AN: HEY HEY HEY! I'M BACK! AND HERE WE ARE!

For those of you returning from my previous story, "Batman X Re:Zero: The Dark Knight Starting Life in Another World" welcome back! For any new people, hello and welcome to the second part of the "Crossing Effect Series" an overarching story about crossover events that slowly, but surely, begin leading to one singular series of sorts!

Here, we're gonna see Natsuki Subaru and co. have to deal with a certain ring, with a certain color hue, enter into the picture.

This story will not be as long as the previous one, but it will have a few Arcs before the next part kicks in.

Please enjoy yourselves as we see our fav MC get in touch with his truly angry side.

ENJOY!

"Kill you."

In his mind, his feeble shattering mind, all he could muster was this creeping sensation.

"I'll kill you."

His powerlessness, his inability to even put up a struggle, weighed him down, much like the chains keeping him in place.

"I'll kill all of you."

In this cave, echoing the hideous cackling, the muffled cries, this young man had to helplessly witness it.

Natsuki Subaru, a person summoned to this world a little over a month ago, was trapped. Chained to the caves walls as he stared, tears blessing his cheeks and drool escaping his lips.

Rem, the lovely blue haired maid, who was sticking by Subaru even after his shameful displays in the capital...she was with him, to save everyone from the Witch's Cult.

Yet here she was, beaten, bloodied and...now…

"Rem."

The Sin Archbishop had left with a larger group of his Cultists...leaving a smaller group to be rewarded, in his own words, in order to...teach the oni girl the ideals of true love.

And they did.

Unable to defend herself, as her body was too broken to fight back.

They did.

And Subaru could only watch as they all forced themselves on her.

What broke his heart more, was not the tears Rem was spilling from her bruised eyes, the convulsions she made or the pained sobs she made.

No.

It was the fact she was staring back at him...as if to make sure nothing bad was happening to him.

"Hate."
He felt this for the Witch's Cult.

"HATE YOU."

He felt this towards Petelgeuse.

"HATE YOU!"
He felt this way towards the people of this world.

"HATE YOU!"
He felt this unbridled emotion towards whatever had brought him to this parallel dimension, outside of his control or wishes.

"...Hate you."
He engaged in this instinct of his, towards his own actions; his stupid, incompetent, selfish, prideful mistakes.

"...Hate…"
….

..

.

He felt this way, towards himself.

Natsuki Subaru: The Red Lantern of a Parallel Universe

Ch. 1 - A Hellish Kind of Hate

Now it was his next chance.

Upon using Return By Death, Subaru found himself alive again and used this opportunity to the most.

He decided to see the person he and Rem were staying with for his healing sessions.

Crusch Karsten.

A person whose family had deep connections with the Royals of this country, they were incredibly important and she herself seemed to be a person of true power.

Just what he needed.

So he begged her for any kind of help in destroying the Witch's Cult. In stopping there future massacre of Irlham Village. He felt this could help him, this would prevent the deaths, the tragedy...the...incident in the cave.

And yet…

"Very well. Thus, the House of Karsten shall lend you no aid under any circumstances."

"-HUH?"

Subaru's world spiraled into a hot mess of heat and loud noises.

Even as he pleaded his case, begged her...he didn't care how pathetic he would appear or how desperate it made him sound, he wanted it done.

He wanted them dead.

Every last Witch Cultist, dead and buried.

Yet here, a woman with great influence and authority, wouldn't lift a finger to help him. Even if her reasoning was based in logic, it would not reach Subaru's ears.

Her eyes that held no pity for him.

He hated it.

Ferris, whose eyes reflected the image of a poor weak child.

He hated it.

Wilhelm, who stood there calmly without a shred of emotion, not even getting involved.

He hated it.

Still, her words could still sting his heart.

"Not once…"
"HUH?"
"Not once did you say, 'I want to save Emilia'."
"...TH-TH...THAT'S BULL."

"Hm?"
"Don't want to save Emilia? Is that it? You think all of this is just for some petty revenge? I'm using her and the village as a means to get close to those fuckers? What the hell?! Who...WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?"

Subaru kicked across the small table next to him and then bit harshly into his lips, blood trickling out of them. Rem stood up and held him, worrying he would attempt to lunge at Crusch.

"SUBARU-KUN! CALM DOWN!"

He stopped as he felt the pain in his foot and Rem's warm touch, snapping him back to a clearer state of thinking, but not much.

He glared at Crusch and the others with such a hate filled look; that if fixed eyes could kill someone, Crusch would have been destroyed seconds ago.

Ferris took a step forward as Wilhelm sheathed back his sword.

"It's good Rem-chyan stopped nyou. If nyou fly into a rage here, Ferri-chyan will just keep Rem-chyan busy while Wil-jii slices nyou in half."

Crusch continued to behave reservedly, only furthering Subaru's contempt for her.

