Escape Artist

It was an early sunrise

The streets of the great capital were very quiet

It was filled with Merchants setting up stores ready for another day of work and People drunk at the pubs

It also contained one badly damaged boy

Subaru Natsuki had just escaped prison

He was extremely that when he called out for it, some spirits assisted him in his most desperate of times

Some even partially healed his broken body

However, the lesser spirits could never fully heal him

His arms and legs still hurt

His bones felt weak

His head felt like it was experiencing a permanent headache

And spirits weren't experienced enough to replace his Lost blood

But the spirits did help a lot with his constant headaches and brought relief to his aching body

However, Subaru still felt extremely tired

After a month of getting tortured and not having any exercise, his body was running on adrenaline and Yang buffs

Subaru's legs began to shake as he slowed down

Subaru wanted to press on and cover more distance but soon found that to be asking too much of his poor body

So, Subaru decided to make the most of his situation by observing the area he ran to

Subaru looked around and saw that most of the streets were empty with only a few salesmen and women setting up stalls for the day.

And seeing this Subaru decided to sit down next to a stall that wasn't set up yet since that would bring the least amount of conflict possible.

This moment reminded Subaru of his loop when he first realised that he had returned by death

Subaru thought about his past loops

And tears began to run down his face

Subaru was now confronted with a few options

Should he Run away and never look back taking the advice the witches gave him and grow stronger?

Or

Should he try to make everything go back to the way it once was

Subaru looked down at his scarred hands remembering everything that happened to them

When Rem held his hand after he was attacked by Boss-gram

His hands being fried and smashed open

This hand peacefully cleaning Roswaal's manor

Felix pulling fingers off to reattach them much later

Emilia and Subaru holding hands on a date

Subaru holding his hand out for Beatrice

"Did any of that even matter?"

Subaru mentally questioned himself

Subaru's mindset ever since Beatrice and Emilia betrayed him was deteriorating

Subaru thanks to the physical and mental trauma he experienced had a slight memory loss

Major things would still be there, but small things would either be lost or deeply suppressed in his mind

The fact Subaru was still Subaru amazed... Subaru

Subaru thought about what he would do in this situation

Subaru... would fix everything like he's always done

Should he still try to be a hero?

...

Subaru began to ask himself why?

Why should he try to fix things again?

Why should he go back to those who hurt him?

The idea of fixing things began to become a more and more distant idea as Subaru began to recap all his harshness

Subaru didn't even want to fix everything not because he couldn't or didn't want to

But because he no longer believed in himself

He is no longer believed in his humanity

He is no longer beloved in his old ways

Always relying on others for help while never growing enough to help himself

His greatest flaw was the fact that he was just a mere human in a world with god-like magic users

He would have to rid himself of all flaws and become as strong as possible

He then would need not to protect those he cared about through others but his strength

That is if their anyone to care about for Subaru

Subaru thought about what Satella and Echidna told him

And he realised something

At this point not Following Echidnas plan would probably result in him once again ending up in prison

He was forced to grow and if he refused, he would be tortured again

Subaru thought about Emilia, Beatrice, Felix, and Julius

These people were the main four who had hurt him

Two deeply emotionally and two physically

Subaru suddenly felt an emotion that he hadn't felt in a while

Anger

Subaru was visibly fuming as he recalled everything that he did for Emilia

All those deaths and sacrifices

"B-Beatrice."

Subaru spoke out loud for the first time in a while

As he spoke his throat hurt like crazy

Something was wrong with it, however, Subaru tried to ignore it

Subaru coughed a bit covering his mouth with a hand

Subaru clenched his teeth in anger

His frail mindset had begun to make him see things in a more one-sided way

Subaru's breathing became harsh as he focused on the spirit and Half-Elf that ruined his life

Subaru lifted his hands charging it with mana

His hand felt tingly with a small amount of mana

Subaru punched the ground trying to break it and to allow his anger to subside

But it didn't even crack and his anger remained intact

Unfortunately, because of his physical condition, he was extremely weakened and ended up hurting himself

Subaru observed his slightly bloodied fingers

Yet even with scrapped skin, it didn't hurt

What he felt now was nothing to what he felt with Julius and Felix

Subaru's anger continued to rise

Subaru frustrated with himself for being so weak charged his other hand with mana. He would prove that he's strong, that he can protect himself and others that he--

'Grrrr' something growled

Subaru looked down at his stomach and remembered something important

While escaping prison and hiding out, he had forgotten that he was starving

Eating nothing but the equivalent of white sludge garbage was not good for the boy

It felt him always feeling hungry and dissatisfied

And now his stomach demanded a meal

His Stomach growled aggressively telling him to get a meal and stop wasting energy

Subaru hadn't eaten a good meal for way too long

Subaru looked around and saw a similar sight

He saw a salesman whom he knew all too well

It was Kadomon Risch and he was setting up his Appa's for the day

Big

Juicy

Appa's

Subaru stared at the salesman and his product while both having a small internal struggle and drooling at the sight of real food.

