Standing in front of a broken fountain, a foot fell loudly upon paved stone. Regulus Corneas, Sin Archbishop of The Witch's Cult, Representing Greed, stomped before Natsuki Subaru and Emilia.
The city around them, from the streets to the buildings to the people, was all broken, smashed up by him, the whole and utterly content, invincible being known as Regulus Corneas!
Yet despite that, the two who wronged him, took advantage of him, and dared to stand against him weren't just alive, but they dared to converse between themselves even though he was before them!
The fool suddenly yelled and collapsed onto his knees, inexplicably, his face strained from unseen exertion.
"You two are having a moment here and leaving the rest of us out in the dark! Explain that little farce or whatever that just happened!" Regulus yelled, aggrieved at being ignored and confused at whatever they had just done.
"You haven't figured it out?" the fake knight said, wiping his bloody nose with his blackened right arm and getting up.
"Huh?"
"The ground under your feet is wet."
"Eh?"
Confused, Regulus looked down and noticed that his pristine white shoes, which could never get dirty, were now wet and scuffed, scratches marked above the soles.
"YOU-"
He whirled, veins popping out of his face from the sheer rage he felt, but.
"Ei!"
⚞BAM!⚟
Something pushed him back. He felt weird, as if something inside him was shaking, and there was something on his face; it was hot, unbearably hot.
No, wait, it wasn't on his face, it was in it. It was burning him.
He placed his hand on his face, feeling that familiar and yet unfamiliar sting that was flowing across his nerves.
Regulus needed a moment to realize that what he was feeling right now was pain.
Unlike every other time they'd attacked him, the invincible being did not take the attack without moving, nor did his body feel like an unbreakable wall.
With a reaction more suited to winning a claw game than beating someone up, Emilia excitedly yelled, "I did it! I can finally hit him!"
"Th-this can't…"
He stuttered, unbelieving, his Authority of Greed, his Lion's Heart, his invincibility, broken. Violated.
"Y-you… You… You…!"
Regulus rose, how did they?! How can they?! How dare they! These two miscreants! The cheating whore and the weakling playing knight! How could they violate his rights like this?! Gathering a small bit of broken chunks of stone and dirt in his hand. With his authority, anything in his hands could be a weapon of mass destruction, even the air itself.
⚞PFEW!⚟
A high-pitched squeal cut through the air.
He activated Stillness Of An Object's Time upon the dirt in his hands; however, his body swayed, and the sensations that he had once rid himself of were now wreaking havoc on him. The feeling of his own heart being forcefully stopped, even for a moment, disrupted his already poor aim, as the pieces of rubble flew off into the sky, nowhere near Emilia.
With his body swaying and weak, he had no defense against Emilia running up to him, undaunted despite his attempt to kill her with time stopped dirt and smashing his midsection with a giant hammer.
✧BKLING!✧
"Ice Brand Arts!"
He crashed into a tower so hard that the stone collapsed into an impact crater many times bigger than himself, yet the tower still stood, and so did he.
Even with his stomach collapsed, blood spilling from his lips. Regulus was still alive.
"What? What? What?! What have you done to the Authority of Greed?! My Authority!"
He still couldn't believe what was happening; he still couldn't believe what he was feeling. His thoughts couldn't keep up, and his mind rejected the reality unfolding before him.
Unfortunately, the world's reality was cruel.
Reality did not care one bit about how the mind of Regulus Corneas felt.
Reality hit Regulus in the form of fifty-three fists smashing into each side of his face.
"Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora!"
Emilia's fists pummeled Regulus's face, his head snapping back and forth as each cheek was flattened in rotation.
fifty-three punches for each one of the brides that Regulus had kidnapped, who had to live with that haunting presence every moment of their lives.
Emilia's hatred truly shone forth with these punches.
And with a final punch imbued with enough mana to make her fist shine and the tower quake and crack further…
She jumped into the air.
"Now take this attack and go down. Ul Huma!"
Acting as his executioner, Emilia raised her hand towards Regulus. Her entire body sparkled and glowed as she channeled her magic.
Sparkling lights of mana formed around the tower, growing and lengthening into giant pillars of ice.
'Why is this happening to me!' Regulus cried in his mind. 'I should be invincible! Yet I'm being unfairly beaten! I don't deserve this! I didn't do anything wrong!'
He did not understand how he had been cornered, his invincibility negated, and was losing.
But there was one thing he could understand, one thing that pierced the sheer delusion Regulus lived under. He was going to die if he did nothing.
Regulus closed his already swollen eyes.