But it was those harsh stares from this Camp that let Subaru know. They didn't believe him, they didn't trust him and they saw him as someone with nothing to his name.

No one in that room was going to help him.

"So, I'm wasting my breath aren't I?"
"The ravings of a madman usually are, Natsuki Subaru."
"...Rem let's go."

He took Rem's hand, surprising her, but also scaring her...the face Subaru was making was so hate filled, she had no recollection of ever seeing it since meeting him. As he reached the door…

"Do you have nowhere else to turn to?"
"...Put it this way, Karsten, if I want help, I'd rather converse with some piss covered rats than ever speak to you again."

He took Rem and slammed the door shut behind them.

Crusch sighed, as Ferris was quite angry at Subaru's rude comment.

"That boy gets top nyotch healing and this is how he repays us? Tsk."
"Leave it be Ferris, we have lots of work to-"

Just then, Crusch saw something fly by the window. She couldn't recognize it, but she saw that it left a small streak of light that quickly dissipated. It was-

"Red?"

Subaru sent Rem to find Reinhard, but that night she informed him that he had left with Felt with some business to attend to, Royal Selection related ones.

With Rem informing him of this, Subaru asked to be excused, she happily obliged.

Only when she sat down, did she start hearing shattering glass and breaking tiles come from the bathroom.

"FUCK! FUCK! REINHARD! ROSWAAL! BOTH OF YOU ARE SO DAMN USELESS! SHIT!"
"Subaru-kun…?"

He stepped out of the bathroom, both of fists covered in towels, covered in blood. Rem looked behind him and saw that the entire bathroom of the inn they were staying at, was completely trashed. Rem immediately got to work on healing his hands...Subaru gave what was an obvious shrill smile at her.

"It's alright Rem, everything will be alright. I promise."

"Rem knows...Subaru-kun can do anything."
"Anything huh?"

Subaru hesitated to even accept that answer.

Above their inn, a small red object was circling around, just above their room.

Even when he went to go see Priscilla, that exchange broke down when she asked him to...lick her feet. He almost did in fact, and was sent several feet back by a powerful kick in response, only for her to raise him to face her, face filled with anger and disgust.

"What you have is neither loyalty or faithfulness! It is filthier than that. It is a dog's existence or the greed of a pig. A lazy pig that wants, desires and begs for all! It is the most unsightly greed of all!"
"Uhk."
"Even if you drive off the Witch's Cult, I shall destroy the Camp you belong to and anyone involved with it with my bare hands. All for harboring such a despicable beast!"
"Ah!"
"Take some pride in this...the destruction of the Emilia Camp will be because of your actions."

She tossed him away and Al took him away, carrying the injured boy over his shoulder...even Al could not hear the mutterings Subaru was saying…

"I'll get you for this."

A red object flew past the windows behind them.

Subaru sent Rem to inform the knights, hoping for some kind of assistance. Though he anxiously felt they probably wouldn't for some stupid reason, he figured. Then as he bit down on his bottom lip in frustration...

"Wow! Hey onii-san, are you okay? Your lip is bleeding are you alright?"
"Huh? N-Nothing to worry about kid, I'm fine."
"Well, Mimi sometimes bite herself when she eats reeeeeally fast! Want me to heal you?"
"No, that's fine thanks."

Subaru found himself speaking to a little beast human, a small orange haired cat girl, he deduced was named Mimi.

He thought she was a curious, nice girl. But he tried to brush her off, his time was limited and he was still feeling ticked so-

"Hey, Mimi. Don't be causing mischief for other people."
"...Anastasia Hoshin."

"Oh, well if it isn't you! Hi Natsuki-kun, feeling better."
"More or less."

Still, Subaru scanned the area in case another person he hated was nearby.

"Relax Natsuki-kun. Julius is on other business he's not here."
"...That so.?"

And so Subaru asked an audience with her, and she obliged...but as they walked, Subaru furrowed his brows and bit his miolars down harshly.

"Priscilla. An uptight woman with no respect. Al. We may be from the same world, but he's 'grade a' useless in this situation."

He clicked his tongue.

"Pisses me off."

Meeting in a causal eatery, they sat to discuss some matters pertaining Subaru's predicament. And so Anastasia did him a favor…

"I've written down the location of a shop that should still have a dragon carriage available. Here's my signature, really it's all you need Natsuki-kun."

"So high and mighty about it huh?"
"Hey when the opportunity arises, right?"

He hesitantly took the note, but she insisted they sit and chat about some small talk.

"Say Natsuki-kun, where are you from?"
"Like my birth place?"
"Yeah, tell me."
"Well, hope you believe me. I'm from beyond the Great Waterfall, from a place called Japan. Far east just before the nation of America. Well, maybe some small islands between that, but I don't recall their names."
"...Beyond the Great Waterfall."

She seemed to not take it as a joke as others did, bringing up Hoshin of The Wilderness, founder of Kararagi as an example.

After a bit more discussion...

