AN: Action time folks! The War starts now! Enjoy!

ARC Six: The Watergate City War

Chapter Forty Six: Wicked Wrath

Subaru was watching Sirius bellowing out her love as he tried to strategize what to do.

"AHHH! Behold this purveyor of love!"

From behind, Sirius dragged out a young boy who was shaking but stood firm.

"In exchange for his love, he has chosen himself to be taken by me! Splendid! Splendid! He has a strong sense of love within himself!"

The citizens were fearful, but were commending the boys courageous action.

Subaru turned on his Comm Link.

"Batman!"

"Subaru? What is it?"

"We need you at the park ASAP! The Sin Archbishop of Wrath is here! They have a hostage!"

"Stay put. I'm on the way. Keep them busy."

"Got it!"

Subaru got closer to the time tower and tried to deescalate the situation.

"Hey, let's calm down a bit. Gently let the kid go okay?"

"Ohhhhhh...and trample over this boy's feelings of love? Is that what you're suggesting?"

Subaru could feel a sense of disgust as he began to shiver his body. Sirius' eyes had a violent glimmer to them…

"No, that's not what I'm saying at all! I think we'd get things done easier if we just kept a calm head and talk about all this."

"To be calm and collected is very diligent indeed. But words can be cheap and fragile, only through action can love be truly shown!"

"Damn….look just back up from the ledge huh?"

As if to mock Subaru, she did a twirl with the boy still in her clutches. The boy yelped in fear as Subaru realized the situation was getting out of hand.

"Chin! Head to the park, get everyone away from here!"

"A-Alright!"

Chin raced off as Subaru stayed behind to try and-

"Actions. They portray love at it's fullest...YES. LOOOOOOOVE."

Sirius tossed the boy off the ledge.

They boy screamed as he began to fall..

Subaru rushed over in a vain attempt to try and catch the boy.

Just then, Batman dove from a nearby roof, catching the boy and using his grappling gun to reach the roof of a shop.

The citizens cheered as they saw Batman set the boy down.

"B-Batman?"

"Stay here you'll be safe-"

"-My friend is still up there!"

Batman and Subaru heard a small voice scream from up on the time tower and they realized that Sirius still had a little girl.

Batman quickly got down from the roof and met with Subaru.

"Subaru, we need to save the girl."

"Yeah, and we gotta get rid of that Sin Archbishop."

"You go and retrieve the girl, I'll deal with Wrath."

Batman grabbed onto Subaru and they went high in the sky with a grappling hook.

They reached the top of the Time Tower as they saw Sirius dragging the little girl by the hair.

"No! NOOOO! Please!"

Batman and Subaru became enraged by the sight.

Batman charged forward while Subaru ran around.

"WRATH!"

"Ah….YOU! YOU! YOU! You were the one who killed my husband. My dear, lovely, charming, diligent and all loving HUSBAND! Petelgeuse….YOU KILLED HIM BATMAN!"

She tossed the girl away as she charged at Batman. The chains around her hands suddenly shot out at Batman, who quickly dodged, but saw that a chunk of the roof broke off from the impact.

Batman tossed a batarang, but Sirius dodged it and whipped her chains against, Batman. He dodged them one by one, but soon felt something odd.

"Heat?"

The chains suddenly burst into flames and were slithering around on the floor.

"Authority of Wrath! Fire Control!"

She soon swung the fire whips around and Batman dodged the strikes.

Subaru caught the girl before she rolled off the roof and began to carry her away, he glanced back and saw the intense fight between Batman and Sirius.

He shook his head and was preparing to try and make it to the door...but he quickly realized a fire whip was heading straight for him, he quickly kicked off the ground and rolled away, the whip barely missing them and crushing the door. Subaru could see the completely destroyed door, with steam escaping from it.

He looked over and saw Sirius staring right at him.

"DO NOT THINK OF LEAVING YET."

Subaru put the girl down and retrieved his whip from its pouch. He patted the young girl on the head.

"Listen be brave and wait right here.

"But-"

"-You'll be safe here, me and my friend are gonna beat down that scary guy, okay?"

"...okay."

Subaru nodded and rushed into the battle. A fire whip came barreling at him, but he dashed away from it and used his whip to ensnare one of Sirius' hands. He gripped the whip as he began to pull with all his might.

"Foolish boy...THINK YOU HAVE ME RIGHT?!"

Sirius began to aim her free hand at Subaru, but was soon met with a vicious uppercut from Batman. Her body flew up from the ground...and so did everyone else's.

"Whu!?"

"What the-?!"

Batman, Subaru, the little girl and everyone that was watching the fight for some reason felt something hit them in the jaw and sent them high up into the air.

Everyone's bodies fell back to the ground. Subaru held his chin as his eyesight was still spinning, but Sirius quickly sat up and glared at him, a fire whip came barreling at him, so he rolled away...and it went and hit the little girl.

"NOOOO!"

The little girl was sliced in half...and so was everyone else.

"AGH!"

"AGHHHH!"

Batman and Subaru realized that they along with all the citizens were suddenly sliced in half...just like the little girl.

Subaru's top half tried to crawl away as his organs spilled out behind him.

"Agh. Haaaa….what happened...ahhhhh…."

Batman was losing his voice as he glared at Sirius.

"Your...Authority…"

"Yes...the ability to spread love to others...my true gift to the world...The Authority of Wrath...Emotional Spectrum!"

Batman and Subaru's vision began to dim...Subaru looked over and saw the little girl...her face filled with fear and tears streaming down her face…

"I'm sorry….next time-"

Subaru and Batman drew their last breaths…darkness overtaking their sights...