Bmm, bmm, bmm, bm-
The ice pillars smashed into the tower and him; they burst further, growing colder and expanding as the tower exploded, with a band of ice forming both inside and outside the stone structure.
Dust picked up by the cold explosion obscured the tower as sparkles of ice fell to the ground, twinkling little blue lights, like the stars above.
Emilia landed beside Subaru, and the two smiled at each other. They had achieved victory, without any sacrifices, until…
Cough. Cough. Cough.
The sound of someone coughing turned their heads. Dust from Emilia's final attack still obscured the area, but there could only be one person there in all that smoke.
"Haa…How dare you… Treat me like this!"
Swollen cheeks. Bloody nose. Puffed eyes. Crushed stomach. Spitting up blood with every word, Regulus Corneas stumbled and swayed, hunched over, his legs shaking. Yet he walked towards them; he still lived despite all the attacks he took. This wasn't a property that could be explained with his authority or some sort of training. Regulus Corneas simply didn't die quickly.
"Ah! H-how? I was certain I hit him…?"
Emilia took on an uncertain and thoughtful look, unable to figure out how Regulus survived. But Subaru, with his otherworldly knowledge, did.
"Ah! I think I get it, without the use of his 「Little King」, he has to stop his own heart instead. Did I get that right?"
Regulus's burning eyes and stretching scowl proved his conclusion.
"I think he can only use his power for five seconds or so, so we should be able to just dump him in a canal and be done with him."
Subaru gave his plan to Emilia. In any other situation, Subaru seriously suggesting dumping a person's body into a river like some mob boss would've been something shocking, and he would be thoroughly reeducated.
Instead, Emilia smiled at him at the confirmation that Regulus didn't somehow regain his invincibility and nodded her head, taking his words as an order. Innocent and merciful Emilia, ready to throw Regulus into a river to drown.
"Dump him in a canal?" H-h-How dare you?! Y-y-y-you can't treat me like this!"
Regulus yelled.
"Don't you think you too are playing dirty here?!"
"Huh?"
The sound slipped out of Subaru's mouth before he could catch it. Regulus was shocking and incomprehensible to him.
"You can gang up on a single opponent and feel no guilt at all?! Doesn't that mean that there's something wrong with your sense of humanity?!"
The two could only stare at Regulus, choking and spitting those words out.
"You seriously amaze me."
Subaru said while closing one eye, processing.
"So wait, is that what you want? If fighting two-on-one is playing dirty, then we should do this one-on-one. Is that what you're saying?"
"Yes, it is! Who…Who do you think I am?! I am the Sin Archbishop representing Greed, Regulus Corneas!"
Even now, swollen cheeks. Bloody nose. Puffed eyes. Crushed stomach. He held onto his title and his status greedily; it meant the world to him. All other things bent toward that truth in his self-delusion, even as the world attempted to kill him.
"What you say changes from one line to the next, and everything you talk about is so empty, it's incomprehensible. I think I pity you more than anyone else in the world."
Emilia spoke up. She saw his words for what they were, empty, vapid; they held no thought other than the minor self-justification Regulus needed to say such things.
Regulus himself could not understand what she said, and how could he, in his mind, his words were the most important things that could ever be said, beyond the orders of kings and the commands of gods.
Rather, all he took from Emilia's words was that she pitied him.
Red-hot waves of rage burned from the back of his head to his crown; his veins once again bulged, and his eyes became even redder and more dilated than they had been, almost popping out of pure anger.
"Enough of this! I will see that you regret making a fool of me!"
Regulus yelled with the last of his wits.
Yet, despite his challenge, his words, his inner turmoil.
Natsuki Subaru…
…Was not focused on him at all.
Instead, Subaru's eyes were focused on the space above Regulus's head. As though noticing something, yet the only thing reflected in his eyes was the sky.
"Huh?"
Subaru's lips pursed as he became clearly annoyed at the empty sky. His glare was as though he was trying to force the sky to give up whatever he wanted.
"Are you ignoring me?! After you, the whore, and that musclehead broke into my residence, cruelly ganged up on a defenseless me, killed my wives, and violated the temple that is my body, all I humbly request is a fair one-on-one, yet despite me standing before you, offering mercy, you'd rather look into the sky?! What's so enticing about the damn sky?! I'll send you flying into it if that's what you want, you retard!"
Regulus wheezed and spilled blood out of his lips as he shouted at the top of his lungs, his emotions overcoming the already little regard for his body and its sensations of pain. Rather, it seemed that it only fueled the never-ending storm of rage within him.
Subaru simply put his pinky finger into his ear, rubbing the inside, imitating cleaning it out.
"Ah, no, I was hoping to catch a glimpse of a red-haired ikeman falling out of the sky to drop this on, guess I'll have to–"
"Subaru."