Subaru had helped this man out before by buying a lot of Appa's to help him through tough times

Subaru also knew he had a family that he provided for and loved very much

But even then as one part of Subaru was recalling everything he remembered about Kadomon, another side was plotting a quick way to steal from him

However was Subaru really just going to rob this man blind

Subaru shook his head Trying to ignore the bad thoughts

But then Subaru came up with a reason to justify his thoughts

The world never liked him

From day one it tried to kill him at every turn

He was broke and powerless

So why not defy the world and take everything you can

Subaru smiled a sinister smile

He wasn't about to rob this man blind

He was going to rob him upfront

And since he didn't remember Subaru it wouldn't bring any harsh consequences

"Yes that's right, as long as I'm quick and effective it will be thought of as nothing more than an average robbery. Just some normal thief trying to steal for their survival.

Subaru smiled and began to walk over to the Appa salesman

"Ehh hay Kid what are you doing up so early? I haven't even finished setting up my Appa's yet. You may wait if you want to buy something but if not scram."

Subaru continued to approach Kadomon

Little did Kadomon know, but Subaru was preparing his spirits

"Kid what's with the silent treatment? Look if you're not buying anything scram I got a business to run and I can't have random kids loitering around my stall."

Subaru stopped moving and looked Kadomon dead in the eyes

"Spirits, help me scare off this man."

To Kadomons horror this 'mysterious' boy summoned six lesser spirits

This alone was an incredibly rare feat

And a dangerous one

Kadomon knew very well that most knights couldn't defeat a spirit arts user especially one with one of each element.

This boy must have years of experience to do this

Kadomon stepped back now with a hint of fear in his eyes

"Kid what's the meaning of this?"

Subaru chuckled a bit before opening his mouth to monologue

"It seems that-."

Subaru felt a pain in his neck

It was sharp as a knife

"Bllleeeaaaag."

Subaru covered his mouth with his hands as blood and... metal began to vomit out of his mouth

The metal was small but just noticeable if you looked closely

"?!"

Kadomon was speechless and as he stared at Subaru a few merchants began to take notice of this commotion and began to crowd around

A few other merchants began to murmur amongst themselves and some were visibly shocked at seeing such a young man vomit up blood

"... Yin spirit can you use Shamak?"

"Yes, contractor."

"DO IT AND USE MAX POWER NOW!" Subaru screamed internally

Subaru's Yin spirits gladly obliged creating a large Shamak cloud

Subaru could feel his mana being pulled out of him

Fortunately, his gate seemed to hold a lot of mana... was this the Satella's doing or did he always have a large amount of mana and simply couldn't control

Subaru thanks to his contract with the Yin spirit was able to see clearly through the Shamak spell

And with this, he rushed past Kadomon and grabbed two Appa's

In hindsight two Appa's probably wasn't worth all the commotion

But Subaru wasn't thinking straight enough to consider that

Starving and just escaping torture he was just focusing on his basic needs and rights while only looking at it from a straight mindset

And besides Subaru needed a little Generosity right now

...

Subaru had run away from the merchant crowd and successfully stole from someone who once was his friend

Subaru stared at his prize

Two Appa's

By choosing to put his needs over others he managed to take food

Subaru took a bite of an appa

While it indeed tasted better than anything he's eaten in the last month it had an odd aftertaste

Guilt or blood?

Both?

Subaru looked down a little sad

Subaru considered returning what he stole and apologies to Kadomon

After all, he didn't do anything wrong

He was just another man trying to make needs ends

Subaru had no right to steal from him

Was it time to give up on being a hero?

Subaru thought about all the good times he had

Not everything was bad

He had a few nice moments

Moments he valued

"NO!" Subaru mentality told himself

Subaru knew deep down that if he gave in and tried to return to his old life he would just get hurt again

The witches had given Subaru an option

He had to take it less he end up suffering this fate again

Subaru finished eating his Appa's and decided to find a place he could hide out and grow stronger

His spirits should probably evolve by themselves

He just had to keep himself alive so they could grow

...

