Camping and Changs part 2

Halibel POV

To Halibel it was just another day

He would wake up look at the sky, smoke a cigarette and prepare to train

Subaru.

Halibel knew that Subaru despite wanting to try his absolute best to improve himself, seemed to like sleeping in.

Halibel put his cigarette to his mouth and took a deep breath in

"*Suck*... *Puff* Ahhh nothing helps me wake up like a small huff and puff of this little stick of perfection, sent by the heavens themselves."

Halibel took another puff and blew out the smoke

Using one of his fingers he began playing with the smoke making images out of it.

"Ahh, another masterpiece of whatever this is ha-ha."

Halibel couldn't draw or at least not well, so the only thing he had was a bunch of squiggles.

"All right then that's enough of morning pleasures."

Halibel threw his cigarette behind him

"Oh wait"

Halibel using his super-speed turned around and pinched the lit end of the cigarette putting it out.

"There we go, can't have any forest fires... my reputation will die if I start another inferno in large forests... oh yeah and Subaru's training would be interrupted unless he likes fire training... I would not recommend."

Halibel walked over to Subaru's resting area as he was monologuing to himself

As Halibel approached Subaru he noticed something odd

"I-is that a little girl resting with him?"

Halibel was... confused very confused

"Well, this is interesting"

Halibel approached Subaru and the girl, and he noticed a massive amount of power in the girl

"Can it be?"

Halibel reached down to wake up Subaru

"Wake up, wake up!"

Subaru slowly opened his eyes

After blinking a few times, he noticed Halibel standing above him

"*Nyheeee*"

Subaru muttered nonsensically and tiredly

"Just five more minutes."

"Hay Subaru who is your girlfriend?"

"Hmmm?"

Subaru suddenly noticed the weight on him and looked down at the great spirit

"O-oh yeah forgot about this... it was pretty late last night."

Subaru gave Shami a head pat to wake her up

Shami slowly opened her eyes and smiled at her contractor

"Moring Subaru."

"Heya Shami"

Being morning Subaru could have a much better look at Shami now

She had pale white skin, and platinum hair, she wore a black dress that seemed to have bits of white around the edges. Her bodieShe had dark blue eyes that seemed to have... buffer flies in them.

"(So, this is my great spirit of Yin huh... do all great yin spirits have butterflies in their eyes... or is it just a coincidence?

Subaru thought to himself

"Wow Subaru I had a feeling that you were a ladies' man... but when you said you like Elf, I thought you only meant elves... so do you like spirits as well? What's next... an Oni or Demi-human?"

While Halibel said everything in good humour Subaru didn't perceive it that way.

Subaru franticly waved his hands around as he tiredly tried to explain that the little girl sleeping on him was a spirit.

"NO, NO y-you have it all wrong! This is Shami my contracted great spirit."

"You know you never actually introduced me to your spirits... so that could be Shami... or a mystery lover who just happened to navigate the forest, avoid the ma-beasts, and climb the tree just to sleep on you."

"... You're screwing with me... aren't you?"

Subaru asked annoyed at this sly wolf's shenanigans.

"Ha, ha you should have seen your face."

"Halibel stops it, or I will unleash my Killer Loli Shami on you... no better name Lolizilla-9000... Darth Loli?"

Shami looked at Subaru dead in the eyes with her Butterfly eyes.

"No, I won't."

"Why not?" Subaru complained

"The title you gave me isn't my title."

"Oh, then who are you?"

Subaru asked setting up Shami for her theatrics

Shami stood up straight

"I-I guess I am the great spirit of Yin."

"Say it with pride."

Subaru said loudly

"I am the Great Spirit of Yin Shami!"

"Yeah!"

"Y-yeah!"

Halibel looked on with a slight smile

"Ok that's cute and all but... are you hiding any other small girls Subaru?"

"NO! And don't say It like that... it just sounds creepy when taken out of context."

Shami giggled

"No Halibel, I am currently Subaru's only great spirit."

"So, the others won't evolve?" Asked Halibel

"... I am currently Subarus only great spirit."

"Ha, that's quite the impressive title to hold."

"It is an honour higher than royalty."

"Ohhh says who?" Halibel asked

"I do." Said Shami while holding onto Subarus leg

"Aww, thanks Shami... hay umm why did you hold onto me when you slept, you're not like the other great spirit I told you about who could only absorb mana through my gate... but you can well... do It through any method you desire."

Shami blushed a little at Subaru's question

"As a great spirit, my reasons for my actions are secret and mysterious and, and... a human wouldn't be able to comprehend them... yeah."

"Aww, you're blushing."

"N-no I am not!" Shami pouted as she had a small outburst

Halibel simply looked at the two amused

"All right, that's enough you two. Subaru would you like to begin training with this sly wolf or would you rather cuddle that spirit?"

Subaru looked down at Shami and gave her a head pat which she nuzzled into

"While both options are very tempting, the smart thing to do is train. And hay now that your up against a great spirit perhaps now I'll defeat you."

"Su-san while getting the assistance of a great spirit in any scenario will be extremely useful... this great spirit seems to have only recently mastered basic Yin spells."

Shami looked down a little ashamed that what Halibel said is true.

She was indeed a great spirit.

And with this evolution came an astonishing increase in her mana reserves and raw power

With raw mana alone Shami could rival most powerful mages

But she knew deep down that despite training she lacked in so many categories

Most great spirits were hundreds maybe even thousands of years old and possessed knowledge of spells long forgotten by most

And what could she do?

Mid-tier Yin spells at best

Even if she had the mana to unleash Al tier spells she simply didn't know how to.

Shami started to wonder if she was even worthy of this gift

A gift only maybe only she and the other five spirits contracted to Subaru may receive

The gift of evolving to greatness

A gift another older or more experienced spirit could use

Subaru her contractor could have potentially waited for quazi or even regular spirits to request a contract.

Yet he chose six young and relativity weak lesser spirits

And regardless of if he wasn't thinking straight or was desperate, Shami swore she would do anything to repay Subaru for what he has given her.

"Shami? Shami? Shami!"

"Hmm?"

"You were daydreaming..."

"W-was I?"

"Yep."

"Oh, my I am sorry."

"Eh don't worry about it. It is no big deal, anyways are you ready to fight Halibel?"

"I-I am yes."

"Sweet Halibel you are about to fight Five spirits, a great spirit and of course me. If you want to run away tail between your legs, I won't judge."

"Ohhh my Subaru those are fighting words, Let's hope you can back them up."

"So where do you want to spar then?"

"How about away from camp, we might accidentally destroy my secret stash of cigarettes if we do this here."

"Halibel it is no secret I know your cigarettes are just under that leaf on that brach, my spirits know it's here and I'm pretty sure the ma beasts know it's here"

"Nope, the ma beasts are unaware of my secret stash."

"... Ma beats don't smoke."

"They won't if I don't give them the chance to."

"*sigh* Let's just go... hay Shami."

"Yes, Subaru?"

"You look like you need a little encouragement."

"Oh, what counts as encouragement from you?"

"Simple as we move to the trai-... away from Halibel's cigarettes we will chant exactly what we are going to achieve before the day ends."

"What is that?"

