s mind, she smiled at him, and forgot about Felt for the time being.
“Fine, if that’s what you want, I’ll pay attention to you. Your dancing had better not bore me.”
“I’m going to go ahead and warn you, but if you’re going to dance with me, you’d better be careful. I haven’t learned a thing about dancing so I’ll be sure to step all over your feet,” said Subaru, spitting out the blood that had risen in his mouth. He readjusted his grip on the club that was still in his hands.
It wasn’t as though Subaru was going to have very many chances to land a hit, so he used everything he had to focus on striking Elsa as she rushed toward him.
“You’d better not forget about me!” said Not-Satella, along with a chunk of ice lobbed from behind.
But without even looking back, Elsa swung her blade and broke the ice to pieces. With Elsa’s superhuman senses on full display, even Subaru wasn’t able to keep taunting her.
“I’ve started to get tired of this little game… Are you sure you’ll be able to keep me entertained?” asked Elsa in a low voice, with her smile the color of blood.
As Subaru gazed at her smile, he felt a shiver run down his spine, and looked over at Not-Satella to make eye contact.
“If you’ve got some kind of hidden true power available, I think that now would be a great time to use it.”
“…I do have another trick up my sleeve, but if I use it, I’ll be the only one left alive.”
“I would like it if you held back on that, then. No self-destructs, please. …Okay fine, I get it. Damn. Use it if you have to, but don’t be too hasty, all right?”
Subaru intended that to be a joke, in order to help shake off some of his cowardice, but Not-Satella took Subaru’s statement seriously. After seeing him take a deep breath and solidify his determination, Not-Satella’s lips relaxed into an almost smile.
“I won’t use it. I can’t while you’re still trying your best. You can do this, so keep on struggling. Relying on the power of one’s parents is my absolute final option,” replied Not-Satella.
As she said that she really did look as though she was running out of options, and that lit a fire inside Subaru.
In one way, Not-Satella looked as though she was just about ready to give up; at the same time she looked ready to accept the fact that Subaru was weak and wouldn’t help much.
To Subaru, Not-Satella was someone who, no matter how tough things got, would never look down and give up. Because that was the way she was, Subaru had worked so hard to see her smile.
Subaru had died several times and come this far in order to save her. He hadn’t come this far just to see her give up.
“I didn’t see anything right now.”
“…What?”
“This conversation we just had, it didn’t happen! I just remembered the reason I’m here. Just leave it to me, damn it! I’m going to make sure you never have to use that final option of yours!!”
Subaru pointed at Not-Satella and then at Elsa, and made his declaration. He spit as he did, stomped on the ground, and let all of his emotions howl out from his soul.
“I’m going to blow you away and we’re going to have ourselves a happy ending. You don’t belong here, so scram!”
“…Well, don’t you look overexcited,” replied Elsa.
“I’m just ready to give it my all. This time’s gonna be the climax. I’ve got a lot more energy than before!”
As Elsa leaned forward, Subaru swung the club as if he was declaring he was going to hit a home run. Elsa’s lips then curled into a smile and she melted away into the darkness.
From such a low height that it looked as though she was crawling on the ground, Elsa slid toward Subaru. As he kept his eyes on the dull glint of her blade, Subaru swung the club with all his might.
Subaru’s swing held nothing back; he was prepared to beat Elsa to death. But Elsa just ducked even farther, like it was nothing, and was so low it looked as though she was licking the ground.
“You spider-woman!!”
“Well, I suppose it’s correct to say that you’re tangled in my web.”
As Subaru saw Elsa’s sword rising upward, Subaru quickly threw his body back. However, he still couldn’t pull out of the striking range of her sword. Fear raced up Subaru’s spine, and without thinking he kicked up his knee. Even though he hadn’t meant to aim his knee anywhere, as Elsa was right in front of him, it landed straight in her stomach. The path of the blade shifted a little, and then right in that path came a bluish white light, followed by a high-pitched sound.
“An ice shield! Nice cover!”
“I’m not good at making those at a distance. I could have accidentally frozen someone!”
“Her, right?! You mean her, right?!” replied Subaru, with a mix of jest in his thanks.
Not-Satella continued to draw Elsa back with her barrage of ice.
“I’ve started to grow tired of you little buzzing insect. …I think it’s about time I wrap this up.”