"Well? Are you going or what?"

Subaru flinched as he had now used Return by Death.

Realizing he was at the park with Emilia and Beatrice. Glancing around he saw Priscilla and Liliana there as well…

"D-Damn...only a couple of minutes?"

Subaru took some deep breaths as a million thoughts ran through his head, plans and ideas of taking on Sirius.

"Subaru…?"

Beatrice was now holding onto his hand and looking up at him worryingly. Subaru shook his head slightly, putting on a quick fake smile and picked up the surprised Beatrice.

"Hey Beako, would you mind coming with me to get some snacks? It'd be awfully lonely to go alone, ya know?"

"Well...if Subaru wants to be accompanied by Betty...then I saw no harm. Betty will go with you, I suppose."

Subaru put Beatrice down a bit and moved away for the moment as Beatrice was saying bye to the others.

He then turned on his Comm Link.

"Batman."

"Subaru, what is it?"

"...I just died."

"...And how did it happen?"

"The Sin Archbishop of Wrath is going to kill me. She...she had some power, where she could make people feel the same feelings, the same pain and...well, you died with me. Someone got sliced in half during the fight. After that, everyone nearby was sliced in half too!"

"...Some form of Empathic Powers, those can be tough to deal with."

"I have an idea...is Reinhard with you?"

Subaru was walking hand in hand with Beatrice, when she frowned a bit at him.

"Subaru. I know something is bothering you. Please tell Betty what it is."

"...Is it that obvious?"

"Betty knows her Subaru very well, I suppose. I can tell something is clouding your mind."

"Beatice…"

Subaru got on one knee to speak eye to eye with Beatrice.

"Beatrice, we may be walking into a fight. I'm sorry for not telling you, but I didn't want to alarm Emilia and the others."

"..."

"Beatrice I believe in your strength, so that's why I brought you along. I...need your help."

"Silly Subaru..."

Beatrice cupped his cheeks and gave a lovely smile.

"Betty is Subaru's spirit right? We are one Subaru. So you should always ask Betty for help when it is needed, I suppose."

"...Thank you Beatrice."

Subaru saw Chin in the corner of his eye and made his way to him with Beatrice in tow.

"Yo, man-"

"-Listen, we just learned that the Sin Archbishop of Wrath is about to appear."

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah, so if you wanna stay and meet her, stay. If not, I think it's a good idea to get people away from here."

"...I'll see what I can do."

Subaru was glad to see Chin being so productive and was sort of threatening people to leave.

"Subaru!"

Subaru and Beatrice turned around to see Batman and Reinhard arriving.

"Subaru, we're here."

"Yes, Batman informed me of an emergency."

That's when they heard Sirius give her introduction atop the time tower with the young boy in her hands once again.

"Alright, Reinhard! You and Batman take care of the Sin Archbishop. Me and Beako will go ahead and try to save the kids she has."

Reinhard and Batman nodded in agreement with the plan.

Batman carried Subaru and Beatrice with him as he fired his grappling hook, Reinhard simply ran up the side of the tower and made it to the top.

Reinhard and Batman got in their own battle stances as they faced the Sin Archbishop.

"Witch Cultist, by the honor of Lugnica and in the name of the Household of the Van Astrea, I shall slay you for your foul deeds! Now let the boy go!"

"Oh….alright then."

Sirius glanced over at them and threw the boy off the roof.

Reinhard charged over but had to dodge her chains as they whipped around at him. Reinhard kicked off the ground and was above her, he kicked downard at her but she dodged, and the entirety of the roof was literally collapsing

Batman rushed past the fight and was able to catch the boy mid-fall. He shot a grappling hook and it latched on to the roof of a nearby building.

Batman landed safely on the roof with the boy, he then jumped off the roof with him and used his cape to help glide them down.

He placed the boy gently down and had some nearby people take care of him.

"Stay here, we'll get your friend."

"O-Okay!"

The boy and the others watched as Batman ran past them all and used his grappling gun to return back to the top of the tower...but as he did, a hand that would indicate the hour for the time tower was flying right towards him, he quickly slammed his feet on the side of the tower and ran up the other way, avoiding impact. Seeing himself safe, he kept going up to face Wrath.

Subaru and Beatrice moved out the way of a chain as it struck the time towers clock, causing one of its hands to fly out and towards the ground below. Subaru grasped Beatrice's hand as they decided to use a spell they crafted over their year of training.

"Ready Beatrice?!"

"Yup, I suppose!"

"Riiiight! E-M-T!"

A large spherical blue field surrounded Subaru and Beatrice. The spell negates all mana usage within the area of about ten meters long. Subaru hoped this would stop Sirius from using her fire whips.

Reinhard tried to punch Sirius, but she quickly spun the whips around at such a high speed they literally became buzzsaws. Reinhard caught one of these spinning saws in his hands, Subaru saw his chance and decided to use his whip to latch on to her free hand. He ran with all his might trying to drag her away with him, but she resisted. Reinhard saw what he was doing and grasped the chain tightly and ran with him, Sirius lost her balance and was now being dragged away by the two.

Batman made it back to the roof and rushed over to encircle her.

Sirius suddenly turned her attention to the young girl...her eyes emitting an awful aura to them.

The young girl trembled and breathed heavily, she began gasping for air and was shaking uncontrollably. She gagged and hurled, she looked around and could see Subaru and Beatrice fall to their knees.

They too began to feel the awful fear the girl felt, and it was increasing.