"Well, first you need to raise your hand in the air."

Subaru raised his hands showing Shami what to do

"Next you reach deep, deep within yourself and shout... *breaths in* VICTORY!"

"V-victory!"

"Say it as if you mean it, VICTORY!"

"V-VICTORY!"

"That's the spirit."

So, Subaru and Shami to Halibel's dismay chanted Victory loudly as they relocated for the day's training

...

"victory"

"victory"

"Ok you two that is enough, you're starting to scratch your throat."

Halibel was right, Subaru and Shami chanted so much that their throats were starting to hurt forcing them to chant softer and softer as time progressed

"v-vict-."

"NO"

As Subaru feebly tried chanting once more, he was interrupted by Halibel who had never been so annoyed

"ok, ok that's enough. So Halibel."

Subaru put his fist into a hand and cracked his fingers

"Are you ready?"

Before Halibel could answer Subarus other spirits manifested around him causing the area near Subaru temporarily glow.

"Halibel you are easily one of the most dangerous individuals I have had the pleasure of meeting. However, this battle is a One vs Seven battle. I will hold nothing back and I expect you to bring your all as well."

"Yeah, that's right," Toph said

"Subaru I will protect you no matter what," Aqua promised

"Wolfman I will engulf you with my new and stronger passion to burn," Blaise said in an enthusiastic voice

"*sigh* it is so unfair Shami gets to be a great spirit first... but I suppose I can wait just a bit longer," Aeolus complained to hide her excitement about fighting beside Subaru

"Subaru my attacks are the hardest for Halibel to dodge use me as much as you can," Eon said ready to strike Halibel down

Even though Halibel could not hear it Subaru's regular spirits were agreeing with Subaru and hyping themselves up

"So, what do you say Halibel?"

Subaru started charging himself up with mana

"I think an appropriate thing to say is... don't let the ma beasts get yer."

Subaru who had been using Aeolus and his wind magic to feel his surrounding just smirked

"Oh please."

Subaru had finished charging

"One dog or two won't make a difference against me."

Subaru launched toward Halibel revealing his two dragon engraved daggers

"Calling me a dog huh why you little."

Halibel blocked the daggers with his Kuni

But this didn't stop Subaru as he reeled his Daggers back for a second strike, he charged them with some of the mana in his hands

Subaru's first phase of physical combat was simple

Subaru struck Halibels Kuni again but this time he generated a small shock wave that when blocked made both their hands feel tingly

Subaru wanted to test if absolute brute force could beat someone skilled in combat... well-calling Halibel skilled or even a master would be an understatement

Halibel noticing this head-on approach decided to go on a more offensive approach

By using his incredible speeds, he began swinging his short yet sharp daggers around forcing Subaru to block

And to Subaru's dismay Halibel could do a few things he could not yet

Firstly, when Appling mana to his weapons he didn't have any backlash from it simply because he was far more skilled at it

Secondly, Halibel could apply a curse to his weapons meaning if Subaru was hit once he was done for or at least that's what Halibel thought

And worst of all Halibel... could use clones... with no drawbacks

As Subaru was struggling to fend off Halibel he heard something scary

"Su-san you said one or two dogs didn't matter, so how about three?"

Subaru pushed himself away from Halibel to get a better view of the environment and to his horror, he saw... three Halibels.

The one he was fighting and two new ones

"Don't think illusion magic will work against me Halibel!"

Subaru yelled having never seen Halibel use this technique before, meaning to him these weren't clones but mere illusions

"Su-san who said you could take a break?"

One of the Halibel clones quickly moved in and started attacking Subaru with his Kuni's while the other threw them at long range

"(D-dam it there not illusions, they can interact with me... ow ow, there just as powerful as the original, how is this possible?)"

Suddenly Subaru realised what these were

"Clones??!!"

Subaru knew about the concept of cloning yourself in battle through the anime he used to watch back on earth

Subaru thought back to the times he watched Anime on tv... there was this green alien he used to like watching. He was a demon or something Subaru really couldn't remember, nor did he have the time to recollect his thoughts about such matters.

"ENOUGH!"

Subaru suddenly powered up using the condensed mana inside his body to surprise the clone of Halibel hitting it with a powerful mana blast

This attack did indeed damage the clone

"Impressive Su-san you hurt me, or should I say not me?"

Halibel said almost as if he was questioning it

Subarus Spirits began to glow

"Ok, I have had enough warming up let's get serious."

"Finally, Su-san I was wondering if I needed more clones to pressure you into trying harder. After all, it's rude to ask someone to go 'all' out then not do the same yourself."

Halibel brought his clones back to him as three became one again

Subaru saw this as an insult, so he decided to take this battle to the skies.

"Murak!"

To Halibel's amusement Subaru softly jumped upwards into the high tree branches as if he had no gravity

"Su-san hiding in trees won't sav-."

Before Halibel could finish, two massive and hot fireballs erupted from the trees

The flames were so hot they dried up all the leaves on the trees in a 3-meter radius

Halibel seeing this decided to throw daggers through the fireballs in hopes of putting them out and hitting Subaru

As his daggers connected with the fireballs a beam of light erupted from the middle of the Goa

Subaru had cast the spell Jiwald in hopes that Halibel would choose to put out the fire instead of dodging it

Halibel seeing this had almost no time to dodge

He managed to evade the first Beam of light

However, the second had successfully hit him on his left arm

This attack didn't hit his bone but greatly damaged his muscles

His arm was in a lot of pain, and unlike Subaru, he didn't just have a spirit that excels in healing magic to assist him

This of course served to anger Halibel

"Clever 'Subaru'."

Halibel referred to Subaru by his actual name instead of his usual nickname

Halibel tore some of the fabric from the clothes he wore to bandage his arm

"But now you've proven beyond doubt that for me to win I need to use some of my hidden tricks."

Subaru who was now standing in clear view of Halibel after burning all his cover away didn't answer and just summoned a Minya shard throwing it at Halibel

"Subaru you should watch your back!"

Subaru turned around expecting to be ambushed by a dozen clones but found nothing

"Wha?"

Subaru quickly turned back just in time to see the Kuni Halibel threw at max speed hit his shoulder taking his arm off.

"AHHHHHHHHHH"

Subaru screamed in pain

Subaru was in a lot of pain but with Aqua healing him he felt enough relief to talk with gritted teeth

"Halibel-that was a real dick move!"

Halibel raised another Kuni

"If you want to keep the other arm you better react faster this time."

Subaru was ready to react

He fell downwards off the tree branch

Halibel considered picking out of the air but decided against it

Subaru landed on the ground right next to his dismembered arm

"Halibel, there's a saying where I come from, losing a limb or two."

Subaru picked up his arm and put it on his shoulder

"Won't stop us."

With Aqua's healing assistance he was able to reattach the arm to the shoulder by the skin

Fixing the joints and nerves would take longer but if Subaru manages to stall for time while focusing on healing it should only take a few minutes to get the arm functional again.

"Wow Su-san, healing magic truly is something special huh? Could I get some healing over here?"

"NO, YOU JUST TOOK OFF MY ARM!"

"Well, you did put a hole in mine."

"THAT'S NOT EVEN FORCE!"