"Hmm? Emilia-tan?"
Subaru asked. He had stepped forward, but now Emilia had put her hand out to his chest, stopping him.
Subaru turned towards Emilia, wondering for what reason she was interrupting him.
His face made Emilia's calm confidence bashful, blushing at Subaru's look.
"Well, could you let me handle this?"
Emilia wasn't very worried about Subaru. She had immense trust in him.
"Um… sure? But why?"
Subaru had similar thoughts; He was simply confused as to why Emilia wanted to be the one who took on the role of killing Regulus.
"Well… Regulus just called you something reaaaally mean! I won't stand for it!" Emilia said with a fiery expression and voice, lifting her arm and clenching her fist.
"Eh? Wait, you actually understand that word?" Subaru said in surprise.
"It's a really bad word! Puck told me all about it!"
"I see, so Emilia-tan wants to stand up for me! This is such an amazing feeling! EMK! Emilia-tan is so knightly!"
Subaru didn't care at all about what someone like Regulus called him, but he couldn't say no to the face Emilia was making, and he felt elated that Emilia would defend him.
"Alright then, I'll let you take the spotlight, Emilia-tan!"
Subaru stepped back, putting his hands behind his head, at ease. He knew his Emilia-tan had everything handled.
With that, the two stopped ignoring Regulus. He had been ranting this entire time about how continuing to ignore him was a violation of his rights.
"Regulus, I will take up your offer for a one-on-one."
And so, with an expression of fiery steel, Emilia stepped towards him. Ending Regulus's tirade.
"Hm? Oh, so the whore is the one with the confidence to face me? Seems like the "Knight" is a coward hiding behind his "Lady's" skirt! How typical of such an unfulfilled weakling to cower while sending a woman to do his work!"
Regulus spoke with a nasty smirk, yet his face fell when he saw that he didn't get the reaction he wanted from them; in fact, he didn't get a reaction at all.
Emilia put her weight on her back leg and…
⚞THOOM!⚟
She blasted off like a rocket towards him, a shockwave from her acceleration kicked up dirt and debris.
"WAIT!WAIT!WAIT!"
Regulus changed faces in an instant; his weird confidence facing Emilia disappeared as she closed the distance in a supersonic burst.
He raised his arms in front of his face as though that would make her give him some reprieve.
It didn't.
✧BLING!✧
Her mana once again lit up the night, a small blue star glowed brightly in her hands, and with the sound of a bell, she had once again formed a giant hammer made out of ice.
And with a crack and another shockwave, the hammer smashed into his already broken midsection. This time, he had managed to block with his hands, or rather, the hands he had lifted in front of himself were smashed and pinned to his stomach by the hammer.
The sound of Lion's Heart activating for a moment resounded just after the hammer hit, too late to stop the damage of impact, but enough to stop any residual damage from spreading or appearing.
"Ah-AAAAAAAAAH!"
He roared a scream that reverberated throughout the heavens as the intense force behind her hammer sent him flying into the sky.
Now he spun in the air; his equilibrium was totally gone, his head was going woozy from the g-forces, and his stomach was tying itself into knots.
After him was Emilia, who jumped into the air, catching up to Regulus simply with the power of her leap.
"Woohoo! Emilia-tan! That swing made NASA proud and Ohtani jealous! You're like a rocket! EMR! Emilia-tan is seriously a rocket!"
Subaru shouted from the ground.
"I don't get what you're saying, but thanks!"
Regulus couldn't hear anything but the wind; he could catch glimpses of the clouds that were coming near, the ground that was getting farther, and the silver flash that was Emilia getting closer.
Even though he had not felt his own mortality for over 100 years, Regulus's fear of death was blasting into his mind sharply. Even someone like him knew that if Emilia reached him, it'd mean the end, that all-encompassing void where thoughts faded, death.
"Haaah…grrh."
🗦CRACK🗧
The sound of something cracking echoed.
Clutching his chest, he activated 「Lion's Heart」 and stopped spinning, his stillness stopping his time; now the laws of physics, momentum, acceleration, and gravity did not apply to Regulus. He turned, reorienting his position without leverage, even as he rose into the air, which was possible with his powers.
"Grrrrrrrrh."
His heart and lungs clenched in his chest; he was breathing, but no air was being transported to the rest of his body. He was painfully aware of how close he was to asphyxiating as his vision grew spotty. However, he didn't let go; he didn't let 「Lion's Heart」 end just yet. With what little resolve Regulus had, he lifted his broken right arm, with blood staining his sleeves, and let his middle finger and thumb meet. With that, he then flicked.