"Subaru…"

Subaru glanced over as he could see Beatrice clutching her chest...he felt like-

"Wait…"

Suddenly, he felt a seemingly calm sensation..he looked over and saw Batman was meditating.

Subaru struggled but decided to do the same as he felt his breaths get calmer he muttered to Beatrice.

"Beatrice take my hand."

"O-O-Okay."

Beatrice did so and she too started to feel calm, soon enough the feeling was spreading farther and farther and soon everyone was feeling a sense of calm.

Sirius dodged a chop from Reinhard, one that left a crater on the ground. That's when she saw that her emotional augmentation of fear had seemingly failed. Her eyes widened in a crazed fury as she clawed her head and screamed.

"HOW DARE YOU?! HOW DARE YOU DISRESPECT THE LOVE I HAVE SHARED WITH YOU?!"

Subaru got in front of the young girl as Beatrice stood by him.

"Then have a taste of my wrath! Flame Control!"

Her whips suddenly burst into flames as she lashed out at Batman and Reinhard.

"Wait! We used E-M-T! She shouldn't be able to use magic!"

Batman yelled back his best guess as he side jumped from a vicious fire whip attack.

"Subaru, she seems to be using the actual energy from her own anger to manipulate heat around her chains! Deactivate E-M-T and try something else!"

"Okay, Batman we're using the 'Blind-Bat Special'!"

"Got it."

Subaru deactivated his spell and ran along side Beatrice as Batman used his smoke pellets at Sirius. Reinhard saw his chance and dashed towards Sirius, she dodged his attempted flurry of punches, but noticed too late that Subaru and Beatrice were now behind her.

"Time for an oldie here, Shamak-san!"

Black smoked erupted from them as Sirius became quite confused for a moment, only to suddenly realize something had ensnared her.

"What?!"

She was now wrapped up in a steel rope and slammed to the ground from the black smoke.

Batman had gripped the rope in his hands and slammed his foot on her back, keeping her in place. Reinhard ran over and used his sword to slice the fire chains apart.

"Alright Batman-san! Our 'Blind-Bat Special' worked! Keep her in place, we got to-"

"-dare you…"

"Huh?"

Subaru heard a fear inducing low voice mutter to him and he saw Sirius lift her head and glare at them. A horrifying glimmer arose in her eyes.

"HOW DARE YOU TOUCH ME!?"

Subaru felt cold suddenly...a familiar coldness.

Subaru and everyone else looked up and saw three large icicles above them.

"Oh shit!"

"Move!"

The icicles crashed into the very roof they were standing on and finally collapsed it, Subaru was holding onto to Beatrice as the impact sent them flying. Batman was trying his best to glide in the air...but he panicked as he saw Reinhard kicking the air as was making his way to a still wrapped up Sirius.

Batman and Subaru could tell what he was about to do.

"Reinhard NO!"

"Reinhard! Her Authority!"

But Batman aimed his grappling gun at a piece of foundation...when Reinhard was now next to Sirius with sword aiming down at her.

"Ah..such a loving action…"

Her head was chopped clean off.

Reinhard breathed a sigh of relief, but soon choked up when he glanced over and saw Subaru, Beatrice and Batman had also been decapitated in the same way.

He looked down and saw citizens below were also dead.

The only thing that saved him from such a fate was his Divine Protection of the Sword Saint.

His eyes darkened and he felt nauseous…

"Well? Are you going or what?"

Subaru awoke again as he once again heard Priscilla's voice. He grabbed his neck and began to breath heavily.

"S-Subaru? Are you okay? Do you feel sick?"

"Are you feeling unwell? Can Betty help?"

Subaru slightly flinched when he looked over at Beatrice. But relaxed as he saw the fear in her eyes.

He ran over and gave her a huge hug, softly rubbing the back of her head. Her entire face went red as she was undeniably confused.

"W-W-what is it? Betty does not mind this kind of affection…"

"..."

"...Subaru, it's okay. Betty will help, she will always help you, I suppose. So please relax."

Beatrice hugged him back and relaxed her head against his.

Emilia and the others were silently watching the ordeal…

"Subaru, tell me what's wrong."

Subaru finally looked over and saw Emilia looking down at him with a serious expression.

"Uh, nothing. Just this whole trip is a bit much for me you know?"

"..."

"Nah, no worries Emilia-tan, just a little...well, upset is all."

"..."

"Hey, Beatrice let's go and get those snacks alright? You all just stay here and wait-"

Subaru was then snapped back to reality with Priscilla snapping her fan.

"It is obvious you are hiding something. That look on your face says it all!"

"...!"

"Hmph! As if to hide something that important. We do not believe that such a lowly action would be-"

"-Can you do me a favor and mind your own fucking business?!"

Priscilla looked face to face to Subaru, his brows furrowed to the extreme. That's when Subaru felt Invisible Providence was trying to emerge, and was aimed at her, so he did his best to suppress it.

Emilia grabbed Subaru's shoulder, making him flinch a bit as he turned around and faced her.

"Subaru, I know that look on you...something bad is trying to hurt you right?"

"Emilia…"

"And you're trying to protect me by going to face it alone. But no Subaru. Not this time."

"Huh?"

Subaru stood dumbfounded as a wind blew past them, something he seemed to ignore in the previous loops.

Emilia's hair swayed as she looked at her knight with a powerful expression.

"Subaru, I want to protect you too. So please...don't go alone."

Subaru's hands shook as he heard this, but calmed a bit when Beatrice held one of his hands and faced Emilia.

"Betty also wishes to protect Subaru and will do so at any cost, I suppose. So we will both accompany him."

Subaru looked down for a while, before taking a long breath and nodding.