"Well, I needed a way to ensure that you wouldn't just use that water spirit of yours to quickly heal from my attacks. And I know it takes longer to heal more complex inquires... sooo the arm had to go."

"Halibel... is just cruel... Hay Halibel wants to know something cool?"

"Cool huh? This may not be the time for that... but I don't feel like saying no."

"You know how it is difficult to use multiple spells at the same time?"

"Well to my knowledge a single gate using more than one spell at once is almost unheard of."

"Well, what if instead of two different spells it was just the same spell over and over?"

"What are you getting at."

"I hope this works behold OUR SPECIAL ATTACK!"

Shami's hands began to glow a dark purple are more and more mana began to condense within her body

"This is our absolute wrath of A Fallen knight and The Great Spirit of Yin SHAMI!!"

"Subaru I will give you my all during this fight, EL MINYA"

Subaru grabbed Shamis's hand to put his mana into this attack

"Times TEN!" Subaru screamed as mana began flooding out of him and into crystals

To Halibel's horror 400 Minya crystals appeared

"Times w-what?" Halibel questioned

"Aeolus BREAK THEM"

Suddenly the air around the crystals became sharp, and it cut all the crystals making smaller and sharper ones

Halibel did not want to admit it, but this sight was scary

The entire sky was now covered in this extremely dangerous crystal powder

"Wanna give up?" Subaru asked confidently

Halibel put his daggers away

"Not a chance Su-san."

"Then behold I call this attack Minya Hell Storm or more simply El Minya times ten."

Subaru threw his hand downwards causing the mass cloud of Minya crystal powder and shards to be sent downwards and it was to be dropped right on top of Halibel

However, Halibel had a plan

Most people would freak out or prepare their last words when confronted with what is a cloud of absolute death

But not Halibel, Halibel stayed calm the whole time as he planned out his options to beat this attack wisely

Halibel knew dodging this might be risky, and he wouldn't be able to parry or slice all that, so he did the smart thing

Halibel smirked and summoned a clone

"Nice try Su-san!"

Halibel's clone jumped in front of him absorbing all the damage for Halibel

Halibel was certainly tanky and held some resistance against Yin magic but... this poor clone had its entire body filled with these shards of Minya like being filled with glass

Except glass doesn't turn your body into a crystal when pierced by glass

The clone died

Halibel and Subaru looked on in silence

"Wow, Su-san... that's a brutal attack I rate it nine out of ten. Let's see tell me if I am wrong about that spell. It uses ten times the mana but summons all ten El Minya's in quick succession. Incredible but you need a lot of mana to use that technique."

"Yeah, that's about right... I umm so your clone umm... would you like to stop?"

Subaru said powering down this was a mistake because it meant

Subaru had let his guard down

With mana boosted concentration he can hardly track Halibel's movement with his eyes

So, the moment he let his guard down

"No thank you."

Halibel was right behind Subaru

Subaru didn't even have time to react as Halibel struck him using his good hand and the back of his mana infused daggers

This attack sent Subaru flying and he only stopped after hitting a tree causing parts of his backs skin to peel off

"Ahhh you SNEAKY little-."

Subaru noticed an odd wound

It was a slice wound

"Halbel when d-did you?"

"When I hit you mere seconds ago."

"NANIIIIII?!"

"Although it's a much weaker curse."

"You may still be able to beat me, but the more I slice your flesh the less time you have."

"... Wrong Halibel."

"Pardon me but you are cursed."

"Hay Aqua please heal my wounds and Great spirit Shami can you remove this curse?"

"I-I can try"

Halibel watched on in curiosity as Shami put her hand on the cursed area

"Oh, good it's a simple curse I can break this."

Halibel was surprised to see his curse broken

"Oh, my Su-san, it's not every day someone just casually breaks a curse. Even if it was one of my weaker ones. Guess that means I need to apply more lethal curses."

"You won't get another chance to apply another curse. You have already seen me use Minya times ten, but since it worked for both the Goa and Minya spells I can assume it will work for everything else."

"When did you cast a times Goa spell?"

"In the tree"

"Oh, the two fireballs were-."

"Yep"

"Impressive, this kind of image usually only exists to create new and better spells. Now that I think of it, the only places you hear about something like this happening are in history books. Creation is difficult but you're expanding upon the creation in never-before-seen ways."

"Halibel that may be correct, but it still takes a lot of mana to use, in other words, I both dish out damage and use up mana faster."

"An attack like that could change the tide of any fight."

"If that's the case, let's use another, Ready Toph?"

Toph began to glow brightly

"Ready"

"Together then"

"EL DONA"

"TIMES 3"

Halibel knowing how this spell worked jumped in the air and just in time as he avoided the three massive clusters of earth spikes that continued to expand from the very ground he once stood upon

But little did Halibel know, this is what Subaru wanted to happen

"VITA TIMES 4"

Subaru expected this spell to send Halibel towards the ground stunning him

While Halibel did indeed fall to the ground, it did nothing to slow him down

As Subaru was left in a shocking state, Halibel started to run around him while creating clones

After ten clones were made Halibel began throwing dozens of Kuni at Subaru

Subaru needed to react fast, otherwise, he would become a cursed pin cushion

Subaru quickly compressed some mana into a ball and blew it up causing a shock wave to knock away the Kuni storm

"Just how many of those things do you have?!"

Subaru yelled

"I have more than two left."

"And how many is that?"

Halibel threw two Kuni at Subaru

"I still have more than two left."

Subaru was starting to tire, he wanted to end this fight as quickly as possible, but he was becoming fatigued and was starting to run low on mana

Yin spells were not cheap to use and using ten at the same time casually really drained his reserves

However, Subaru still had one option that not only boosted his stamina but didn't require much Mana to sustain

Subaru began to cover his body in raw mana

It was enveloping Subaru's entire being

"Shami listen closely to me, I need you to stay back and pump your mana into me. I have a plan."

"Very well Subaru, I trust you."

After Subaru had finished powering up he dropped his daggers and gestured for Halibel to come

"Hmmm now, now this doesn't seem fair. You want to fight poor me in a fistfight when I'm down an arm. Tell you what."

Eight of the clones merged back with Halibel

"Two of us with one arm each seems fair to me."

"Remember what I said at the beginning?" Subaru said almost taunting Halibel

"... These two dogs are about to make your face and the floor become best friends."

Halibel and his clone charged at Subaru

As the three collided it created a mana filled shockwave that sent the nearby hiding ma beasts flying backwards

And as the three continued fighting Halibel noticed something incredible

"(Incredible, even after this one fight it seems his control over mana has greatly improved. It no longer feels like he's trying to create a shock wave with each small hit, but instead trying harder to push me back. And it seems that when charged with large quantities of mana he can keep up with two of Me's. Su-san you truly are the most interesting human I have ever trained.)"

And with that thought out of his mind Halibel observed Subaru wind both his fists back as all the mana that once covered his body seemed to seep into his arms and fists.

"HALIBELLLLLL!"