"So Karsten has been purchasing all the city's iron supply huh? Hm, so that's why Russell Fellow was there yesterday."
"OH? Russell Fellow. Good find, thanks Natsuki-kun. That should be some useful info."

Now, Subaru realized that her light blue eyes saw past him; like a con artist watching a fool fall into their grasp.

"...You set me up."
"You got in a shouting match with Crusch last night and went your own separate ways. I figured now was the golden opportunity to read you and your emotions, you seem like easy picking that way."

This trickery and her nonchalant manner, made his blood boil and his heart race to a fever pitch.

"Sorry, Natsuki-kun, but this is the way of business."
"How could you mistake my intentions Anastasia? I'm trying to do the right thing! How is it you could-"
"-Could what?"
"Ah."
"Let me say something. Your worth is decided by what you have done, and you have done nothing for me to show any value Natsuki-kun. And furthermore, your righteous path should be backed up by concrete actions if you want people to believe in them...I don't see that in you."

All the deaths. Suffering. Anguish. Scars no one else could see, she just...ridiculed them, bashed them, and called them nothing important.

At this point, Subaru had half a mind to grab a nearby chair and beat her to death with it.

Mimi sensed this, pointing her staff at him, making the young man back up a step.

"Onii-san, back away from my Lady, otherwise the super strong Mimi will have to hurt ya!"
"Thank you Mimi, but don't worry. Natsuki-kun here can't do anything."

Once again, Subaru felt some sort mind wrecking fury wake up that made him want to cripple the both of them, before bashing in their skulls with that ridiculous staff Mimi was carrying around. But he knew that wasn't going to happen.

Knowing that the pompous Julius served her, he should have expected she was the worst.

No, they all were. All of the participants besides probably Felt were all scumbags that were allowing innocent people to die.

Crusch showed no pity.

Priscilla actively declared open hostility to them.

And now Anastasia only helped a smidge for the purpose of personal gain.

Rotten.

They were rotten.

This entire country was rotten.

Filthy, diseased.

Allowing pure children to be butchered.

Hardworking diligent people to be violated.

Bigotry to seep through the cracks.

Everything was wrong.

For trying to save Emilia, Rem and the villagers, he was beaten down, ridiculed and disgraced. He felt his mind racing as an overload of vile, scathing thoughts ruptured his thinking pattern.

Anastasia was trying to give him some pointers on how to do negotiations, but she could see that when Mimi kindly healed his lip just now...he bit it again, this time with so much force, it looked like he bit into a succulent red fruit...red liquid poured out of his mouth...and he glared at her shadow...as if he instinctively knew that if he looked at her he could blindly fly into a rage.

"Bye then, Natsuki-kun. Pleasure doing business with you."

"..."

"All right, let's go!"

Her private army raised themselves from the seats and made their way out...Subaru didn't care.

Even when Mimi waved him goodbye, Subaru waited until they were out of his sight. He stumbled out of the cafe and into the streets. Some distance from him, Rem arrived and saw the blood, she rushed to his aid. As she began healing him, Subaru could see in the corner of his eye...the Fang of Iron mercenaries guarding the detestable Anastasia making their way through the crowd.

"Damn them…"
"Huh?"
"Hate them."
"Su...Subaru-kun."
"All of them, I hate all of them. The knights. Julius. The know nothings. The ungrateful people. The liars. The cheats. The uncaring masses. I HATE THEM."
"Subaru-kun, Rem is here, she'll help in any way-"
"-I hate them. Hate them. All of them. Every last one."

Every single time he blinked he could see the faces of every last person who wronged him in the past week. All of them...he-

"I HATE THEM."

When he looked at Rem...she gave a worried compassionate look to him, his reflection in those sky blue eyes...just like...in the cave.

"DAMN IT!"

He held his head, the memory seeping into his head. All the deaths, all the misery, he had to fight it. It had to stop. Somehow, Subaru had to stop it all…

Even if it meant.

"I'll kill them! I'll kill every last one of them! Anyone and everyone! I'll kill them!"
"Subaru-kun, please stop! Tell Rem what's wrong!"

A crowd was watching as they thought the oddly dressed young man was going crazy. Mimi and Anastasia looked back, with the Royal Candidate sighing at what she saw as a pitiful display. Hearing one last thing.

"I'LL KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!"

Now.

Zipping around Anastasia and maneuvering the crowd was a sharp red light. It swirled and turned to dodge corners, people and more...before it stopped just in front of teary eyed Subaru.

"Huh?"

A red ring was floating in front of Subaru. Rem got into fighting position, cautious of the mysterious object.

The crowd watched on as they looked at the ring, floating there, encased in red energy.

Anastasia and her group were a distance away but were watching the ordeal.

Subaru stared at the ring, unsure of what it was or how it was there to begin with.

Then, he heard it.