"Alright, give me a few seconds and we'll go."

Subaru slowly let go of her hand and walked to sit on the water fountain...making sure no could hear his conversation on the Comm Link.

"Batman."

"Subaru? What is it?"

"...I died twice."

"...God damnit."

"Yeah, it's the Sin Archbishop of Wrath. She's attacking in a few minutes. I'm stumped on what to do."

"Subaru, listen to me. You are not alone in this, I'm making sure you don't use Return by Death a third time."

"...Right."

"I'm on the way there, so let me know everything I need to know."

Subaru was now with Emilia and Beatrice at the time tower as Sirius was once again giving her speech to the crowd below. Chin was this time busy taking several people away from the impeding disaster.

"Is that-"

"-Yeah, she's the Sin Archbishop of Wrath...she has some kids as hostages."

"Wah? The we have to-"

"-No just wait."

Subaru put a hand in front of Emilia to stop her from rushing in.

Sirius tossed the boy off the roof, he screamed as he plummeted down.

"Subaru! We have to save him-"

"-Wait. Don't forget the friends we already have."

Subaru looked to his left a bit, causing the two ladies to do so as well. There they saw Batman leap off a nearby roof and glide towards the boy.

"Batman-san?!"

He caught him and spun in the air, shooting his grappling gun to latch on to the roof he jumped from. He shot through the air and landed on the roof safely with the boy.

He jumped down and sat the terrified boy down. He nodded and patted him on the head, before rushing to meet with Subaru and the others.

"The boy's safe, let's head up there and take care of Wrath!"

"Yeah."

Batman soon fired a grappling hook as he then carried all three of them up to the roof. They soon made it to the top and saw Sirius attempting to grab the young girl.

Emilia created a wall of ice in front of the young girl.

"Enough villain! It's time to pay for your crimes!"

"Crimes of passion and love are not to be judged by a half-devil like you!"

Sirius summoned her chains and they launched themselves at the group. They quickly dispersed as Emilia fired two shots of icicles at her. Sirius dodged and spun the whips around erratically tearing the roof up.

Subaru saw his chance and rolled on the ground and saved the little girl.

"El Varro!"

A light purple barrier appeared in front of Beatrice shielding herself and Subaru. Subaru looked as Emilia was keeping Sirius busy, he rushed out of the barrier and saw Batman so he did the only move he knew. A move he hadn't used in quite some time.

"Alriiiight! 'Hercules Toss!'"

Subaru tossed the girl high into the air, who had tears running out of her eyes as she flapped her arms around in a panic.

Emilia and Beatrice noticed the action and seemed to be slightly disturbed by his special move.

Sirius tilted her head a bit.

Batman quickly jumped up and caught the girl and leapt off the roof and dove down.

The girl screamed a bit, but Batman used his cape to glide down and was able to land safely down.

The young boy rushed over and hugged her tightly, the two of them embracing and overwhelmed with joy to see each other.

Batman raced back and used his grappling hook to get back to the roof...only to see hands of the clock flying towards him.

"...!"

He quickly maneuvered his body to the side and had them miss him, but several pieces of glass slightly cut his cheek.

As he got to the roof he saw that Emilia had an Ice Knife in her hands and was in an offensive position.

Sirius charged her with a chain attack, but Emilia swiftly moved out of the way and used her blade to strike the chain back.

Sirius then used her two chains to strike where Emilia was standing, but she kicked the ground and flipped over to where Sirius was standing. Standing right behind her.

Sirius tried to hit her with an elbow, but Emilia used her training to redirect it with a push with her fist.

Sirius seemed to get frustrated, but soon realized too late that her hand was ensnared by Subaru's Whip.

She glared at him and pulled him towards him...but her eyes widened when she saw that he was smiling.

"Got ya!"

"What?"

Subaru then pulled out two water throwing stars and tossed them at her legs, freezing her legs in place.

"Hrrrrrr! You foul little-!"

But soon she felt a sudden cold around her arms and realized her arms were frozen in place by Emilia.

"Half-devil! One who stole my husband's affection! His love...I...will...show you TRUE LOVE!"

Her chains burst into flames and began to wildly flail about, Batman rushed over, but Sirius saw his cut up cheek and decided to share the pain of his injury to the others and amplify it.

The others fell over from the sudden pain and the civilians that were watching below also felt it. However, this soon became secondary, as Sirius shared her anger with the civilians and they began screaming and yelling at each other.

Soon enough they were beginning to fight.

Batman flipped away from one of Sirius's strikes and tried to run over as he saw one of the fire whips barreling towards Emilia. Subaru also raced forward...feeling panicked and angry he felt he had no other choice but to use his special ability.

Rage filled his mind and heart as he focused on the fire whip.

"Invisible Providence!"

The Unseen Hand shot out from his chest and smacked away the fire whip. This seemed to draw Sirius's attention, but the fire whip hit the ground next to Emilia, causing it to fall apart and Emilia began to fall off the roof.

Batman ran to get around Sirius and to Emilia.

"El Ermac!"

Batman jetted across the ground in a golden light, but had to redirect himself as he saw Icicles fly towards him.

He soon lost the spell and rolled on the ground.

Subaru tried to rush over but had to dive under some icicles shot right at him.

Beatrice tried to float to her but Sirius hit the ground with her fire whip and sent pieces of debris at Beatrice knocking her out of the sky. Subaru saw more pieces flying towards her, so he jumped in front of Beatrice and used his body to block them, hurting himself in the process.

Emilia quickly disappeared from view.

"EMILIAAAAA!"