Subaru roared as he brought each fist down upon the two Halibel's

The Halibel's tried to block but these went ordinary punches

These were filled with Subarus absolute will continue fighting

These punches each help every remaining drop of the mana Subaru had in reserve

And as Subarus collided fists with Halibel and his Clone something happened that Halibel had not experienced in a long time

(Halibel was not always the most feared assassin when starting he would always get himself hurt especially when he was a mere pup. His first master during their first duel accidentally broke one of his arms and his noes. This happened because Halibel despite knowing his master had far superior strength choose a head-on attack. This resulted in one of the only times Halibel broke an arm. And the only time it happened was in training. Until now.)

As Halibel's arm started cracking and breaking Halibel could only think of one thing

("It seems I still have much to learn. Subaru Natsuki, thank you for showing me your indestructible will and pure determination... I pray you to accomplish anything you set your mind to.")

And with that Halibel fell as his clone vanished

Halibel was not unconscious but on the ground, one arm disabled and the other shattered from the inside

Halibel could have sworn that the impact from that final punch may have travelled from his arm into his collar bone causing damage.

Subaru then fell onto one knee still overlooking Halibel

"*Pant pant* D-did I win?"

"..."

Halibel could not answer, all he could do was look onward and with a fatigued smile, feel proud of what was his best student ever.

Subaru slowly stood up legs wobbly and still out of breath

Subaru eventually did stand up and when he did, he towered over Halibel's body that was lying on the ground

Seeing this Subaru realised that his efforts had truly paid off.

So much pain and suffering yet even when he was at his lowest, he continued

And with his own two hands, he had truly taken back his life

No longer was he a prisoner to the Cat boy and corrupt knight of knights.

He was free, absolutely free now

Understanding that his efforts had brought him here Subaru smiled a large grin and lifted his arms into the air

He then yelled at the top of his lungs

"VICTORY!"

Subaru then fell to the ground, having spent almost all his mana, he was far more fatigued then Halibel

"Haha, I WON!"

"Y-yes Su-san... *tch* you did. Say could I get some healing please?"

"A-Aqua, do you have enough mana left to heal him?"

"I have enough for just one of you."

"Heal Halibel, or at least one of his arms, even if you heal me I probably won't be able to make it safely back to camp."

"F-fine but I'm not happy that you want me to priorities someone else over you."

As Aqua floated over to Halibel to heal him Subaru felt a small weight jump on him hugging him tight

"Subaru! You won, you won."

Shami was crying as she hugged Subaru tightly

"Of course, I won Shami... oh who am I kidding, I didn't know if I would ever beat Halibel. But with your help, and the others... we pulled through."

"Subaru I'm so happy that you emerged safely from that fight."

"Admittedly I had to pull out all the stops to win... and even then... I do acknowledge that Halibel could have possibly just made a hundred clones and beat my ass to the ground and walk away. That was not the point of this fight."

"You understand the reason you fight?"

"I always have... but now I'm certain of why I fight."

"Why do you fight?"

"To protect what I have left. Be it you, my spirits and even myself."

"Aww."

"I never told you girls this but in my old life, an old friend told me I needed to love myself more... at the time I didn't really get it... but now those words keep me going. Day in... day out."

And with that Subaru succumbed to fatigue falling unconscious

...

...

...

Subaru woke up to a dark environment

The darkness pierced all around making it look like an endless void.

Subaru then saw something in the void

It was a half-elf with silver hair

Someone who was supposed to be the embodiment of evil itself

And Subaru hero

Subaru tried calling out to her

But he didn't have a mouth

Subaru tried reaching out

But he didn't have arms

Subaru tried getting closer

But he didn't have legs

Or a body

Or ahead

He was here with her yet not

However, even when he couldn't yell all his praise and thanks to her

She still noticed him

Satella slowly approached her beloved

And she whispered

"Soon my life we will reunite... however now is not the time... not yet...soon...love yo-."

...

Subaru woke up to Halibel, Shami and another small girl with yellow eyes looking over him

Subaru was dazed

He had just seen the most beautiful woman of his life again... and then he was ripped away from her

("So unfair")

Subaru thought to himself

"Oh, Su-san you finally woke up. Using all your mana in one fight left you unconscious for two whole days."

"Subaru! I am so, so happy to see that you have finally woken up."

Shami said

"Honestly Subaru you almost gave us heart attacks, please be more responsible next time."

Said the small girl

"Yeah, yeah, I get it... wait a sec."

Subaru slowly turned his head to the new girl

"... umm."

"Since you fatigued, I will excuse you this once for not recognising the person who has been working nonstop healing you and putting mana back into your exhausted gate. Honestly barfing out a spell worth ten El Minyas all at once would completely shatter a normal man's gate. Feel lucky your spirits held it together."

"A-Aqua is that you?"

"Yes, Subaru it's me, your Great Spirit of Water Aqua."

...

Subaru and his two great spirits were enjoying a well-deserved break

Shami and Aqua the two prestigious great spirits sat upon the only throne worthy of them

Subarus lap as he gave them well deserved head pats

"Ahhh Subaru I never understood why that other great spirit you told us about enjoyed these head pats, but now I understand completely."

Aqua said happily

"Never doubt Subaru."

Shami spoke

"haha"

Subaru just cheering laugh at the shenanigans of his two great spirits.

As Subaru continued to Pat Aquas' head he noticed a few details about her

Firstly, her hair and her skin here a light blue colour. It looked so much like the water that if he swam in an ocean she would simply camouflage in perfectly.

Secondly, she wore a small ribbon on her head which was also blue, but a darker shade of blue

Thirdly the dress she wore was also a Dark blue

... Subaru noticed that Aqua seemed to like the colour blue... even though her 'shoes' were blue. And lastly, her eyes were glorious... Blue. Strangely they seemed to have fish in them. Aqua must have seen some in his memories

"Hay Aqua, how does it feel being a great spirit?"

Subaru asked in curiosity

"I feel amazing, so much power now flows through my very being. With this power, I can finally master healing."

"An admirable goal Great Spirit of Water."

Subaru turned around to see Halibel with the arm he punched wrapped in cloth

"Oh, heya Halibel... how's the arm?"

Subaru asked a little nervous that Halibel may be mad after he shattered his arm

"Well, It's slowly getting healed thanks to Aqua... Subaru... I have never been so impressed with any of my students before."

"Oh?"

"Yes, that's right, you punched a little bit of pride right out of me, and I see that even a master such as I can improve."

"That's great... but with an arm like that I assume we won't be training for a while huh?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Oh, what have you come to say?"

"I have come to say I fear for now you won't gain anything of value when fighting me... so I propose an alternative solution."

Halibel smiled

"I have organised a seven-day endurance test for you. It's easy really all you must do is kill 2000 Ma beasts or more accurately most of the ma beast population in this breeding ground."

"Wait, wait I'm not sure this is a good idea... even with one arm you are going to be a much harder challenge than those Ma beasts...those things can hardly focus on anything besides their own hunger."

"Su-san that may be the case, but you can't only train with me, you will develop unhealthy habits over time and I'm not going to let that happen."

"What about your arm?"

Halibel looked at his casted arm

"What about it?"

"I-it needs healing."

"Nar It's fine."

"But"

"Su-san while I can't use it, it doesn't hurt anymore. You are free to leave me alone."

"..."