{Natsuki Subaru of Earth. You have great rage in your heart.}

"It...it's speaking to me?"
{This world demands vengeance. It demands bloodshed. Be the first for this world.}

"First?"
{...YOU BELONG TO THE RED LANTERN CORPS.}

The ring latched onto Subaru's right ring finger...and he felt his heart rupture.
"HUKK."

His heart was instantly destroyed and all the blood in his body violently coursed through his organs, veins and muscles and stuck into his chest, lodging into his throat.

"Subaru-kun-"

He hurled out everything.

Buckets worth of blood spewed out of his mouth and nose, it was a display so disgusting some women in the crowd fainted at the sight. Subaru held his throat as all the blood in his system was being pushed out of him.

It hurt.

It was utter pain.

Yet...it felt cleansing as well.

Now that all the blood was out of his system, Subaru's clothes had begun to change. His tracksuit went from having white...to red, his yellow parts changed into white and his trademark 'N' symbol was now replaced by the signature coat of arms meant only for someone in this army.

A Red Lantern Insignia.

With it, a red aura covered his body…

"S-S-baru...kun…"

He heaved and puffed all the while Rem trembled seeing him like this, he spat out the last of his blood before more leaked out and floated around him.

He turned to glance at Rem.

"Rem."
"What-What has happened to you, Subaru-kun?!"

He looked at the ring on his hand and felt around his body, feeling the strong heat like strength flowing within him. He looked around and saw the startled faces of the crowd, peeking some more, he saw in the distance Anastasia's group. He growled at them, making more blood squirt through his snarling teeth, floating effortlessly around him.

Rem grabbed his collar, calming him down just enough for him to face her. He took a calm breath, but it still made a tinge of blood float out, startling Rem. He did his best to calm her down and patted her head.

"It's okay Rem. Really."
"But, look around you Subaru-kun! All that blood, how are you-?"
"-The ring. This ring here has replaced my heart and blood, now nothing but energy is coursing through me."
"Energy? Rem doesn't understand."
"Rem."

He cupped both of her cheeks, giving her a calm smile, even as she blushed madly from it.

"Rem, will you do something for me?"
"Anything."
"Rem, would you put your life on the line for this?"
"Rem swears as a maid of the Roswaal Estate and her unyielding support of Subaru-kun."
"Okay...stay here."
"Huh?"

Subaru let go of her cheeks and focused the ring on his fist.

"Stay here, I'll be back to pick you up."
"W-Wait, Subaru-kun, what are-"
"-I'm going to save everyone."

He then suddenly flew up into the air, leaving a streak of red light behind him. He looked down as Rem frantically called out to him, even going as far as to leap out to him...he glanced over at Anastasia who was staring up at him in disbelief.

He only sneered at her. Then he sonic boomed out of there, leaving everyone stunned by the sudden display they witnessed. Rem landed on her feet and began to tear up, looking up at the spot where he flew off to.

"S...Subaru-kun…"

Anastasia was overwhelmed by shock.

The young meek boy who was the pinnacle of weakness in her eyes, suddenly changed in manner of seconds. He had flown off to unknown parts...and while Mimi was innocently excited by the spectacle, her mind raced as to what was happening.

All the while, her white fox scarf began to move…

Rem had made it back to the inn, finding that Subaru left a note for her...informing her he took the money, but left some for her to survive in the inn for at least five days. Letting her know to wait for him.

She counted it, and confirmed it was enough for food and lodging, but not enough to rent a dragon carriage, especially with the high prices set due to Crusch renting many of them. And there were hardly any carriages heading out of the capital...

Even she knew she could not go to her the other candidates Subaru's fighting with them.

"Subaru-kun...please…don't get hurt, Rem only, wants you safe."

All Rem could do, was wait.

Subaru flew through the clouds, looking at the address written on the note.

"One carriage huh?"

He proceeded to spit some blood on it, burning the note into cinders.

"Fuck her."

He blasted through another cloud, but stopped and looked back, seeing he was now a good distance away from the capital city.

"Hmmm, still! I'll need some help evacuating the village, even with this power."

He pondered on the thought, until he remembered a certain loop prior.

"Right, Otto could be of use. And I remember there were a ton of people, merchants I think. They have carriages, I can use Roswaal useless title to get them to come."

He did wonder where that Sorcerer was in all this, but he forgoed that simple thought and searched around. It was then the ring glowed, probably to educate him more of the abilities it had. He focused and it let out a small of wave of see through red energy.

A radar system.

With it, he found a small gathering of merchants moving up the road past the giant tree he saw on the way to the capital.

He sighed, making more blood float out of his mouth.

Now it was the evening, and many merchants were resting before making their next day trip to the capital in hopes of making profits.

This was the case for Otto Suwen, who was in quite the pickle involving the overabundance of oil he had with him.

So as the grey haired man looked up, he saw a man covered in a red aura, crossing his arms staring down at him.

"Wagggh!"

He fell back catching the attention of the other merchants, who also became terrified by a floating human.

