Chapter 51: Administering punishmentNotes:
I cut his monologues short, because they are boring and kill the pacing. Just imagine Tanya drowning out most of his spiel.
EDIT: 1111 Comments!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 51
From her position high up in the air Tanya had a perfect overview over the ensuing scene. The suicidal moron dashed towards the retreating Regulus and swung his sword. Her mental enhancement allowed her to take in every miserable detail of his disastrous assault and think carefully about the disaster unfolding below her.
Should she shoot the guy before he could agitate the sin archbishop? Would the sacrifice of one fool be enough to save the rest from the wrath of an invulnerable terrorist? Perhaps she could only incapacitate his ground dragon, but there was no guarantee that he wouldn´t continue his chase on foot. Maybe timing two explosions left and right of him to hit him with a concussive blast would knock him out...
No.
There was no time for risky, peaceful options that would also compromise her strategic position in case of a retaliatory assault by Regulus. No one had noticed her up here yet, most likely because they had been too occupied with the sin archbishop. It would be irrational to give away her element of surprise and draw attention to her easy escape route should things turn south.
She had to make a decision within the next two seconds. Either she killed the man or hoped that Regulus would just ignore him until he lost interest. Tanya had confidence in her ability to evade his attacks in the air, but Rem, Subaru and the others did not have that luxury. If the representative of greed was actually invincible then their chances of survival were low.
Subaru could apparently revive after being killed, but neither of them new the exact limits of that ability. For all she knew it could have a limited number of uses or was only effective under special conditions. Losing him was unacceptable.
But shooting one of her rival´s soldiers, even if to prevent unnecessary bloodshed, would also end in a political scandal. Crusch would most likely not be amused by the act of Tanya killing or severely injuring one of her men regardless of the reasoning. If worst came to worst even a civil war could break out. Tanya still remembered that fateful day clearly when the Legadonian Entente had chosen to "only" invade a few square kilometres of land and it ended in a war with millions of casualties.
Damned if she did and damned if she didn´t.
Time was ticking and her options were narrowing by the second.
Ah, well... she had to do something. To just wait and stay passive would be the height of imprudence.
Her illusionary clone shouted as loud as her ranged voice amplification spell allowed it:
"REGULUS, WATCH OUT!"
She had made her decision.
The weirdly white man (seriously what was up with the hair colours in this world?) turned around with painfully slow movements and promptly received a blade to the face. Any other human would have at least attempted to dodge or would have been shocked by the imminent danger. He just blinked unimpressed and took it head on.
The resounding "snap" of his swing had rather painful consequences for the attacker considering his arm seemed to have been dislocated at minimum. Nothing else could have been expected from basically striking a brick wall at full speed. Well, at least that proved that the invulnerability of the sin archbishop was not limited to ranged weaponry.
"Why are you unlawfully attacking me? I have done you no harm and you nonetheless decided to harass me! That violates my right for peace and quiet!"
Tanya wanted to scream in frustration when she saw the idiotic knight turn his mount around and try again with his useless sword to inflict damage upon his target.
"I take my rights very seriously, because they indicate what I deserve as the perfect existence! There - you failed again! What are you hoping to accomplish? Instead of taking an example from my politeness and cultural refinement you act like an animal! Indeed you pathetic existence is not worthy of being called human at all! I shall end you like the beast you are!"
He kicked the ground forcefully and sent a few barely visible stones and dirt particles in the direction of the knight. Tanya had no time to wonder what the purpose of that manoeuvre was, because instead of dropping after a few metres, the projectiles continued their trajectory and perforated the ground dragon.
Yes, perforated.
She had to blink and up the power on her optical spell to take in all the details. What should have been a few harmless pebbles and earth crumbs had entered the body of the beast without resistance and exited it at the same angle on the other side.
What. The. Hell.
How?
Her danger rating for Regulus jumped up from "Highly dangerous" to "Avoid at all costs or be damned".
The skewered animal shrieked before toppling over dead, no doubt succumbing to its internal bleeding within moments. Its rider also let out a shrill cry of anguish for the first time in their "battle" as he slipped from the back of his now deceased mount. She did not need to look closer to notice that one of his legs had nearly been severed at the thigh and the other was missing chunks at his calve. Major blood vessels had been perforated and without immediate treatment h would lose a lethal amount of blood. (Not that she would step in to save the suicidal prick. He had brought this punishment upon himself!)
"Be silent! You have the nerve to further inconvenience me with your noises? Does your greedy selfishness know no bounds? Whoring for attention like that?"
Although dying while being berated by that narcissist Regulus was perhaps too much of a punishment. Tanya knew she wouldn´t want to meet her end like that at least.
She carefully scanned the ranks of Crusch´s other soldiers and found many faces contorted by pity or righteous anger. Hopefully they had learned their lesson from the failure of their comrade and would not pointlessly throw their lives-
"NOOOOOO!!!" yelled an old man, whose most defining feature was his goatee, ready to come to the rescue of the bleeding and crying imbecile on the ground. His fellow soldiers had the wisdom to try and hold him back, but they were not fast enough to stop him. All their yelling and frantic attempts to grab him proved for naught as he jumped from the back of his steed and sailed through the air in a surprising feat of athleticism. Tanya thought it a shame that such a capable human resource was about to be wasted.
The sin archbishop was still disdainfully looking at the downed man and was about to raise his immaculate white shoes for another kick aimed to end the annoyance before him when his leg was tackled and gripped tightly by the newcomer. He stared down at him for a full second before shaking it to remove the pest cling to him.
"What is the meaning of this? Why do you dirty my robes with your unwashed hands? Can you not see that I am busy at the moment? That is a direct infringement on my right for personal space! Show some respect!"
"Never you monster!" he roared back.
"How dare you?" seethed Regulus and seemed to push the air in front of him away with his left hand. The normally invisible gas rippled and shot downwards, bisecting the knight clutching his leg. Idly, Tanya noted that not a single drop of blood stained Greed´s clothes.
"Calling me a monster is laughable. Like dogs were you barking and throwing yourself at me!"
Not even death could stop Regulus from lecturing you it seemed. Another half-hearted kick completely obliterated that shaking warrior who had caused this entire ruckus. Regulus turned to face the crowd and raised his leg again, making everybody present flinch in terror.
She needed to intervene quickly:
"They are not my men! I have no control over their action and distance myself from their shameful behaviour! Please Sir Corneas do not associate our little group with Lady Karsten´s servants! I cannot speak for them, but I believe they were simply overwhelmed by your power and lashed out in the only way their simple minds knew how to react: with anger! They were not raised to be as considerate as I and my companions."
She threw them under the proverbial bus to save her skin. So what? These idiots had it coming.
"Is that so? I am most kind and merciful, but even my patience has its limits. Their lesser intellects might have driven them to commit this madness, but that does not excuse their actions! They will learn not to assault innocent travellers in the future!"
And with these words he swung his hand down in a horizontal slash.
Notes:
For the lore nerds among you:
Does the authority of greed work only on the surface of Regulus or on his whole body down the cellular level? Could you poison or drown him?