Chapter Text
What if…? What if the Star had another power upon arriving in this world?
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Sitting on a stone beneath a tree, Marcos sat writing on a sheet of paper resting against a surface fit for that purpose. While he watched something on the horizon, his eyes fell once more upon what he was writing.
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[Marco’s Record: For future record, the following descriptions were transcriptions from one of those who witnessed such an event. Even if it sounds impossible, I feel it would be impossible not to believe what he told me. For that reason I transcribed it myself:
My name is Tyvon; People would not believe the story I am about to tell. For not even I would believe what I am about to tell anyone who asked me. For I would not be trustworthy as a simple man of a small family of no importance. But what I witnessed that night seemed like something taken from an epic tale.
That night, a calm night.
In this village far from the Capital, but close to the borders with Vollachia, nothing extremely important could ever happen. Because we are only a small village.
I would love to say that we are important people, but we would be easily forgotten if not for what happened that night.
“BUOOOH!!!”, a deafening cry tore the sky that night. A sound that made us all startled, all worried and desperate. For that night, when we looked to the dark starry sky, we saw flying above us that monstrosity of legend. A monstrosity beyond comparison! The one known as the greatest of the Great Beasts, for its colossal size. The White Whale. That enormous creature, with red eyes — as far as I can remember — with a gigantic horn. A being so large it was bigger than our entire village and could crush houses like thin and fragile twigs. A creature I never imagined I would see in my life — a creature I never wished to see in my life. With skin so white I think I only ever saw such a shade in clouds — I’ve heard it compared to snow, but I’ve never seen snow myself, so I couldn’t compare.
That enormous creature flew toward our village. It flew as if we were its next meal, as if we were nothing but meat to be swallowed in its mouth so it could devour and sate its hunger. A gigantic and terrifying monster. I thought that would be the end of my life — and of my village — that we would be killed and then vanish as if we were nothing.
But… fate seems to be something astonishing, doesn’t it?
Something made that enormous monster fall from the sky. I am not joking! Something LITERALLY made that creature fall from the sky to the ground. Creating a colossal tremor that came from the point where that Beast was all the way to our village. And other tremors followed, along with repeated “THUUUM” sounds. And at that moment we began to act. I, like the other villagers, prepared to flee as fast as we could. We left unnecessary things behind, taking only what was essential as we readied ourselves to escape.
But I did not flee. I could not flee.
I (Tyvon) have no family, no importance, I am only a common man. Perhaps that is why I did what I did. Because during the escape, while everyone else ran — in wagons, on dragons, or on their own legs — I ran in the opposite direction. I ran toward the battle. Toward the tremors, the sounds, the smoke clouds and flying trees that came from not too far from our village.
Why did I do this?
Again — I do not know.
Thinking of it all now, I believe it was to witness a sight so impossible, an occurrence so incredible and historic, like personally seeing one of the Beasts created by the infamous Witch of Envy in the distant past. So I had to see! I had to witness that moment in history.
So when I arrived at that battlefield——
“ROAAAH!”, “BOAAAH!” — two roars could be heard across that field.
From the Whale and… from that “Thing.” A strange creature that looked like a fusion of a human and a Beast. Large — very large — larger than a human or even a Beast, but smaller than the Whale. It looked like a being made of shards of stone or something similar, gray to dark in color, with sharp fangs that jutted out from its lips, with orange… frightening eyes.
Both roared, both stared each other down. And what I saw? Oh, what I saw.
I will try to describe it to you:
I saw that creature — that “Thing” — charge at the Whale as if it were not the greatest of the Great Beasts, but merely a common animal. The Whale roared loud — a “BUOOOH!” that made my legs tremble. It lunged through the air, its gigantic horn pointed like a natural lance capable of shredding walls. But before it could reach its target, the “Thing” planted one foot on the ground and — as if the entire world were light to it — grabbed the horn with just one hand.
One hand. Just one.
And then — I swear — it spun its own body, using the momentum, and THREW the Whale away. The sacred beast, larger than my entire village, was hurled like a sack of grain. When it fell, the earth shook, trees were torn from the ground like matchsticks, and a cloud of dust rose so high I thought it would cover the stars. But it did not end there. The Whale took flight again, piercing the clouds, perhaps trying to gain advantage in the air.
But the “Thing” leapt — IT LEAPT! — to an absurd height, as if denying its own weight, as if the laws of the world did not apply to it. In midair, before the Whale could counterattack, that creature descended with its fist closed, striking the Whale’s massive flank. The impact echoed like a dry thunder. The Whale’s roar turned into lamentation. It was thrown again, crashing and dragging itself across the ground for a distance my eyes could barely follow. And then… when I thought I had already seen enough to drive a man insane, something even worse happened — something I knew only from legends whispered by old folk.
The Whale… split.
In the instant the creature descended from the sky again, its form seemed to ripple in the air like a reflection in disturbed water — and then two others appeared beside it. Three. Three identical White Whales, flying together, roaring together, advancing as one.
And that creature… did not move back.