"Otto Suwen?"
"Y-Yes!"
"...Are you available?"
"Available? For what I presume?"
"...If I can guess, all of you have some goods that need to be sold to, well, alleviate financial issues is that fair to assume?"
"It would be?"
"...Here then."

Subaru floated down and had his ring levitate over a sack full of money, close enough for all of them to goggle at it.

"I'll buy everything from you, but also in exchange I need most of you to come with me."
"W-Well...um, you know my name, but you are?"
"Oh...I'm Natsuki Subaru. A-"

He knew Otto had no ill feelings towards Emilia at any point, but he didn't know about anyone else there, so he had to keep some things on the down low.

"Again, I'm Natsuki Subaru. A member of the Red Lantern Corps."
"Red...Lantern?"
"Yeah, but ignoring that...let me inform you, we're on our way to the Magrave domain, I'm a...partner of Roswaal's."
"Well, with that money I can see that, but what would be our task in such a noble province?"
"We're evacuating some people while me and...some people, exterminate some pesky Ma-Beast that have been causing trouble nearby. I was looking for some people to do this, but the Royal Selection started at such a shit time, so you guys are a blessing."
"Well, I'll explain things more to the others then, Natsuki-san."
"Please do."

As Otto left to get things organized as some sort of ringleader. Subaru drew a short breath.

He had lied to them, but it was a completely necessary lie.

If any of them died, he'd make sure to avenge them.

They traveled along as Subaru sat inside of Otto's carriage, with them were 10 carriages coming to aid in the evac of Irlham village.

As Otto kept watch ahead he looked back, a bit on edge.

Subaru sat there hugging his legs as he practically stared a hole at the floor of the carriage, not saying or doing anything, the red energy tightened around him, but it seemed the excess would hinder over...and made tiny light sparks float off of him, like his body had been previously on fire.

"Gulp."
"Hm, something wrong Otto?"
"Nothing...it's just you called yourself a Red Lantern right?"
"Yeah."
"So what does that pretail?"

Subaru gave it some thought.

He had no idea where this ring came from, how it fully worked or if it was actually harmful to him to keep using it.

But the surge of power it gave him and the feeling to seek out justice, was more than enough for an answer.

"To punish evil, Otto."
"Oh...so how many of you are there?"
"Just me...for now."
"Just you? But you said that you were part of a Corps?"
"...Don't know too much of the details, but if we can simplify it, I'm the first member of Lugnica."
"Ohhhhh, so an...international group then?"
"Suppose so."

Otto seemed to swallow his breath and drop the conversation altogether as Subaru scratched his neck and let out a hollow growl, letting more blood flow out of his mouth.

Then, his ring detected something. The radar system went off.

"Otto."
"Huh? Something-"
"-We're being followed, stay here."

He stuck his head out and had the ring scan the immediate area again, then he noticed it was coming behind them. Looking up he saw something in the moon floating over to them.

"Otto, can you let me know something?"
"Sure."
"What does it mean when you see something that looks like a big...white fish coming from the sky?"
"White...fish….?"

Otto's terrified mutter and nervous sweat made Subaru realize something was not right. But he still gave him a harsh tone.

"What is it, Otto?"

"N-Natsuki-san...do...do you see the White Whale?"

HE looked back to see it swimming across the sky way above them in the distance.

"Well, yeah, it looks like a really huge whale."

"Oh god...oh my god...OH MY GOD! WE'VE GOT-"
"-SHUT. YOUR. MOUTH."

Subaru covered the merchant's mouth and stared into his eyes. Otto kept his voice silent.

"I'm going to fight that thing, you keep the others moving. If I don't show up in the next five minutes, you make the merchants keep going and drive off, you can keep all the money, but make sure everyone int he village survives. GOT IT?"

Otto nodded as Subaru put his hand off of his mouth, allowing the frightened merchant a chance to speak out to him, plead with him.

"Natsuki-san! Don't be rash! This is the White Whale,it killed the previous Master Swordsman and it had been a scourge of the world for 4-"
"-Don't give a shit."
"Huh?"
"Now...Anything that gets me in my way, gets trampled...or dead. Understand?!"

Subaru leaped out of the back of the carriage and used his ring to fly up in the air. The other carriage drivers looked as the red aura'd man shot into the air...right at the descending White Whale. Panic set in as they saw about to collide.

Subaru focused as he saw the sheer size of the monstrous being. It roared at him, which made him narrow his eyes. He then zipped to the side and find himself feet away from it's gigantic eye. He aimed then aimed his ring at it.

"Die."

He fired several red beams into it, blasting it apart. The Whale roared in pain as it flung about in the air, making Subaru fly under it and to the other side of the ghastly beast. He then did the same to his other eye, making the monster blind and in pain. Thus the White Whale fired a shockwave from it's body flinging Subaru far back, but he was able to catch himself and flew straight towards the White Whale. Their dogfight continued as the White Whale sniffed the air and began covering itself in white mist. Subaru scoffed seeing this.