Suddenly a quick flash went up in the air and landed a little bit ahead of where she had fallen.

"To be letting such things like debris fall to where I am walking about. How tackless. How irresponsible. What a way to cause me to divert from my own given course and make me waste time. Time. On a time tower. Ha. Truly this incident has been quite the waste of it though...although…"

The man glanced down at the knocked out half elf and his eyes stared at her.

"Though...this is quite the catch I have found, as if the fate of things have finally found its way to me. Not that I was asking for it, mind you. I simply had the desire to find a replacement for my 79th wife. The spot has been vacant and it would truly lazy of me not to finally fill it accordingly. Yes, I shall make this woman my bride. And with it done, continue on my own selfless livelihood with another task done. Hmmm..how well."

The white haired man glanced over at them all, his white suit matched his hair. Suited with a black collar, with yellow streaks and buttons, and a blue earring nested on his right ear. His golden amber eyes stared at them as he simply smiled.

Subaru got up and narrowed his eyes at him.

"Who are you?!"

"My my, to ask for my name without introducing yourself is truly greedy of you. However, to ease you, I already know of the two warriors who were instrumental in the defeat of the two Great Beasts and our previous...acquaintance...Natsuki Subaru...Batman."

"...!"

"...Ah, allow me to introduce myself fully."

He bowed his head a bit and looked over at them all and grinned.

"I am the Sin Archbishop of Greed. Regulus Corneas."

Batman realized the danger they were in and threw smoke pellets, once they exploded he tried to get Emilia back from him, but soon saw that he was looking straight at him.

He soon saw a small pebble in between two of his fingers, realizing he was going to flick it at him he dodged quickly.

The pebble passed by him….and straight through the roof, through the tower and made a huge crater on the street below.

"...!"

"Please keep your distance-"

Regulus was then hit in the head by Invisible Providence. But both Subaru and Batman noticed it...he had no scratch, no bruise, not even a speck of dirt on his head...like the hit never happened at all.

Regulus furrowed his brows at Subaru as he seemed to pick another pebble and was ready to throw it at him.

"AHHHHHHH!"

Everyone turned their attention to Sirius who had tears streaming down her eyes as she stared at Subaru.

"You!"

"..?"

"You are my husband! My long lost husband!"

"What? What the hell are you talking about?!"

"That Authority is none other than my husband's so you are him! Let our love become one! Let us become one! Now...come with me!"

The chains soon turned back to normal and began wrapping around Subaru, but as they dragged him away a pebble shot straight through the clock part of the time tower.

"Regulus! How dare attempt to attack my husband!"

"Listen, he attacked me first with his Authority! I was simply returning the favor to him is all, I should have the right to defend myself or are you saying that I'm not allowed to even do that?! Is that not my right?!"

Batman raced to Subaru and cut through the chains with a yang heat beam. Sirius slammed her chains at Batman but he grabbed Subaru and Beatrice and dodged the strike Regulus leapt into the air and sliced the air downwards at the time tower.

The time tower was now completely cut in two and sliced off part fell down onto a nearby building, sending glass and debris flying everywhere. Batman grabbed onto an unbroken ledge and watched the destruction from above.

Regulus and Sirius stood atop of some unbroken scaffoldings of the tower and set their sights on the three...but they heard a noise come from their gospels and both flinched from it.

"Ahhhh, a new writing."

"It seems we have important business we must attend to. It's been a truly interesting experience you three. But I'm afraid we must depart."

But as Regulus turned he slightly kicked the air and the air-slice flew through the air and sliced apart Subaru's leg. His calf was ripped apart and blood sprayed all over Batman.

"AGHHHHH!"

Sirius then activated her Authority and spread the injury to everyone nearby and amplified greatly. Subaru and several others passed out from the pain. Batman received the wound as well, but tried to get back up, only for Regulus to slice the air again and force Batman to jump off and avoid it.

That's when Batman noticed Beatrice and Emilia had no injury.

"I will share my love to you all...except those who wish to steal my beloved's heart. Rest assured I will return for you...Petelgeuse."

Sirius and Regulus leapt away, using the cover of the debris cloud to escape.

Batman's eyes widened as he now saw...Emilia was taken.

"..E..EMILIAAAAAAAA!"

Batman was able to get down to the ground with them, seeing the devastation around him, he placed Subaru down gently as Beatrice held him close.

"Beatrice start healing everyone! We need to get back into fighting shape!"

"Y-Yes, I suppose!"

Batman soon activated his Comm Link and spoke with Otto, he learned that all of the towers that controlled the waterflow for Priestella were taken over by the Witch's Cult.

"They made it inside?!"

"Yes, I have met with several of us now. We're in a field hospital right now!"

"Got it, I'll head over there as soon as I can. We need to come up with a plan."

"Yes sir!"

Batman breathed ragged breaths as he glanced over at all the destruction around him.

"..."

The battle at the Time Tower was over…

Subaru had awoken in a pretty dark looking room, he grabbed his head as he felt the aching from the previous battle.

He then caught sight of Beatrice who was lying in a bed next to him.

"Beatrice."

"It's okay, Beatrice-chan is fine Subaru-kyun."

Subaru then saw Ferris coming to him, he tried to get up but he felt his leg was sore.

"Easy there Subaru-kyun. The healing process was nyot an easy one, so you might feel some discomfort."

"I'm fine Ferris, I just need to check on Beatrice."

He walked over and saw she was merely resting.

"Beatrice-chan used up a lot of mana to heal everyone that was hurt before we got there."

"Geez, you really outdid yourself Beako."

