Follow the fallen stars

Greed Chapter 9: Check

Otto kneeled down on one knee as he pulled out the knife, completely dumbfounded at the fact that he didn't feel this for a moment until it was pointed out to him.

As he was holding his right hand onto his chest to hold his wound while his left was on the ground, he turned towards Subaru's direction, seeing how confident he looks now.

"You got me good there, Natsuki-san..." Otto said calmly as he was breathing heavily. "I didn't see that coming."

"..." Subaru remained silent as he prepared to kick the merchant, wanting him to be knocked out before he attempted to do something.

Otto figured that his opponent's about to do something to him, prompting him to grab all the red crystals he had in his right pocket.

'I won't let you down, Natsuki-san. I won't stop here...for his sake.'

He looked at his surroundings for a moment before seeing the perfect area to set the red crystals off.

As he threw them to the side, Subaru immediately picked up on what his opponent was trying to do.

He charged at him in an attempt to stop this only for the merchant's attack was successful as it reached it's target before exploding.

Right before the explosion had taken place, he knew that the merchant was too dangerous to live. He attempted to stab him with a second knife he had while he had a chance, however the impact of the explosion was enough to push him to the side.

Otto saw this and knew that if he wanted to get out of this alive, it is either now or never.

He slowly started to get up, using all of his strength to hold back the pain from the stab wound.

Once back on his feet, he began to run towards the entrance of the mansion, knowing that the fire would spread rapidly and eventually the mansion would collapse.

As he was on the run with a found that was giving him intense chest pain, Subaru gets back up and begins to chase his opponent down.

"You won't get away from me! Not again!"

"..."

Otto ignored the pain from his chest and the scary words his opponent was shouting, not wanting to die.

He doesn't want his Natsuki Subaru to be in pain if he were to die, especially if the killer is his counterpart.

'Don't worry Natsuki-san, I'll survive this.'

He continued to push forward, doing his best to ignore the wound and using all of his strength to try and escape.

Just as it seemed like the merchant was about to escape, he was suddenly tackled to the ground.

"tsk!"

"Got you!" His opponent shouted as he went for the kill. He saw this and using every ounce of strength left in him, he tried to push the knife away.

As the two were giving it their all to try and move the knife towards the direction they wanted, all Subaru could think was how Otto had left him.

("—Well then, goodbye, Natsuki-san. Take care of yourself.")

"..."

("—I thought of you as my friend.")

("—You wouldn't have thought that though.")

The anger in him was enough to slowly overpower his wounded opponent, finally having the advantage in this fight.

"You may kill me here, Natsuki-san, but that won't change anything. The version of me that you are angry with, he's gone. And all you will do is force him to beat you even more, because unlike you, he cares for those he fights for."