"Stupid fuck."

Subaru shot forward and then upwards right over the Whale he then focused, with all his might he made sure his fury became something. And so he did.

He recreated the wooden sword that he used to battle Julius, now made of red energy. The memory of that humiliating defeat made his blood singe.

He charged down and began stabbing into the back of the White Whale. The Whale roared in anger as it had flaps open on its back, Subaru saw one open next to him, so he backed away and a stream of fog waters shot out. Subaru figured getting hit by it would be bad, so he flew off the back of the Whale...but not before creating constructs of knives from the mansion and had them stab into the side of the Whale.

Now he flew downward and was staring at the red broken flesh of the Whale's eye socket.

"Dumb damn fish! I'm Japanese you know?! A damn oversized fish like you-"
"-GROOOOARR!"
"SHOULD SHUT UP AND GET EATEN!"

He boomed forward, all the while hot red plasma fired out of Subaru's mouth and impacted into the Whale's grisly wound.

He torpedoed his body through the eye socket of the monster, as it let out a horrid screech. Then, on the other side of the Whale…where his other eye was-

.

.

.

.

-Natsuki Subaru flew through it, covered head to toe in blood, a chunk of the Whale's flesh inside of his mouth, like an animal chomping on its prey.

The Whale ceased it's movements...then its fins became rigged and the odd purple symbol hovering on it's back, possibly the very thing making it float...faded.

The White Whale's body now began plummeting down…

The merchants looked on, in utter disbelief.

There were swallowed breaths, trembling voices.

Otto looked on as Subaru was flying at them, letting the Whale's body fall gracelessly back to earth, in the far distance.

The Whale finally crash landed and dirt and debris flew high into the air, mixing with traces of its blood.

Subaru finally got into the carriage and sat down, eating and slurping away at the White Whale's flesh.

"Ahhh, been a while since I had Sashimi."
"...N-N-Natsuki-san...y-you killed it."
"Of course I did. A Red Lantern like me isn't going to be killed by Flounder over there."
"F-Fu-what? N-Nevermind! Natsuki-san, what you just did is a feat no has done in over 400 years! Not even the former Master Swordsman was able to beat it...and yet…"
"Let me guess...I did it in less than 5 minutes right?"
"Yes."

Otto simply nodded as Subaru took in every bite of the fesh he was rewarded with, chewing the meat and sucking up the blood. Protein, iron, pure fatty acids, Subaru couldn't get enough of it.

Otto could only stare at the man who stank of blood and was eating a legendary menaces meat as if it were nothing. He then saw the trickling blood escape Subaru's mouth as he chewed and chomped away messily at it.

"What?"
"N-Nothing...I just...have never met someone like you."
"...Hopefully that'll change."
"Hm?"
"N...Nothing. Let's just keep moving."

However, it became apparent that two of the carriage riders were now backing out, not because of the mission itself...but obviously because they were scared of Subaru.

"Fine. Here."

He tossed them their payment and pointed at the two drivers.

"Then do this for me. Head back to the capital and tell the knights what happened here, inform them about what's going on in the Mathers territory. Make sure they come to investigate."

The two drivers agreed…

"Don't fail me."

Subaru said with such stinging malice that the two instinctively turned back in order to get the task done. Fearing what would happen if they messed up.

"Um, Natsuki-san...you clothes?"
"I'll wash them later, ain't gonna worry about some blood at this point."
"R-Right…"

Otto nervously looked ahead as if felt he had to know something, as he faced away from Subaru.

"Natsuki-san."
"Hm?"
"If-If I took the carriage drivers...and I don't know...ran the opposite direction we were intending to? What would you have done?"
"...I'd break you arms and legs, and dump you to the side of the road."

Otto felt the chilling response grab his heart, he began to sweat as he turned his head.

"Pfft! Hahahaha! Jeez, take a joke Otto! Taking that so seriously! Hahaha, you are so pathetic when it comes to that!"
"Man! That scared me half to death, I'm just gonna keep driving and let you be!"
"Okay."
"Whew."
"...Okay."

Unbeknownst to Otto's sigh of relief as he whipped the reins...Subaru was staring at him, the goofy smile no longer there at all.

Now it was the early morning, they had made it to Irlham Village as everyone was slowly waking up for the day. Petra noticed the caravan of carriages arriving in the village. Then they all stopped and out stepped Otto.

The head people went over to him.

"Oh hello, I'm Otto Suwen. Well, we have been sent here by a employee of the Magrave territory to evacuate the denizens."

They all asked who it was...but the answer stepped out for them.

At first surprise...then sheer apprehension as they saw Natsuki Subaru step out of the carriage covered in dried blood.

Worried about their friend's condition, they floored Otto for answers about his condition to which Otto replied.

"It's okay! It's alright everyone, that's not his blood! Easy. Easy."

Then a small voice let out a shout.

"Subaru!"