"Don't worry Su-san here's my promise. If you manage to kill 2000 Ma beasts, I will continue sparing with you. Maybe I will even use a few secret techniques but no promises."

"How many secret techniques do you have?"

"All of them."

"What will you do by yourself?"

"Is it not obvious?"

Halibel revealed a cigarette that he was concealing in his pockets

"I'll just smoke the days away."

"You just implied that for a whole seven days you're going to smoke... how many cigarettes did you even bring?"

"..."

"..."

"More than two."

"Nope, nope mi going bye."

While Subaru stormed off with his great spirits Halibel laughed as he lit his first Cigarette of many

"*Pufffff* More than two te he."

...

As Subaru ventured onwards with his Two great spirits and four full spirits he realised something

"Uhhh I haven't showered in a long time. Look at me... I'm dirty as a rat... a rat covered in ash and dirt."

"Would you like me to spray you with some water?"

Aqua asked

Subaru thought back to the last time a great spirit washed him... eh why not after all this isn't that monster Puck, but his own Spirit Aqua

"Sure, sounds great."

Subaru gave Aqua a thumbs up

Aqua smiled as she created water using her mana

Subaru observed as the water slowly floated towards him

Before turning into a giant tornado engulfing him

"Wahhhhhh!"

Subaru screamed in fear

Then it stopped and Subaru was standing, soaked and scared

"What was tha-."

Aeolus decided to help dry off her contractor by blasting him with a strong wind

"S-stop that, it's so cold."

Subaru said almost shivering

Subaru noticed Blaise glow suddenly as if she was getting excited about something

"Blaise noooo."

Blaise In response...

Threw a small fireball to the ground creating a warm area for Subaru to heat up.

"... Yeah, that works thank you."

Subaru sat down for a few minutes to warm up

And having washed, dried and warmed back up Subaru was ready to kill some Ma beasts.'

And to find them Subaru needed to move so he started to walk

Subaru walked for a few minutes before stopping

"Ok girls, we need to somehow find and kill 2000 of those dam beasts. So that probably means we need to openly search for them."

"I can't wait to burn 2000 Ma Beasts with my passion"

Balise said cheerfully

"I won't allow those dogs to harm you... and if they do ill heal you then kill them."

Aqua said in a caring yet scarry tone

"With our current power, we will smash those dogs and... lion things... and Bat things... with rocks!" Toph spoke uncertainly about what she was going on about

"You're probably going to fail since I am not a great spirit yet dummy." Aeolus teased, but really, was cheering for Subaru. But only on the inside.

"Don't sweat it Subaru, you have two great spirits on your side now," Shami said with pride, she wouldn't let a simple dog harm her contractor

"I say Subaru how long do you think we will have to wait until we all turn into great spirits?" Eon questioned actually feeling a little envious of Shami and Aqua

Subaru thought about the answer for a few seconds before saying

"I cannot say for certain, but since Aqua just transformed I would expect you all to transform sooner than later."

"*sigh* what a useless contractor you are, failing to answer a simple question, you should feel glad that you have us instead of other inferior spirits." Said Aeolus

Subaru gave Aeolus and his other spirits a thumbs up

"Yep, I'm super glad we made a contract, after all, you're the best spirits anybody could ask for."

while the spirits were happy, Eon being a wiser one had to remind Subaru of a small fact

"Subaru... you should probably begin hunting Mabeasts... now."

Subaru smirked

"Then what are we waiting around for... hay girls want to hear a secret?"

"A secret?"

"Sure"

"What are you planning?"

"What are you hiding from us from me?"

"Is it a fun secret?"

"... Girls... I can... I CAN RETURN BY DEA..."

Once again, the world stopped moving

Subaru knew the witch of envy was behind him

Subaru observed two unseen hands move towards him

one began to caress his cheek while the other began to move towards his heart.

Subaru only had enough time to think of a few words before his heart was squeezed by envy

"Thank you for this opportunity."

"I love you." The entity responded

Then the unseen hands squeezed Subaru's heart bringing him back to reality

"Gahhhhhh!" Subaru yelled holding his chest as he fell to his knees, he had forgotten that having your heart physically squeezed hurts a lot.

Subarus spirits sounded Subaru in panic as Aqua used her healing magic to see bring comfort to Subaru and see if he had any damage

"Subaru, what happened?" Aqua questioned

"I took another gamble, as usual, it brings a little pain with it, but I believe the end result is well worth it." Subaru stood back up with a pained smile

"What's going on?" Questioned Blaise confused

"Heh, you better prepare your magic, I'm bringing the ma beasts to me, ALL OF THEM" Subaru proclaimed

As if on cue, bushes around them began to move.

and dozens of glowing red eyes looked through the shadows at them.

Subaru smiled

"2000 huh? LET'S MAKE IT 4000!"

Elsewhere in the breeding grounds

A large group of knights, warriors, spirits, maids and royals were making their way through the ma beast forest

If you were to look at them you would see people like Crusch, Felix, Wilhelm, Anastasia, Julius, Richardo, Emilia, Roswaal, Garfield, Rem, Ram, and Otto, surprisingly even though Priscilla didn't join, she still gave her blessings and a few of her knights, and of course, Beatrice was there two.

Upon seeing such an unlikely group outsiders would assume they were on an extremely important mission. A mission of such importance that Multiple royal camps would collaborate and work together.

Well calling this mission important would be an understatement

This was of much importance that history may be decided depending on if they are successful or not

They were on a mission to retrieve the forgotten one. The hero who had done so, so much.

From slaying Archbishop after Archbishop

To defeat two of the three great ma-beasts

And saving countless lives

And helping the emperor of Vollachia return to his rightful place on his throne

Subaru was a hero some would consider above even the sword saint himself

And amongst those people, the sword saint is included

And after Subaru's sudden 'disappearance' many people were left asking questions

Including Vincent Vollachia who had grown close to the boy

He demanded to have a meeting with Subaru yet for some strange reason he was refused with an excuse Subaru went missing after he was forgotten

Priscilla was also told this as a measure to ensure she didn't rat their sins to Vincent

If he heard of even a quarter of what they did to Subaru unavoidable war would be Lugnicas fate

However, they weren't here with the goal of stopping a war

They were here to retrieve and rescue Subaru Natsuki, Emilia's personal knight

Usually, a walk through a Ma beast breeding ground would be suicide.

However, this group melted through all the demon dogs with Eaze, the ma-beasts failed to even slow their movement

The group was following a great Spirit of Yin Beatrice and the Oni Maid whom both claimed to be able to smell and trace Subaru even in this thick forest

Or at least they claimed to have the best noses for tracking Subaru

"Ahhh ye sure he's in her'e, I can't smell him at all, and my nose is top-notch." Asked Garfeil who was becoming impatient as every second without his captain may lead to them finding a corpse

"Hmph, a Demi human like yourself could never compete with a nose of a Great Spirit," Beatrice exclaimed proudly

"I know my Subaru-Kun's sent better than anyone else," Rem said proudly too

"We'lll why te fuc is Reinhard restricted by sum law? He would be bloody useful about now ye know!"