Subaru was walking the streets of the capital trying to plan his next move

Subaru desired an easy way out of all conflicts while he grew but wasn't sure of how to go about it

Subaru realising, he wasn't making much progress decided to ask his spirits for advice.

"Say Spirits, does anyone have any ideas on safe locations? Staying in this kingdom will likely lead to some unwanted events."

Subaru could feel his spirits arguing amongst themselves discussing areas they had once seen over their lifetime

Finally, the Yang spirit spoke up

"I know of a place that is quite far away from here."

"What's it called?"

"I believe it's known as Kararagi sir."

"Kararagi... interesting. Do you know the way?"

"I do."

"Then move ahead let's not waste any time. Let's go now."

"Very well contractor."

The Yang spirit began to lead Subaru towards Kararagi

Of course, this was a large journey and leaving the kingdom might be difficult itself seeing Subaru's physical condition

"Subaru, we recommend that you rest your body before walking across the entire map."

Subaru just smirked

"Hay this will be easy," Subaru told his spirits through his contract link

...

Turns out for Subaru that Kararagi was on the other side of the world's map

Subaru upon hearing this realised that this would undoubtedly be a tedious journey

And with his current physical condition might prove a tab difficult

Subaru right now just decided to cover as much ground as possible in the time he had

But it was hard

From the outside perspective, Subaru would appear to walk with a slight limp

But for Subaru, his body was constantly in pain while also being breathless just by walking too much

Eating a few Appa's while it certainly helped a bit with his energy problems, Appa's can't heal your physical conditions

However, Subaru pressed on

Spirits residing in him, turn out unlike Emilia, he didn't need a crystal to have his spirits around

They could use his body without a problem

His spirit affinity was just that high

...

Subaru was walking past an alleyway when he heard what sounded like a woman's voice call for help

"Help me, help me I need a man!"

Subaru thought of walking past and leaving her to whatever fate had in store for her

But Subaru couldn't let bad habits die that easily

"Ok spirits let's take a break and fight a bad guy."

"Ok"

"A break huh?"

"Please allow me to use my fire magic on these bad guys."

"Hmph, I will help you only if you beg for it."

"I shall try to assist."

"Sorry can't help since I'm busy buffing you... you know so you can walk and move without falling."

Subaru approached the alleyway

"Hmm it's weird this seems like a common trope in most anime. Or at least the ones I've personally seen. Let me guess, a woman is being attacked, me the main hero will save her, and she will reward me greatly."

"Are you only doing this for a reward?" Asked the water spirit

"No, I'm just trying to predict what happens."

"..."

Subaru noticed a rock on the ground

He picked it up and threw it at the thief

The rock bounced off the thief's head and the thief was visibly annoyed

The thief turned around to meet the child who dare throw a rock at him

He was a very shin man

Not as shin as Subaru but it's likely that he hasn't eaten in a while

The man had his attention fully focused on Subaru held his weapon of choice up at the boy

It was a simple dagger

Nothing unique about it besides a little rust that was beginning to form

The thief looked Subaru dead in his eyes observing the boy who dared interrupt him

The thief saw what seemed to be a weak and frail boy

He looked beat up and weak

His only noticeable feature besides his black hair was one of his eyes being Grey

The thief smirked with confidence

and spoke aggressively

"Hey, you bastard, don't think I'll let you off so easily now that you've interrupted my job. Hmmm, tell you what, you don't seem dangerous and your probably just a young kid over his head. So, here's the deal leave any valuables you may have on you on the ground, get on your knees and bark like a dog. And maybe I'll let you off the hook."

Subaru wanted to reply

He had so many cool lines and monologues manifesting inside his head

But he knew that if he tried, he would probably be met with more blood

So, Subaru just stayed silent as he slowly approached the thief

"Ehhhhh? Are you stupid or something? Anyways what's with the silent treatment? Come on kid answer me, or maybe you want to dance with my blade here."

Subaru raised his hand donning an emotionless expression

"What are you doing? Are you asking for mercy or something... what are you-!"

The thief's words were cut short as an icicle was suddenly shot threw his heart

Subaru wasn't just standing around doing nothing

He and his water spirit were pulling out mana to use the spell Huma

Subaru had to put all his focus into this spell and as with doing anything for the first time it was very hard to use it without speaking but since it was really just his spirit doing it, they pulled it off

And now the thief had mere seconds to live

As the thief's life began to leave him, he chuckled slightly

He threw his life away just to rob one girl

He truly was greedy

The thief learnt that stealing maybe was a bad thing...