Petra made her way through the crowd and met with him, but she trembled seeing him in his condition.

"What happened? Are you okay?"
"Yes Petra...Petra…"

The image flashed across his mind of her corpse, making him close his eyes to focus it out. He opened them as he looked out to the gathered crowd.

"Everyone! As of right now, we are evacuating the village, there is some trouble brewing in the forests. I will be leading the charge against it, in the meanwhile I'll have these gentleman evacuate you all."

The villagers remained quiet, but also seemed tense about it.

"Everything will be fine once...wait.."

He then sniffed the air.

Blood?

No.

It was something else.

It was like something fermented. Like Natto…

What was this smell? Subaru felt he could smell it on the way here after the Whale killing, but he assumed it was the Whale's flesh, like it was gamey or something.

No...there was someone behind him, who was giving off this smell.

He slowly turned his head and caught eyes with a middle aged man among the merchants. He put two and two together, instantly.

Subaru quickly began moving to him, the man named Ketty began to suddenly back away, making Subaru furrowed his brows. Then he saw the man begin to pull something out of his pocket...only for Subaru to create constructs of chains and wrap up the man in question.

He fell harshly to the ground and was unable to break free, dropping the dagger from his hand, to which Subaru easily recognized...everyone stared on in shock.

The villagers couldn't believe what they were seeing, having known the boy named Subaru for quite some time now, they recalled he wasn't an overly powerful swordsman or even used magic. Yet a few days away to the capital, he came back drenched in blood and using magic they had never seen before.

Subaru squatted down to look into Ketty's eyes. He grinned wildly at his captur.

"I feel like I need answers from you. So you and me are going to talk."

He levitated the chained up Ketty with his ring and began floating with him.

"Otto, get things rolling! When I get back, I want this village ready to leave!"
"Y-Yes…"

Petra tried to reach out to him, but Subaru flew off into the forest with Ketty in tow. Petra could only hold her chest as she wished…

"Subaru...what happened to you? Those eyes of yours…"

She then closed her eyes sadly.

"They are not the same."

Subaru was now with Ketty chained up to a tree.

"Now then, suspecting this smell is the Witch's Scent, I can safely say you are a Witch Cultist."
"Ahhh, you can smell the love then."
"Sure sure. Now tell me where your friends are hiding."
"...Are you the Sin Archbishop of Pride-"

Subaru created a construct of a broom and whacked Ketty several times across the face, cutting open his cheeks, pounding in his eye and shattering several of his teeth.

He grabbed his hair and pulled him forward a bit to sneer at his face, closer.

"DON'T EVER COMPARE ME TO THAT BASTARD BOSS OF YOURS AGAIN."
"...Heh...the smell does not lie."

Subaru glared at him before he searched his pockets, finding a metia and the map to their second hideout.

He opened the metia and saw a Witch Cultist staring back at him, he narrowed his eyes before closing it.

"Alright. No useful info and absolutely insane, so I can't let you go back with me."
"What will you do...then...Pride-sama?"
"...I want to test something."

He then created a construct of the knife from his loop...when Rem killed him. He then quickly sliced open Ketty's neck, making fountains of blood shoot out of the grisly wound. Subaru got in front of the wound and allowed the viscous warm liquid enter his mouth, gulping it down. He soon stepped back and coughed a bit, before he settled down and…

"Oh, I know how to drive a dragon carriage now. Well, now…"
"Hkkkkkkkkkk…."
"Thank you sir, let me tell you that with your death. I'm a step closer to finish you Cultists off."
"Hkkk…"
"Every last one of you."

Subaru said this with a spiteful tone as the blood trickled out of Ketty's wound, then as his life faded, Subaru made the chains dissipate. His limping body was then levitated by his ring and flung over the brushses...sure enough the smell of blood attracted some Wolgarm to the corpse. They sniffed it, before they began tearing into it and chewing apart the former Witch Cultist.

Subaru watched on for a bit, before spitting out some leftover blood and making his way back.

He realized that by consuming a certain amount of blood from someone he could gain a skill from them that could potentially be useful. Though he knew doing so was considered dangerous...he figured the ring allowed him to do it, without dying.

So he let got rid of his nauseous feeling towards blood…it was useless to him now.

Now returning he saw the carriage Ketty brought with him and looked it over. He then had his ring scan it and it found a sack buried under the interior floorboard, he had it torn out. Levitating it to him, he saw it was stones. He had it examined by another merchant, who confirmed it was magic stones of the fire variety, possibly set to explode at a certain time.

Subaru thanked him, creeping him out with his blood filled smile.

The village was being evacuated as ordered, with Otto nodding to Subaru. To which Subaru handed him a little something...

"Otto, here."
"Oh, a metia."

"Found two of them in question, contact me if anything happens, I'll fly by and take care of it."
"Yes thank you."
"Listen Otto, I really appreciate this."
"...No need, I can see you care for this village a lot, so I understand."
"Please get going."