Crusch sighed

"Garfil, Reinhard unless absolutely needed to protect the world from a raging great spirit or another great evil, he cannot leave Luigina. It is sad but it was a rule put in place to prevent him from potentially going around and destroying neighbouring kingdoms for any reason." Crusch spoke with diligence

"But, But it's for mah Cap'n?"

Garfeil argued with less diligence

suddenly Garfeil, Rem and Beatrice stopped

"IT'S SUBARU-KUN, IT'S SUBARU-KUN! HIS SENT HAS INCREASED GREATLY!" Yelled Rem frantically looking in the direction of the smell trying to see Subaru

Beatrice looked a little concerned

"Such great stench, how did you increase it so much I wonder?"

Garfeil began to run ahead

"Cap'N I'ma coming for yeh!"

The group decided to pick up the pace

...

Subaru was surrounded by a pile of ma beast corpses, no dozens of ma beast piles

Burnt courtesy of Blaise expressing her hot passion

Shattered into purple crystals

Sliced in half

Crushed with rocks

some even had holes burned through them by Yang's magic

oh yeah Subaru also contributed by stabbing at least 4 Ma beasts killing them

Subaru all thanks to his mana boosters wasn't even losing his breath yet

He was already at 75 ma beasts killed

It had hardly been half an hour

"Ok, girls I say we move to a different location, then I'll do my magic ma beast attraction spell again."

"dummy" whispered Aqua

Subaru left the area

he left behind so much destruction and chaos

but it didn't matter since in a fantasy world environmentally friendly groups did not exist and nobody would ever find his handy work

Subaru charged himself with a little mana and began to speed towards a different side of the forest

Along the way, he stopped requesting that Aqua would shoot a small stream of water into his mouth

Which she gladly did

"Ahh water for a spirit, it's extremely refreshing."

"Thank you"

And Subaru began to run more

until he found a stop far, far away from his previous spot

"Ok girls, I can return by deat-"

Once again, the world faded

However, this time instead of a few unseen hands attacking him he felt an odd sensation

Although he couldn't shift his eyes to check he knew someone was hugging him from behind and pushing their... chest up against him

Then Subaru heard some familiar words spoken right into his ear

"I Love You"

Then Subaru felt a sharp sensation in his heart

"Ahhhhhh, pah ha, ha. wow that took longer than usual"

As before ma beasts instantly became attracted to that area

Except for this time the sent increase was much, much larger than before

Subaru smiled once more

"Heh, I've got one hell of a week ahead of me."

Subaru powered up while his spirits prepared their attacks and...

...

"AHHHHHHH" Garfeil fell while clenching his nose

Beatrice and Rem also fell, while more used to the smell it was still too much

"Myyyy my what's this?" Said Roswaal in an amused tone yet the dead tone

"MAH CAP'NS SENT, IT TOO MUCH, IT'S MAKING ME BLOODY MAD!"

"Betty can't do this I suppose, Betty feels faint."

Rem simply held her head as a killer headache kicked in

This alarmed the rest of the observing group

"Spirit-sama, are nyah saying Subaru's sent that much stronger? The witch sent has gotten stronger in the span of mere hours to such a point where you can hardly move. strange."

Crusch had a menacing aura as she starred down Felix

Crusch spoke slowly

"Felix my ex-personal knight. What are you implying?"

Felix felt a little sweatdrop

"M-my lady I was just pointing out how weird it is since Subaru was able to use the witches sent during the whale hunt so he might be doing the same here? I wasn't calling him a cultist no way." Felix defended himself

Crusch looked away

"You're not lying... good for you."

Felix lowered his head in relief

Suddenly from behind more ma beast appeared by the dozens

But oddly enough they seemed to ignore the group as they ran by with a maddened expression plastered on their heads

Even when a few knights took a swing at the beasts they just ignored the group even if their stomach was opened, they had to make it to the source of that smell

Everyone looked on wondering if they were heading towards Subaru as Felix just said he used the same sent to attract the white whale.

Then they remembered the three fallen members.

Felix being a healer rushed over to Beatrice and inspected her

He then checked Rem the Garfeil

And he came to the same conclusion about all three

"It's sensory overload nya. They won't be able to continue, and I recommend we remove them from the forest."

"Te hella with data, I'm going to find ma cap'n even, even if..." Garfeil fell unconscious

Emilia held an annoyed expression

"Of course, you would desire to stop now Felix."

Wilhelm stepped in knowing Felix may be seconds away from being turned into a popsicle

"Emilia-sama, if I may inquire. All the people capable of tracking Subaru-Dona down have fallen. It's best if we leave and come up with another plan."

Emilia turned to everyone who joined her on the excursion

"Very well. We shall leave for now. But I have a plan to find Subaru."

"Whaaaat is it Emillia-sama?" Roswaal spoke in his normal accent

"Well, it's simple really, before I tell you consider one fact. He can't stay in a forest forever. He will eventually come out and when he does... he will be mine again and I will never let him go."

Halibel was sitting on his tree branch

Just enjoying his fifth cigarette of the day

"AHHHHH, this is nice, as much as I liked training Subaru and getting my arms broken, it's pleasant to just relax every once and a while."

Halibel reached into his pocket pulling out another cigarette

"Ahhhhh lovely, let us try two at once this time."

He was about to light it by slashing his two daggers together causing sarks to fly

Then he smelt something odd approaching

Halibel looked down and saw something very odd in the distance

Entire hordes of ma-beasts charging in his direction

"Odd they don't seem to be focused on me"

Halibel watched as the dogs ran past his tree and into the distance

"Huh well that's... odd... maybe I should check on Subaru"

Halibel looked at his casted arm

"... Narrr I'm on a smoke break week. I'm sure he's fine... hopefully."

Halibel decided to neglect his responsibility of stopping Subaru from either tearing the entire forest apart or him being torn apart

Subaru was Panting quite heavily

He had been fighting non-stop for hours now

He didn't expect to attract so many Ma-beasts

even now

they kept on flooding in

He was already up to 137 Ma beasts

"Haaaa haa Halible really knows how to train someone huh?"

Subaru was now put in a constant life or death scenario.

He had to stay aware of his surroundings

while outputting enough firepower to destroy the swarms of ma beasts that desired his soft human flesh

As Subaru and his spirits fought

The difference between a great spirit and a full spirit became apparent

Shami and Aqua both were outputting as much firepower as all the other spirits combined and Yin isn't even an offensive type of magic.

But the spells El Minya and vita were just that powerful on their own.

But being on a time limit Subaru pushed and pushed himself onwards

until his body began to fail him as dodging and walking became too difficult

That's when Subaru the tactical genius retreated to the top of a tree with his spirits

Subaru was laying down

Feeling exhausted

even though he wasn't hit once '

The constant endurance he needed to demonstrate strained his body

And it eventually wore him down too much

Subaru looked down

The ma beasts' swarms had finally gone away

and after Aeolus carefully shot all the flying ma beasts out of the sky Subaru could finally rest

"Hay girls..."

The spirits turned to him

"That was one hell of a day. But does anybody remember what number of ma beast was up to?"

"no"

"nope"

"I thought you were counting"

"Useless I suppose"

"Sorry no"

"Bruh"

"Oh, I'm just asking... because I might have possibly forgotten... Ahhh never mind... Let's just kill as many as possible then say we reached the goal."