But that didn't matter now

Because he's dead

Subaru looking at the corpses felt... nothing

He didn't feel satisfied

Killing this man didn't bring him happiness, at least killing random people didn't make him happy

Subaru noted that the fact he didn't enjoy that meant he wasn't a monster

Subaru turned around leaving one traumatised lady behind him

She was speechless

She stared at the body which laid idle

The lady slowly looked up at Subaru who was approaching her with a bored expression

The lady felt terrified was he going to kill her too?

Subaru then put his hand out

The lady just stared at it

"Does he want something?" thought the lady

Subaru noticing that the lady wasn't giving him anything moved his hand closer to her

This caused the lady to scream loudly and run out of the alleyway

Subaru looked down at his empty hand disappointingly

"Should we go after her and get our reward Subaru?" Asked the earth spirit

"Worry not about her spirits, she's just ungrateful. And besides, I discovered that I can use spells without speaking. That itself is a good enough reward... but I did want something extra but oh well."

...

It was night-time and Subaru was resting on top of a building

Appa cores lay next to him as the water spirit shot a small stream of water into his mouth

He was exhausted

Subaru could only laugh at himself

He thought it was possible to walk or run across the entire map in his current condition

Even with mana boosters right now they were extremely weak

Not even enough to make him function like a regular human

Currently, Subaru was only physically strong enough to beat Petra with relative ease

Using magic May give him an edge on some opponents but he wasn't ready to test that theory yet

As Subaru Lay down his water spirit began to apply healing magic to Subaru

Subaru smiled

The magic while weak did help

Subaru closed his eyes enjoying a peaceful rest

It had been far too long since he experienced this

...

Subaru woke up early in the mornings as the sun began to shine on his face

Subaru groaned and stood up

Subaru then felt something odd

He felt fresh almost

Subaru looked at his hands

While still scared all purple bruises had faded or were almost gone

Subaru checked his body out

His water spirit must have spent all night nonstop healing him

Subaru even felt energised

Subaru smiled and sighed in relief

"Ahh"

Unfortunately, a lesser spirit can't heal all inquiries

Subaru's eyes widened in pain as he grabbed his throat

"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts so much"

Subaru began to cough, and small blood droplets splattered on the floor

His water spirit manifested and began to tell him off

"Contractor, understand that your throat has sustained damage which I cannot heal, I would advise against using it for anything besides breathing."

Subaru looked visibly upset

"Well, at least we can communicate mentally huh?"

"Indeed."

Subaru decided to check his surroundings he saw a few things

Merchants once again set up shop except this time with a few more knights in the area

He could see a beautiful sunrise

And a dragon carriage going in the direction of the jail he stayed at

"Oh, I wonder why that carriage is breaking all the road rules. I mean that's definitely worth a speeding ticket."

"What are you talking about?"

"Road rules?"

"Speeding ticket?"

"Explain."

"Yeah, explain these words."

"Yeah."

"Sprits as much as I would love to explain modern traffic laws to you, it's information that will probably never come up again."

"Tell us."

"No"

"Please."

"..."

So, Subaru explained modern traffic laws to his six spirits

...

...

...

"Are you happy?" Subaru though a bit annoyed

"Not really"

"That was confusing"

"What's a red light and green light?"

"Could you please explain that again?"

"No" Subaru sternly said

"Aww"

"Nope, not happening I explained it once, not happening again... anyways."

Subaru jumped down landing on his feet

"I must say Water spirit you truly did a miracle on my body. It's not perfect but it's once again usable to a comfortable standard."

"Thank you for the kind compliment Dear contractor."

"No please all of you call me Subaru."

"O-ok Subaru."

"Sure, thing Subaru"

"Subaru?"

"Very well I suppose."

"Interesting name."

"Yes, Subaru."

"Ok, ok this is cool and all, but we need to move now, we've spent a lot of time talking idle but we have to move... remember?"

"Yes, or course follows me... Subaru." The Yang spirit spoke

The spirit began to float in front of Subaru as he followed closely behind

The spirit seemed to be leading Subaru to the border of Lugnica

"Perfect"

Subaru walked to the edge of the great kingdom and looked back

"I promise that I will one day take my revenge. To those who have hurt me, I promise pain. But to some 'special individuals' I will unleash hell upon you. I swear I will do everything to become stronger, stronger than everyone."

Subaru turned around

"Best of all it's nearly impossible for me to lose since nobody even knows of my existence."

Subaru seeing his freedom and a new life ahead of him did something he wasn't sure if he would be able to do again

He ran

Not a small run

But a large run

He and his spirits were going to embark on a huge journey.