“Hey, don’t underestimate bugs, okay? It’s not my fault if you get stung and break out in hives!”
“Well, don’t you sound all high and mighty when you’re out of my striking range?” replied Elsa as she focused on dodging Not-Satella’s attacks, while Subaru continued to try to draw her attention away.
While Subaru would have loved to try to aim for Elsa’s back as she continued to dodge, he didn’t want to run the risk of becoming victim to friendly fire, so he really couldn’t move. That was probably the reason that Not-Satella’s attacks were muted when Subaru made his move before.
It was the kind of problem you have to face when working on an improvised team.
Subaru continued to watch as Elsa deflected Not-Satella’s attacks, every now and then diving in with an attack of his own, before retreating again, but he could sense the situation getting worse.
If Elsa really wanted to, it was clear that she could quickly take care of Subaru, like she did Rom. The only reason it appeared that they were on equal footing was because Elsa would not divert her full attention to him. Elsa’s caution was instead directed to the possibility that the spirit Puck would appear again. That was enough to keep the current situation holding.
Another reason that Elsa didn’t act was because Subaru’s cowardice was holding him a step back. He was taking care not to put himself in range of lethal danger. If Subaru had been a brave idiot, she would have cut him down and the balance would have shifted. However, it didn’t look as though Subaru’s cowardice would serve him much longer.
As Elsa’s counterattacks grew more severe, Subaru’s retreats weren’t making it in time, and he was getting slight cuts all over himself.
Subaru had cuts on his upper arms, on his calves, his underarms, and even a few slight cuts to his neck, and as those injuries increased, Subaru’s gray tracksuit began to be stained with blood.
“Damn, it hurts! Argh!! How about this?!”
Even though the pain was enough to bring him to tears, Subaru swung a kick, trying to do something new to catch Elsa off guard.
However…
“I’ll just take that,” said Elsa.
“…Damn.”
Elsa had easily avoided Subaru’s kick and to top it all off, she had easily grabbed his leg. Elsa raised her kukri, aiming to lop off the whole leg. With the strength of Elsa’s swing, its speed, and the sharpness of the blade, Subaru knew what would happen next. His leg would be cut off at the thigh and he would die from shock as the loss of blood and pain overwhelmed him. Subaru could just see the words BAD END 4 rising up in front of his eyes.
I shouldn’t have done that! Subaru’s thoughts screamed.
He tried to raise the club to block, but with the handicap he was facing, with one leg held in the air, he wouldn’t make it in time.
Not-Satella screamed. The cut would merciless
ly reach his leg in moments. As Subaru thought of the pain and spilling of blood it would bring a scream rose in his throat, the blood he would vomit when…
“That’s enough.”
A flame appeared, burning through the roof from the center of the loot cellar.
The flame was filled with a ghastly malice that swept through the room, and stopped even Elsa in her tracks.
Subaru’s leg released, he hopped back before falling down. Right before his eyes, in the middle of a rising pillar of smoke, he saw a red, burning, shining figure.
“That was close. I’m glad I made it in time. Now…”
“Y-you’re…”
The flame wavered and stepped forward. Its very existence was enough to make Subaru, Not-Satella, and Elsa all freeze.
Taking in the gazes from everyone present, without being shaken one bit, stood an absolute sense of will. With sky-blue eyes shining with a pure sense of justice, the young man smiled faintly.
“I think it’s time to draw the curtain on this performance!” the hero declared, brushing back his red hair.
4
As Felt sped like the wind through the entryway to the loot cellar, she felt as though she had been released from despair.
Behind her, Felt could hear the freezing of the air, and the sound of metal clanging on ice. She also heard the sound of a blunt object swinging through the air, along with “Hii!” and “Wahhh!” and other stupid-sounding utterances from someone dodging attacks.
The battle still raged on behind her.
As Felt’s legs started to shake as she ran, she shook her head to try to deny the mess of thoughts running through it.
It was clear that if she had stayed behind, she would have been killed.
Against an opponent who could knock Rom out with a single blow, Felt didn’t have a chance. The same went for that silver-haired half-elf. Without support from her spirit, there was no way that she could win against that woman, either.
Re: Zero -Starting Life in Another World- Vol. 1 Page 20