"Don't you think Halibel will know?"

"I mean maybe... and besides what if we really manage to kill over 3000 ma beasts?"

"Fair enough."

Subaru then closed his eyes ignoring the fact he hadn't eaten food for over a day

And he fell into a deep sleep

3 DAYS LATER

Subaru woke up ready for another day of getting his heart grabbed and committing genocide on ma beasts.

Subaru yawned as he slowly opened his eyes.

Subaru felt something odd in him

Usually, he would wake up to Shami holding him... but this was much heavier

Subaru looked ahead and saw not one not two but three great spirits resting on him

"G-girls?"

"Ahhh your awake, you should feel shame I suppose, making a great spirit like myself sleep on your stomach for comfort."

"Subaru, check it out, I've evolved, and having a physical body is weird."

Subaru looked on in awe

"Aeolus... Toph?"

Subaru observed his two new great spirits

Aeolus had black hair that flowed gracefully in the wind, her clothes were simply a brown collar shirt complemented by her black skirt. It almost mimicked the female's dress at Subarus school. She was certainly the smallest out of the four great spirits. And her eyes were strangely a lovely lime green with birds as pupils.

And Toph, she had uncombed brown hair, a red tracksuit jacket, something like Subarus jacket before it was broken and put back together several times. And besides not wearing shoes, the only other noteworthy to say is she similar to all the other spirits possessed beautiful brown eyes with ground dragons for pupils.

Subaru stared at his two new great spirits in amazement

They stared back waiting for his response

Subaru then picked up the two great spirits and hugged the

"Aww, you are both so cute!"

"Ahhh get your hands off me and yes I am cute I suppose!" Aeolus pouted

"Wow hugs rock," Toph spoke happily

Subaru put down the two new lolis

"All right, all right, this is great. Now I only need Eon and Blaise to evolve, and I will have a great spirit of each element."

Subaru himself wasn't aware of how impossible this achievement should be

The mere concept of turning six lesser spirits into Great spirits would be an idea a drunk would come up with after getting beat up

But Subaru was no drunk

He was instead following 'The Plan'

Aeolus turned away from Subaru

"If you want my help in fighting those dogs you better give me some insensitive, I suppose."

"Hmmm what would a great spirit like yourself want from me?"

"*humph* I simply want head pats. That will be the steep price for my help."

Subaru leaned down and gave Aeolus a head pat

"How is it?"

"Acceptable I suppose."

"Hey, I want one too"

"And me!"

Subaru turned to his other three great spirits

"Ok, ok I will give you all head pats."

Subaru gave his other great spirits ahead pat

"Ok, now then. Since we've started this morning on a high note, I say we start ma beast hunting"

Subaru's last two full spirits manifested

"So, girls are you ready to help?"

"Ahhh ahhh I simply can't wait. With such an evolution my passion can burn brighter than ever. Ahhhhh I am filled with emotions I can't even describe."

"Well, I guess I shall simply wait this out," Eon spoke calmly

Subaru jumped down from his tree.

All his spirits followed

Even as great spirits, floating was something they could all do

Subaru stood proud he still had two days left before time ran out

He promised that even if he had to burn down the entire forest, he would eradicate 2000 ma beasts

So, Subaru began this day like all the others

He took in a deep breath

And said these words again

"I can return by dea-"

Each time Subaru felt Envy interact with him in a different way.

It was like she expected him and waited for him to say those words

This time she simply played with his hair before grabbing his heart and returning him to reality

Subaru smirked he could tell she is playing with him

A held a slightly pained expression

But Envy was putting slightly less force into each punishment now

So, he was easily able to wave it off

And as usual Ma beasts became magnetised towards his direction

...

Subaru waited for at least 2 minutes before any ma beasts arrived

Toph wanted to be the first to test out her new strength

Toph raised a hand

Suddenly hundreds of earth spikes sharp enough to draw blood by touch alone enjoyed from the ground skewing all the sounding ma beasts

Subaru felt a little bit of sweat fall down his head

"W-wow the strength of a great spirit is truly nothing to scoff at... so when I have all six..."

Toph turned to Subaru

"I want a head pat for my efforts."

"O-of course oh great spirit of earth Toph"

Aeolus Pouted in jealousy

"If you think a few rocks are impressive watch this"

Aeolus raised her hands to the sky

Subaru watch on confused

"Umm Aeolus there's no ma beasts to..."

Aeolus brought her hands down sending waves of wind around her that cut cleanly through trees, rocks and basically anything that stood in its way

Still, she was able to manipulate the wind, so it never touched Subaru or the other spirits

"*yawn* oh please a small breeze is nothing to my rock-solid earth." Toph mocked

"Why you," Aeolus growled

"P-please girls, you're both amazing in your own rights. Please don't kill each other... as our contractor I order you to stop fighting right now." Subaru smirked

"F-fine I suppose I should listen to my useless contractor"

"I'm still better than you." Said Toph

Shami tugged on the Subarus cloak

"Oh, what is it Shami"

Shami had a look of determination

"Subaru... remember when you told me about the existence of Al Shamak?"

"Y-yeah what about it?"

"I want to... try it out."

"Shami... tell you what, you can try and I'll tell you what it does again but don't expect it to work since you can still only use-."

"I can use Ul Shamak."

"Wait what since when?"

"...Well I can kind of do it."

"Tell you what, if you can master UL Shamak, you have my permission to try the Al version, do we have a deal?"

"Deal."

...

Subaru and his spirits were searching for a ma beast

Even with his boosted sent, he found none for ages

"Guess I've killed too many... but it doesn't even feel like 2000... I mean maybe I've killed over 2000 or maybe I've killed 800 I don't know. Are you girls sure you don't remember?"

"Keep track of the kills yourself," Toph said without a care in the world

...

It was finally the end day

Subaru sweated and pushed himself extremely hard

His Half were great spirits and half-full had also become much stronger

Each learning new spells

And most importantly...

"Ahhhhh I still can't remember what number we're up to."

Subaru looked down in shame as he walked toward his original spot

Passing pile after pile of ma beast corpses

"Don't worry I'm sure we got enough Subaru" Eon tried to support her contractor

"Maybe"

Subaru walked and walked towards his and Halibel's original spot

He was almost there, and he sighed

He stepped into the area

And immediately turned around catching a Kuni in between his fingers

"Nice try Halibel now please come out."

Halibel dropped to the ground

"I was just making sure you hadn't lost all your skill in the past week."

Subaru threw the Kuni back to Halibel

"Don't count on that, as you can see Aeolus and Toph have also evolved into great spirits. And since Aeolus is a great spirit of the wind, I can read the movement of almost anything... I won't lie, I couldn't defect you, but your Kuni I could sense the moment it leaves your hand."

"Ahhh excellent. Now let's train."

"W-what about the ma beast kill count... and your ARM?!"

"Hahaha oh, Subaru do you honestly think I've been counting? Nope, I've just been smocking and relaxing... the ma beast kill quest was just an excuse for you to train hard without me being there. And don't worry about my arm, I still almost beat you without it."