Beatrice slowly opened her eyes and saw that Subaru was rubbing her forehead with a gentle look on his face, making her have a relaxed smile.

Subaru made his through the makeshift field hospital as Ricardo and Ferris explained to him that Witch's Cult suddenly attacked the city, taking more than half of it. They also said that Batman and Reinhard were quintessential in pushing them back before they overran the city. Subaru then saw Batman gliding over to them.

"Batman-san!"

"Subaru, glad to see you up."

Batman walked over and looked over the situation.

"Have you found Emilia?"

"No luck, I'm planning to use the Batwing to scout out more...but-"

"-I know, you just can't let these people be."

Batman nodded, but with a contemplating aura within his eyes.

That's when they heard it.

"Hellooooo. Everyone listening?"

They heard a voice broadcasted on the emergency voice metia.

"I am Capella Emerada Lugnica. The Sin Archbishop of Lust. Hehe, now listen very carefully all of you….do not try anything at all."

"..."

Ricardo, Hetaro, Tivey, Anastasia, Julius, Joshua, Pamela, Ferris, Crusch, Wilhelm, Batman, Beatrice and Subaru continued listening.

"We have complete control over the four control towers that control the waterway! Should we experience some sort of saaaaaay disturbance...we could have some accidental flooding."

"..."

"Listen well, another thing we kindly ask for you all to do is to stay away from Greed's Wedding. I hate that misogynistic perv, but we at least owe him for some peace and quiet."

"Emilia…!"

"We have a few more demands...but I'll let you savor that for now. Gooood day...remember, your lives belong to us now."

The broadcast ended.

Otto came running forward as he was holding a bouquet of flowers.

"Natsuki-san!"

"Otto!...Wait, what's with the flowers?! Get a grip, it's not our time to die yet."

"Ugh, there you go with that awful humor. But, in seriousness, I was getting them for Pamela-san, then the Witch Cult attacked and I had to make it back here."

"Not even putting up a fight huh? Typical."

"Oh shut it! Anyways, on the way here, I saw this really scary Witch Cultist making his way to one of the towers...he had hideous face, like a mask made to scare children-"

"-Did he also have claw like fingers?"

"...Now that you mention it, yes he did."

Batman and Subaru looked at each other in shock as they realized who Otto saw running back here.

"Scarecrow!"

The rest of the group were surprised to hear that name, especially Ferris and Julius.

"Nyah! Do you mean Scarecrow, the Demon of Fear? Nhy would he be here?!"

"Then the recent reports were right, Scarecrow is a member of the Witch's Cult."

"According to Crusch-sama's inyvestistagators, that man is said to be almost as dangerous as a Sin Archbishop."

"Still another dangerous opponent we have to face."

Garfiel then arrived with a terribly hurt Mimi in his arms. Hetaro and Tivey seemed to both be furious at Garfiel, but Ricardo stepped forward and asked him what happened.

"We...we wen' on tha' date she wanted to go so badly...there were some kids on a boat tha' was abou' ta crash, so we saved them...that's when one of the kids I met, Fred, I learned he was my half brother."

"I wen' with him to their home and all, I met his pops Garek...he told me he saved my...my mom, from an landside. She had trouble rememberin' anythin' so he took her with him. They got friendly and later had Fred...then she got sick...she then remembered us...she was always hopin' to see us again...and tha'...tha'...that she loved us. She died...so myself and Mimi wen' and visited her grave."

Garfiel never spoke to them how they took refuge on a rooftop...and Garfiel, overjoyed at his discovery, cried into Mimi's arms until he couldn't stay awake, he slept with Mimi still holding onto his head.

"Th' next mornin...or right now, we heard th' Witch Cultist attacking th' city, so we ran back to an evacuation center to find Fred and Garek...but when we got there...some lady with hair and eyes like Reinhard and some eight armed guy, stopped us...they were strong, Mimi got hurt from the red haired lady, so I took her and made a run for it! Fuck. I'm sorry you guys...I'm sorry I'm so powerless."

Ricardo went over and patted his shoulder.

"It's alright kid, you tried. And Mimi will live. So thanks."

Garfiel began to weep a bit as Ricardo, the young man falling to his knees. Batman went over and patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry Garfiel, we'll have Ferris and the others look over her, but we need you right now."

"Sniff….Okay."

Batman rushed over to a box and opened it up, Subaru looked over and his eyes widened when he saw the contents.

"Are-Are we seriously going to be using it? We haven't tested it enough!"

"We have at least three Sin Archbishops and Scarecrow running around causing mayhem, Subaru. Mimi is hurt and they have Emilia...it's now or never."

"..."

"Firstly, Ferris use the Metia to contact the others, we're going to meet up in the center of the city near the waterway."

Ferris nodded and began using the conversing mirrors to contact the spread out members.

Batman tossed one bottle to Garfiel, then Ricardo, then Julius and another to Subaru.

"Wha's this?"

"Something me and Subaru invented, it's a powerful chemical derived from the bocco fruit and various other plants and herbs I discovered. Subaru refers to it as an 'X-Potion'. It will quickly heal your wounds and helps restore mana to the body."

"Wow. Somethin' I'd expect from the Boss and Bat-aniki."

"However…"

"Hmmm…?"

"The drawback is once it runs through your system, mana quickly burns out of your body...a cooldown period is needed for it to dissipate. Time your usage wisely, if you use it unwisely, the X-Potion will run out and you may find yourself surrounded by enemies."

"Right. Got it!"

Soon, everyone gathered together as Batman was finishing up his preparations.

"Al Ermac."

A large portal opened up in front of them, showing the city center. They all ran through it with several Fangs of Iron Members.