As the carriages began to move out, leaving Subaru alone in the village square. Petra called out to him, making him look to a carriage that was filled with the children and their families. All of them looked out in worry, seeing Subaru still drenched in blood...with the parents suspecting that the man he took with him earlier, had been murdered. Still, they had to trust him.

"Subaru! Please be careful!"

Subaru nodded to Petra, giving a wry smile. This put her somewhat at ease, but not fully.

She sat in the carriage with the others as they saw their hometown get smaller and smaller behind them.

Subaru made it over to the back of one cabin, closest to the forest and out of sight fro the others. He looked down at the three slouched bodies.

They were three Witch Cultists that he killed on the way back to village after killing the psy amongst the merchants. It seemed they were laying in wait for orders and Subaru sniffed them out.

After drinking their blood he was not able to read and write the native language of this new world. He also gained some mastery of the conversing mirror he was able to steal. So he scratched his teeth clean of bits of chunky blood and grabbed the bodies, intending to feed them to the Wolgarm.

Now he was flying up ahead, reading the map to where their second hideout was, a small rock cabin hidden a few miles away from the main village. So he slowly floated on top of the cabin and carefully carved a hole to the top of it. He then cautiously took the carved hole top and floated over the sack of magic stones. He then had them activate and lobbed them inside.

He flew away and watched…

Then he heard loud shouts and finally the cabin imploded. Two cultists stormed out while embers covered their bodies, Subaru did his duty and jumped down stabbing them both in the head. He then covered himself in his red aura and charged in, seeing nothing but dismembered bodies strewn across the cabin.

He then hid by a doorway that was swung open, activating his radar he knew two other Cultists were hiding behind some boxes. He moved half his body to the door and fired a single shot, killing one instantly. Another fired a ball of fire at him, he created a brick wall construct which took the hit. Then he charged forward and fired two shots from his ring, blasting through the Cultist in the head and stomach.

As he was about to begin scooping up some blood to drink, he looked over and saw an open back door.

"Roaches."

He flew out to see two of them making a run for it, he growled seeing their hoods looking back at him.

A cultist prepared a fireball attack, so Subaru aimed his ring right at him and blasted apart his entire head. The other responded and tossed his ceremonial dagger...it bounced off of Subaru's aura.

He then dashed forward and began choking out the Witch Cultist. The man tried to escape his grasp, but to no avail...Subaru puked out his own blood onto his face, destroying it into nothing. Subaru now fully realized his own blood became something like napalm to others, destroying anything it touched.

With his attack done...the Cultist's hands went limp.

Subaru proceeded to bite into the shoulder of the Cultist and drank some blood. Once finished, he got up and picked up the dagger twirling it around effortlessly.

"Great, now I can use these daggers."

He then marched over and scooped out some blood from the other corpse and sucked it in, he continued this until he had his fill.

"Blegh, salty. It might be a useful ability to have, but I don't know if I'll ever get used to the taste."

He felt that he drank enough blood for now and took care of all the Cultists gathered there...so he made it for the cave, flying high into the sky.

Now outside of the cave, two Witch Cultists stepped out and gazed at Subaru. They then bowed to him, only for them to raise their heads when finished. One had a dagger thrown at his head, the other was shot through the neck by a ring blast.

"Get out here, I know you're there."

Stepping out was a foul skinned green haired man. One who gave the sense of depravity and ill will. He cackled as he looked down at Subaru from his spot in the cave.

"Ahhhh, such smell of love! Tell me. Tell me. Are you here for us? And why did kill my two fingers just now? Hm, I feel they did nothing wrong. So why? Why? Why why why why?! Why did you do it?! My brain trembles from this inquiry!"

"We are the true believers of her love! Love! Love! Love! Oh! Yes...I need to introduce myself I am-"
"-Petelgeuse Romanee Conti. Sin Archbishop of Pride."

Petelgeuse seemed a bit frazzled at Subaru knowing who he was and the harsh gaze he was giving him. But he simply bit one of his fingers and smiled at him.

"Ohhhhh, interesting. The smell of love and death surrounds your very being! Amazing! Truly! Now tell me...are you Pride?"
"...NO."
"Then why are you here? And who are?! Who?! Why?! Hmmmm?! Answer me!"
"Don't get me wrong Petelgeuse, I am not Pride like you are assuming me to be. No, but I am something important to you."
"Important, to me?"

He bit more of his fingers and tilted his body in confusion to Subaru.

"...Yeah."

He then had the red aura around him grow as blood oozed out of his snarling mouth.

"I'm your death."

Unknown to Subaru and the others of this entire universe, the Crossing Effect had taken its hold of this world.

Changing the structure of things, flow of events and allowing concepts alien to this reality to encroach in, the results of would be unknown.

Here, Natsuki Subaru was given a power he had little understanding of...the power of rage itself, and with it, he could change this brand new world.

For better or worse…

To be Continued….