It did not hesitate. It showed no fear, no strain.
That “Thing” roared in fury as the first came with its mouth wide open, and it jumped inside. When I thought it would be devoured, the opposite happened. I believe — I strongly believe — that from inside it began striking the beast from within its mouth, making it thrash its head, attempting to get rid of it with mouth agape. Without realizing it had thrown it against one of the other two Whales, making it strike another Beast in the face and send it crashing to the ground with force and violence. The “Thing” fell from the sky back to the ground and...
Good grief. I still cannot believe what that battle was. What that fight was!
But I remember the end — or at least the end of what I managed to witness — and it was unbelievably terrifying!
It was after he killed one of those Whales. He broke its horn and used it to impale it through the eye, piercing its brain and throwing it to the ground. And that was when the other two tried to attack together, one from the front and one from the flank — useless. The creature planted its foot on the ground and, with a single spinning motion, grabbed the one on the side by the lower jaw, lifted it above itself, and hurled the Whale away like dead weight.
I don’t know if it aimed on purpose or if fate just enjoyed watching — but that gigantic body came flying toward my direction.
I didn’t think. I didn’t reason. I just ran. I heard the other soldiers screaming behind me, but I didn’t look. All I could hear was the wind ripping the air as that white body fell. There was no time for anything. The Whale didn’t fall exactly on top of me — but close enough to kill. The impact sounded like thunder inside the skull. The earth rose like a solid wave, the ground cracked, rocks and snow were launched like spears. I was thrown back like a doll, rolling in the air along with debris. My head hit something hard — stone, shell, armor, I don’t know. The world turned white, then black, then nothing.
And when I woke up… this is the sight I saw.]
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Marcos had finished writing down what Tyvon had seen and looked toward the place where the Impossible had happened.
He saw the gigantic corpse of that beast, that Great Monster — the White Whale — lying inside what was a massive crater surrounded by several other craters, with the entire forest destroyed in a way that matched the story entirely. It was not a lie. Looking at the body from that distance, he saw how the creature’s jaw had been torn off and tossed not far from the main corpse, its belly ripped open — as if something had come out from inside — and one of its eyes, from what he could tell, had been crushed to the point of becoming nothing but part of the massive pool of blood that could easily form a small scarlet lake. He also saw fist marks — which, if measured, would be about two point one times larger than Marcos’ own fists. There were also chunks of skin torn off, as if the body had been devoured — not that Marcos imagined that thing would taste any good.
The White Whale was dead. Dead by a “Thing”, some sort of monster.
[Marcos: Arfs. I guess… Theresia-sama is going to be a little upset she didn’t get the chance to crush it.]
Speaking with a slight hint of amusement, he knew he would have to tell everyone about the monstrosity he had witnessed.
At least the Sword Saint wouldn’t have to worry about facing that monstrosity. But perhaps she would have to worry about another monster that might exist in the world. In fact, everyone might have to worry.
Meanwhile, not far from there, and not long ago, one of the Knights had managed to find an unconscious child — dark-haired — who needed care and who, with luck, might provide some information about what could have happened, if he retained any memory.
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I wrote this version of Subaru based on two very well-known characters: Doomsday and the Hulk.
And for anyone who wants to know: I consider this version of Subaru to be in the Top 10 — actually the Top 5 — strongest in my stories. He would belong to that same group with Conquest, Hope, and Youkai, which I mentioned in the past.
In this IF:
-Satella ended up failing to control the Witch of Envy, and both of them ended up taking a six-month-old Subaru, but once she regained control, she dropped him in Gusteko.
-The small Subaru ended up in the Church of Gusteko, unfortunately in the hands of Holosseo Featherrun, who noticed the sudden appearance of the strange baby and the monstrous spiritual affinity he possessed.
Subaru was the first boy to undergo one of the “Cursed Doll” experiments at the hands of Holosseo. And without knowing, this affected how Subaru’s Authority works.
-Every time Subaru dies in some way, he comes back to life adapted to whatever killed him last, making it hard to kill him the same way a second time, and impossible the third time. This makes him stronger and stronger because of it.
-Over time he was tested again and again by Holosseo regarding his adaptive ability, making Subaru know nothing but pain and fear — as well as rage and hatred — growing up since he was a baby being forced to train or being killed in different ways.
-Subaru was meant to become Gusteko’s “Ultimate Weapon”, just like the Sword Saint is for the Kingdom of Lugunica.
-Over time he developed a transformation — his gigantic form, the “Thing” — to protect himself, which is activated when he is enraged or is killed in some way in his human form. He turns into a creature like Doomsday. And he keeps getting stronger with that rage continuously.
-He escaped Gusteko at five years old and began running across the world, until the day he fought the Whale a week before Theresia began her hunt — eliminating it in combat.
-Subaru ended up being found and taken care of by Theresia, as she wanted to find out what he might have seen and because she saw a symbol of the Church of Gusteko branded on his back, deciding to care for the child as if he were her second grandson.
-Subaru can barely speak, or read, or even act like a normal human.