They made their way, as they fought off several members of the Witch's Cult. Ahead of them, Al, Priscilla, Liliana, Chin, Ton and Kon had made it safely to their meeting point.

Looking around they proceeded to redirect the Fangs of Iron back towards the field to make a path for reinforcements. They were prepared to speak...when a lrage black dragon appeared in the sky. The dragon flew through the air and roared, its roar sent a shockwave down to the ground. Julius aimed his sword with the spirit IA coming out at the the tip, and Batman aimed his palm at the dragon.

"Fell Goa!"

"El Jiwald!"

A fireblast sprung from Julius's sword and a large beam of light from Batman's palm blasted the dragon making it yell in pain...but then it started to laugh.

They all soon realized that the creature seemed to be some sort of different being, it's injuries quickly healed up and it flew away and made it's way to the broadcast tower so everyone began making their way to it.

In front of them the two people Garfiel mentioned had appeared.

They were both wearing dark hoods and stared at their opponents with dark soulless eyes. Batman noticed Wilhelm was fearful of one of them...he did slightly notice the woman had blue eyes much like Reinhard.

Wilhelm and Ricardo were tasked with taking care of the two while everyone made a run for the broadcast tower. Priscilla and Al stayed at the entrance with Liliana to try and keep the other Witch Cultists from entering the building. Subaru, Crusch, Batman and Julius moved forward when they encountered a long dark brown haired, green eyed young man with two short swords as he smiled at them. His canine like teeth creeped Subaru out.

"Well...Well well well well wellllll! We have a true feast to quench our thirst do we not? You have all come to feed me and provide me with a meal for waiting so long?"

Julius pointed his sword at him.

"I demand to know who you are!"

"...Alright! We are the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony. Roy Alphard!"

The long cloak he wore dragged on the floor and on the side they could see the emblem of the Witch's Cult on it as prepared to leap at them.

Batman and Julius got into battle stances as they prepared to face him. But he ran across the wall and aimed his palm at Batman's face.

"But I know who you are….BATMAN."

A sinister smiled crept on his face as he dodged a punch from Batman and leapt back. He snickered a bit as he licked the very same palm that touched Batman's face.

He licked his lips as if it was going to be a delicious experience.

"AGH! HUKKK! HUKK!"

But he soon started to gag and held on to his stomach in pain.

Batman saw his chance and activated the tasers in his gloves and punched Roy several times in the face before throwing a huge punch that sent him through a wall.

"You two go ahead, we'll handle things here."

Subaru and Crusch nodded as they made their way upstairs.

Roy spit out large black goo from his mouth and his eyes darkened as he stared at the two of them.

"YOU...Batman is not your real name?!"

"No, and I won't be telling you anytime soon, Witch Cult scum."

"Hrrrrr…."

Roy held onto his short swords as he snarled at the two of them.

"...Spirit Knight. We now know that this the Sin Archbishop that can take memories or erase people from the world. So remember to use code names for now."

"...Yes Batman."

The two soon faced the Sin Archbishop head on…

Subaru and Crusch made it to the tope of the broadcast tower and saw the black dragon in front of a knocked out girl. They waited until it left and ran for the preparation room.

Crusch checked on the girl as Subaru checked on the room ahead...only to see flies the size of humans in front of him. One of them was staring right at Subaru, it's round red insect eyes were reflecting the light coming in from the opened door. It tilted its head and flapped it's wings.

Before he could do anything, he heard Crusch scream behind him and saw her on the ground under the feet of the supposed hostage.

"What a bunch of fucking fool you were to even think of being heroes in this case. Heh, what a foolish bunch you both were."

Subaru recognized the voice as Capella.

"You're that Sin Archbishop?!"

"Of course I am! Look at the ways I win the love of others…"

She soon transformed herself into a tall slender woman with long blonde hair, blue eyes and big breasts. Then a smaller petite girl with a orange ponytail, freckles and yellow eyes. Then she morphed herself into an older woman with black short hair and emerald eyes.

"Or is that not what you love? Hehehe...how about this?"

She then got shorter and...turned herself into Rem.

She then rubbed her hands all over her breasts and legs as she grinned at Subaru.

"Stop…it..."

"Hehehe...come on this excites you doesn't it, huh? Fuck, come on just say you like this. Or...hehehe...how about this?"

She then morphed to look almost exactly like Emilia. Once again playing with herself.

"Come on now! Tell me you love me! That love is mine! Mine and mine alone!"

"I TOLD YOU TO FUCKING STOP!"

Subaru ran forward and hit her with a strike with Invisible Providence, slamming her away and into a wall.

He then tossed two explosive throwing stars at her and the exploded collapsing the wall.

He rushed over to Crusch to see if she was fine but saw strange black veins appear all over her body. He picked her up but turned around to see a badly injured Capella in the form of beautiful short pink haired woman with white eyes. Who struck him with black ribs bones that sprang form her side, injecting him in the leg with her dragon blood.

"Hehehe. Let's see if you can survive that...pretty boy."

Subaru grabbed Crusch and laid her down next to a wall, he then saw he was completely injured...and decided to drink the X-Potion. He felt a surge of energy flow through him as he got back up and breathed in and out.

Subaru relaxed and took a look at his leg injury...but although it was healed, it had turned black.

"...Now's not the time to worry."

Subaru saw Batman and Julius make it upstairs as they handled Crusch's injuries.

"Julius. Where did your Sin Archbishop go?"

"Same as yours I believe, he ran off, Batman inured him a bit before he jumped out a window."

"Yeah, how is it outside?"