"Y-you... clever dog, making me exhaust myself and training my endurance without being there yourself. You truly are a master."

Halibel had a smug look on his face, appreciating the praise

"But even so, I know you've killed a lot of ma beasts, I haven't seen any in this area in days. I actually did leave my spot of an hour to check the surrounding areas but nope nothing."

Subaru charged himself full of mana like old times (a week ago)

"Let's stop talking, you old dog, I want to see how you fair against 4 great spirits, 2 full spirits and Natsuki Subaru or known to the public as Neo... actually that name is kind of lame... hopefully, it still works as a fake identity. Oh and Halibel doesn't hold back on these secret techniques of yours or your clones."

And with that, a legendary training session begun

It shocks the very grounds they stood on

Halibel was finally putting effort into fighting Subaru

And this time he pulled out a nasty trick he held back on

This time he put weak curses on Subaru

Every time he cut Subaru, he cursed him

And these curses immediately took effect slowly draining his mana and stamina

Fortunately, Aqua could remove curses while healing him

But removing them didn't restore the lost mana

And Subaru did his absolute best to fight off the Shinobi

He blocked using his Daggers

Created magical attacks using his spirits

And after a long training session

Subaru had fallen

Even with all this power, he couldn't yet beat Halibel

Subaru was covered in his own blood and needed Aqua to heal him

Halibel himself was in fact unharmed but surprisingly out of breath

"*pant pant* great job Subaru *pant* you're certainly my most impressive student."

Subaru smiled

"Thanks, Sensi." Subaru gave Halibel a thumbs up.

"Oh yeah but please by the love of god stop using curses, I know I can remove curses, so this feels more like an unnecessary annoyance for me

"Subaru *pant* what I do isn't without reason, if you can fight well with a curse applied you can fight even better without one."

"True."

Subaru laced back as he had many times before

"Halibel thank you."

"For what Subaru?"

"Well, when I was homeless and broke, you allowed me to stay in one of your rentals for free. Then you trained me, you helped me become much, much stronger and I don't think anyone else in the world would have done this for me. Thank you."

Halibel smiled

"Don't mention it Subaru, I just want to prepare you for the world when you eventually leave."

"...yeah."

"Welp night Subaru and remember don't let the ma beasts bite... as long as there's still some left that is ha-ha."

"Ha-ha night Halibel."

Subaru went to sleep dreaming of completing Echidna's quest

He envisioned himself being a super muscular man surrounded by cheering fans

It was almost a comical dream

Subaru woke up smiling

"Heh weird dreams again... what the"

Subaru looked up to see six young girls sleeping with him

"What the?! Girls?!"

In front of Subaru were indeed Six great spirits

Shami

Aqua

Aeolus

Toph

Blaise

And Eon

They had all become great spirits

Subaru observed his two new spirits

Firstly, there was Blaise, wore a dark cloak, a red dress, stockings a large cone-shaped hat and an eye patch. She had brown hair that reached a little under her collar bone. One of her legs was covered in a white bandage. And her eyes were a crimson red, and strangely the only pair without an animal in them, these ones just help flames.

And finally, Eon. Eon had similar skin to Shamis, just slightly pinker. Her hair was unmistakably pearl white. Her hair held a ribbon on each side of her head and these large ribbons held a black flower in them. Her clothes were surprisingly formal, they were the clothes a teacher might wear. And her eyes... blood red with doves as pupils.

Finally, all Six were great

Subaru was impressed, no he was ecstatic, he could now perform one of the spells Echidna gave him.

However, Subaru decided against transforming just yet

He wanted to finish his training before doing anything

And Subaru wanted to try his luck without the help of his great spirits

...

When Subaru told Halibel about his idea, Halibel insisted that he kept using all six mana boosters... since without them he would be far too weak and slow to compete with Halibel.

He hated to admit it but without his spirits fighting Halibel became indefinitely harder

He had no ranged attacks

He wasn't allowed to use Aeolus wind detection

Blaise's raw firepower wasn't allowed

Tophs positioning wasn't allowed

Shamis debuffs we're a no go

Eons light speed rays weren't allowed

It was just him

Man, vs Ninja master god thing

He fought and learned how to dodge better

He learnt to strike faster and harder

With just mana boosters and the occasional break for aqua to heal him, Subaru was becoming much, much stronger

He was a force of nature

His strikes could one-shot a normal human

And he could move faster and hit more precisely the even the bowl hunter

So without his great spirits and nothing but mana and healing

Subaru trained endlessly for the next five days

And during one training session, something magical happened

Subaru threw a punch at Halibel

Halibel dodged throwing his own punch

It hit but Subaru knew this would happen

Subaru kicked dirt towards Halibel almost hitting him

Halibel put distance between himself and Subaru

Subaru closed the gap with an explosive jump

And punched Halibel across the face

"Halibel."

"Su-san?"

"I think it's time we stopped."

"Already?"

"Yes... after everything... I feel that now is the best time to stop."

"... Very well do as you please, after all, I trust in your judgment Su-san."

Halibel backed away

Subaru turned to his six spirits who were watching from the sidelines

Subaru approached them

"Girls... training is over."

"Wow you finally did it"

"This obviously means you can now give us the luxury a great bean such as myself deserves."

"B-but I haven't allowed my passion to burn and ravage the lands yet."

Subaru looked at all the spirits starting to contemplate if he should ask or not

His whole journey had built up to this one moment... an absolute point in his destiny. A choice he could never take back. Would Subaru take the power he needs with his own two hands, or will he ignore that path and maybe either just live in Bannan or... fix his relations with Emilia and co...

No... that was not an option, not anymore

"Girls I need to ask a massive favour of you all... I need you to perform a spell with me that... turns me into a spirit human hybrid."

"What?"

"Impossible"

"What nonsense is this."

"Subaru... is that even possible."

"When did this become a thing?"

"Subaru you are full of surprises."

"Girls listen... I need this... this power... once I become part spirit I will become so much 'greater' Besides stronger magic, I will be able to live much, much longer."

"Really?"

"I'm on board"

"We can be a team forever now"

"We can spread our passion upon the lands for all eternity together."

"Hmph, I suppose this is great news."

"I see this as an absolute win."

"Hold on... there may be a risk... upon activating the spell, most if not all of your mana will be sucked into me. You will most likely need to recover in my very soul for a long time if you survive."

The spirit girls formed a huddled circle and began discussing things amongst themselves

...

"Subaru, our dearest contractor we have made our finale choice."

"What is it?"

"Yes, we all agree this is for the best."

"...T-thank you for your trust... I promise that we will all one day be laughing about the short period of time lost for eternity gained"

"That's the point"

"Yeah"

"We all want this."

"I hope you can handle such power."

"Don't go crazy."

"What do we have to do?"

Subaru stood tall as he recalled what Echidna left In his mind

"Gather around me in a circle."

The spirits did

"Join together... hold hands."

The spirits all held hands

"Before I activate the spell does anyone have a last-second change of heart?"

Nobody answered

They all just looked on with determined faces ready for what was next

"HERE WE GO THEN"

Subaru raised his hands in the air and chanted a spell only known to him, Envy and Greed.

"SPIRUFUSAINFI!"