⚞PFEW!⚟
Once again, the sound of a time-stopped object cutting through the air resounded, like an arrow. Even though it was simply air the size of a pin, Regulus's power made it even more dangerous than a bullet. As long as his stillness was active on it, it would not obey the natural laws. It would not lose momentum, simply ripping through anything in its path regardless of durability. The only thing that could block it was the sheath of the Dragon Sword Reid, which was held by Reinhard, who was currently in space.
If it hit Emilia, it would be the end for her.
Regulus smiled and giggled nastily. He had won; that invisible bullet of air would rip through the whore's empty head out of her fat ass, in a messy, gory display of blood and guts, and he'd laugh in glee as the fool on the ground saw the woman he loved fall out of the sky like a messed-up angel with wings of falling blood.
Emilia summoned a block of ice at her feet, jumping off of it to the left.
"Huh?"
She avoided the pin-sized projectile with ease, never taking her eyes off Regulus as she jumped off the floating block of ice, once again launching herself towards him.
"NO WAY!?"
Regulus reflexively stopped holding Lion's Heart as his final reserves of oxygen depleted, the projectile dissipated back into nothing more than air. He could only scream in shock and terror as Emilia easily avoided his final gambit, on which his fate rested.
'Impossible!'
That was all he could think as Emilia neared him, wielding that giant hammer, with every moment that silver witch came closer and closer.
'Impossible! Impossible! Impossible! Impossible! Impossible! I am Regulus Corneas, Sin Archbishop representing Greed, Regulus Corneas! My rights cannot be infringed upon! I cannot be killed! Not like this! Not by some fool and his whore! Where is my invincibility?! My Authority!? Where are my wives!? Where is the love of my wives!? They won't let me die! They can't let me die!'
Regulus's own inner voice screamed so hard that he could feel the faint border of his ego shake, almost pleading.
He recalled the faces of all his wives, watching him with the placid looks he ordered them always to wear as he neared his death.
And then, in his vision, their lips started to turn upwards. All of them had.
'No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Stop! Stop that! Stop making that face! Stop smiling!'
He cried, in an almost child-like plea, as his own mind tortured him with this vision, the vision of them smiling as he was about to die, smiling just like her, his first wife, just before she killed herself.
His mind shook, racked itself sick as his thoughts moved faster than he ever needed to think, so fast that he could barely understand, half-forgotten memories and experiences suddenly lit up before him vividly as his brain activity sparked up, trying to figure out some way of escaping death.
And he remembered. A memory from an uninteresting time. One where he had done some work at the request of his cohort.
"Regulus Corneas, I require you. I shall lead you to the Elior Forest, where you may crush Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti and the rest of the Moderate Faction of the Witch Cult."
A short woman with waist-length platinum hair wearing nothing more than a simple white cloth with a blue string said, after appearing in his humble manor without announcement.
"Hm? Isn't it presumptuous of you to simply appear in my office and request my help without announcing yourself? Though you are a Witch and I am an Archbishop, that does not mean you are above me and can simply give me orders like our lackeys. I will complete my tasks as an Archbishop as detailed in my Gospel, which hasn't received any instructions as of yet, so the crushing of the Moderate Faction and that oaf Petelgeuse is not one of any importance that requires my attention. As I am the most humble being in the world, I will overlook this violation of my rights just this once due to us being comrades."
"Ah, I see, how shall I convince you then… I have heard that you recently lost your seventy-ninth wife. Is that correct?"
"Hmph! It's unfortunate, but she had a wrinkle on her face. Though I love all my wives equally, their beauty is their most important trait; her inability to hide her age was a violation of the marriage vows we made on our wedding day. But what's your point?"
"There is a silver-haired woman who lives in the Elior Forest. I believe she would be a good replacement for number seventy-ninth, and unlike the previous number seventy-ninth, she is an elf; she will not lose her luster as quickly as a human. If that is not enough, I will also allow you to request one thing from me, at any time or any place."
"Hmm, I do not need your request, as I am the most fulfilled being; however, I am interested in this replacement for number seventy-ninth. I shall accompany you to this "Elior Forest" and see for myself if this elf woman is worthy of standing by my side."
Yes. Yes! That was right, he finally remembered! That woman, Pandora, owed him a request, after all, he had gone to the Elior Forest, and endured humiliation at the invisible hands of that oaf Betelgeuse, his whore of a woman, and the same witch that brought him there! It was only right for her to pay him back! She must pay him back!
And so, twisting this call for help into a debt that must be repaid, and thus not a humiliation. Regulus shouted at the top of his lungs with whatever he could muster.
"PANDORA!"