"Well enough, the Witch Cult members that haven't been killed have ran off and abandoned the city center."

"Okay, that helps a bit. But we need to tend to Crusch-san."

"Understood, we have brought the others here as well."

Subaru rested a bit as they carried Crusch out, and in entered Anastasia and Batman.

"Subaru you okay?"

"Hm? Yeah, just catching my breath for a bit."

"Listen, during my fight with Roy he mentioned that they were after an Artificial Spirit and a Book of Wisdom."

"What?"

"As we both know we burned it the moment we acquired it. And also…"

Anastasia moved her scarf a bit and out popped a small white fox head that seemed to grin at Subaru, surprising him.

"Hello Natsuki Subaru, it is good to meet you."

"Hey…"

"I am Ana's Spirit of sorts."

"Oh alright, so you're an artificial spirit then?"

"Yes…"

The fox scarf looked at him as it tilted its head.

"My name is Echidna."

Subaru's eyes widened, but he soon took a few breaths and relaxed as he realized that this scarf was probably not the same Witch he and Batman met a year ago.

"How long have you known Anastasia for?"

"Ah, well about eleven years ago from today possibly."

"Yeah...definitely not her."

"Hmmm?"

"Nah, just I knew someone else with the same name...but different."

"Ah, I see."

"I guess I'll call ya Eridna to not confuse me."

"...Do as you wish."

The three of them discussed what to do next. And soon they learned from an arriving Garfiel that so many people were trying to run for their lives that they panicked, making Sirius use her Authority and make them all kill each other out of fear. Subaru realized that they needed to do something to calm them down. So it was decided to use the broadcast tower to reach them.

Al reached over and patted Subaru on the shoulder.

"Kyoudai, I think you should do it."

"Huh? But Anastasia is a Royal Candidate, they'll listen to her-"

"-But you are the big thing right now. You are known for killing a Sin Archbishop and the Sizeable Hare. Right now, people need that kind of courage."

"You really think so?"

"Dunno, but if some big shot hero like Arnold Schwarzenegger gave me a speech, I'd listen."

"...Heh, that's an old reference."

Everyone else also agreed with that it should be Subaru who should do the speech.

Subaru sat on the chair and face the Metia that would transmit his voice across the city.

"Um, hello is this thing on? Okay. Listen up everyone, I know you're scared. But please listen to me. Everyone...Let's fight together! Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking you take up arms and to start killing them. What I'm asking for is 'Don't look downward'. Looking down at you feet won't change anything. You can't see through the floor. Even if you did, it won't change anything. So lift up your heads and look ahead. Clasp tightly, to those who are important to you. Nod gently, to cheer up those who are strangers to you. No matter what, you and them are fighting, together. If you keep going, then I'll keep going, we'll fight and show them that we can win.

.

.

.

.

My name is Natsuki Subaru, and together, we're going to beat the Witch's Cult!"

Everyone outside calmed down…...then roared in excitement as they heard the battle cry to turn everything around.

Subaru took a breath and was cheered on by everyone in the room including Anastasia.

"Say, were you a swindler before you became a knight?"

"...Nothing like that per say. But I have a way with words I guess."

Subaru saw Batman re-enter the room with Beatrice in tow. Both of them showing a proud look on their face from hearing his speech.

After some more time spent on discussing the fact that the two Wilhelm, Ricardo and Garfiel fought were indeed the former Vollachia guard Kurgan and the former Master Swordsman Thearesia, some how back to life and working with the Witch's Cult.

They also met with Reinhard and Deathstroke who were able to rescue Felt from a selfish Heinkel, who had kidnapped her to make Reinhard protect him, but a quick beating from Deathstroke helped them get her back and now they would stay behind to be protected by the Fangs of Iron.

Deathstroke informed the team that Scarecrow had taken over a building that houses the sorcerers that purify the waters and the building sits near where all the waterways converge...giving himself and Batman the idea that he was intending to poison that system with Fear Toxin.

They soon discussed the facts about the Artificial Spirits and the Book of Wonder. They decided to both not hand over either Echidna or Beatrice, but also to not tell them that the book was destroyed...on account such news could cause them to act out in frustration towards the citizens.

Subaru rallied them together and formed the teams necessary to take on the opponents they needed to:

Subaru, Reinhard, Batman and Beatrice

Vs.

Regulus Corneas

Wilhelm and Deathstroke

Vs.

Thearesia and Kurgan

Julius and Garfiel

Vs.

Scarecrow

Priscilla, Al and Liliana

Vs.

Sirius

Ricardo, Hetaro, Tivey, Otto and Pamela

Vs.

Roy Alphard

Capella would then be taken on by whoever finished off their first opponents as her healing factor would make her the hardest to take on.

Subaru and the teams soon headed outside, but Subaru stopped Deathstroke to speak with him.

"Listen, take care of Wilhelm-san."

"Yeah, yeah, got it."

"Also…"

"Hm?"

Subaru put on a mischievous grin as he held onto Beatrice's hand.

"Go wild out there."

"...HAHAHAHAHA! You are a funny one, but don't worry this'll be fun, so I'll enjoy it! Don't die out there...Natsuki Subaru."

Deathstroke raced off to catch up with Wilhelm.

With that Subaru saw the Batwing flying high in the air, eclipsing the sun in his vision as he saw the bat symbol high in the sky.

"Let's go show them what we're made of Beatrice!"

"We'll will show them no mercy, I suppose!"

The Batwing flew over them all, as they marched forward to battle.

The booming sound of the jets became the signal….the signal that the war against the Witch's Cult had now begun.