17: Chapter 16: For Echidna!
17: Chapter 16: For Echidna!
Chapter 16: For Echidna!
Diavolo was inherently a soul form; as long as he didn’t possess the body, he would never feel fatigue.
Taking over this body was meant for quietly scouting out this mansion.
When he had warned Subaru not to act rashly earlier, he was restraining that brat, not Diavolo himself.
At this moment, moonlight spilled through the slit in the curtains, drawing a slender line of silver on the floor.
He didn’t head out immediately, instead using King Crimson’s field of vision to thoroughly search the entire guest room first.
Aided by the moonlight, the search was completed quickly, revealing no surveillance devices inside the room.
However, abilities in this world were bizarre and manifold; he couldn’t rule out the existence of special means beyond his perception.
Diavolo recalled the words spoken by Elsa the Bowel Hunter.
This continent harbored all kinds of strange and uncanny methods.
His time-erasure Authority and Subaru’s Return by Death Authority were merely two of them, alongside magic, curses, Divine Protections, and hexes.
An endless stream of them, impossible to guard against entirely.
If such means truly existed within this room, Diavolo could only choose to ignore them for now.
After taking a moment to adapt, he stepped out of bed light-footedly, his bare feet landing on the cold floor without making a single sound throughout.
Precisely avoiding all objects prone to making noise, he slowly shuffled up to the door.
Secretly scouting someone else’s mansion late at night was a major taboo.
Yet he didn’t trust Roswaal in the slightest, nor did he trust those two maids whose sinister motives were obvious at a single glance.
Dependence on others meant placing one’s own safety in foreign hands—a situation Diavolo would never allow to persist.
Only by deciphering all hidden hazards around him could he rest with peace of mind.
What was more, he held the “Authority King Crimson,” which was even stronger than his “Stand King Crimson,” providing him with ample confidence.
A sharp dark glint sank into Diavolo’s eyes as his fingertips curled slightly, making complete preparations.
In the next instant, an invisible aura instantly saturated the entire guest room.
*Woom—* 『King Crimson!』 Time began to leap forward.
All that remained would be the final results.
Activating time erasure was merely for safety’s sake, preventing him from walking into an ambush the moment he opened the door.
If someone caught him sneakily searching late at night, he would have no way to defend his actions.
Yet within erased time, no one could perceive a single thing.
There was only one constraint during erased time— He could not actively strike to harm anyone.
Merely moving, touching inanimate objects, or shifting his own position were completely unrestricted.
Everyone else would simply follow their original trajectories, unable to see or remember any of his actions during this span of time.
Immediately after, King Crimson cautiously pulled open the door.
“Hmm?” Diavolo froze slightly.
That blue-haired maid stood motionless outside the door; clearly, she had been waiting for a long time.
Influenced by time erasure, she was entirely unaware that the door had been opened.
Yet the expression on the maid’s face caused Diavolo’s vigilance to spike.
Her entire face was written with unreserved rage and intense hostility, anger boiling within her.
In her hand, she even held a morningstar flail, deliberately holding up the iron chain to keep the metal from clanking softly.
Bearing such deep hostility upon their very first meeting and blocking the door made her ill intentions as clear as day.
“So it really is a trap?” Diavolo’s first instinct was to strike and eliminate her on the spot.
Yet this was someone else’s territory after all; acting recklessly would only startle the snake in the grass.
He had suffered greatly from death-triggered abilities before, those previous two Return by Deaths being the best lesson.
According to what Subaru had said, in one of the Return by Death loops, after he killed Emilia, the giant white beast appeared immediately—which served as the finest proof.
And that giant white beast was undoubtedly the spirit, Puck.
Right now, what Diavolo feared most was the opponent possessing a strange ability triggered post-mortem; those were the most troublesome to deal with.
Take Elsa, for instance: her immortality was essentially a semi-death-triggered mechanic.
Diavolo abandoned the idea of striking, retreating silently back to the bedside.
*Shhh—* Deactivating time erasure, the timeline reconnected seamlessly.
Everything was as though it had never happened, leaving not a trace behind.
Yet he was entirely devoid of sleepiness, keeping his eyes glued to the door, maintaining a state of high alert at all times.
However, tonight was destined not to end peacefully.
On the other side of the mansion, Roswaal had already received news regarding the incident at the warehouse.
“The situation is looking grim…
the fifth Royal Selection candidate is dead.
This will impact my upcoming plans…
I suppose Subaru-kun and Lady Emilia arrived far too late.” “Still, for Elsa the Bowel Hunter to be so easily repelled, especially when Reinhard wasn’t present at the scene…” Roswaal recalled Subaru’s appearance when he first arrived at the mansion.
Completely relaxed, without a single injury.
According to intelligence, Puck had already entered dormancy by then.
In terms of pure combat power, Roswaal would never believe Emilia could hold her ground against Elsa.
“Was the one who repelled the Bowel Hunter…
Subaru-kun?
For a mere ordinary person to force her back completely unscathed?” Could he have used his ability to rewind time?
Roswaal had long known through his “Gospel” that Subaru possessed the ability to rewind time, though he didn’t know the exact conditions for its activation.
The Bowel Hunter had been hired by him in the first place, with the intention of forcing Subaru into the game to achieve his own plans.
“Sigh, how troublesome~” This matter left Roswaal thoroughly perplexed.
“I truly wish to ask Lady Emilia directly, but alas, it is too late at night to disturb her.” “Oh well, I shall simply guide Subaru-kun into rewinding time once more.” Roswaal made up his mind.
Although the plan had hit a minor snag, it was of no great consequence.
As for how to make him rewind time…
It was simple.
All humans feared death; when on the brink of dying, time rewind was bound to activate.
Moments later, two figures—one blue and one pink—strolled slowly into the room.
It was none other than Rem and Ram.
“Lord Roswaal.” Both bowed in greeting simultaneously.
“Rem, Ram, how do you view Subaru-kun?
Could this person be a spy sent by the Witch Cult?” Roswaal cut straight to the point, opening with the question.
Although phrased as a question, he clearly had long possessed the answer.
Hearing the inquiry, the two sisters exchanged a silent look before Ram spoke up first: “Lord Roswaal, he has only just arrived.
He still requires a period of observation.” “And what about you, Rem?” Roswaal looked toward the blue-haired maid, a faint, ambiguous smile playing on his face.
Seeing this, Ram’s heart sank abruptly.
As twin Oni, she and Rem shared a mental connection, able to feel each other’s emotions.
After a brief silence, Rem spoke slowly: “Rem…
does not like him.” “Oh?
Just that?” Roswaal stood up slowly, walking to Rem’s side.
“Just a moment ago, you stood outside Subaru-kun’s door for a long time, holding a dangerous object~” Hearing this, Rem’s body trembled slightly.
Her actions had indeed been extremely rude; Subaru was an honored guest after all.
Roswaal patted Rem’s shoulder gently: “No need to be nervous.
My thoughts align with yours, you know?
Just now, I received a secret letter.” Facing the gazes of the two sisters, he slowly revealed the truth: “Natsuki Subaru…
he is a spy planted by the Witch Cult.
You both must have detected the Witch’s Miasma wafting off him, haven’t you?” A cold light flashed across the depths of Rem’s eyes.
“Lord Roswaal, how do you plan to handle this?” Ram voiced her question.
The sisters had never questioned Roswaal; he was the one who had saved them from the hands of the Witch Cult back then.
And on Subaru’s body lingered the exact same foul stench of the Witch as the Witch Cultists—only even more potent.
Roswaal offered a slight smile first, after which his expression abruptly turned grave: “Tonight, we shall execute him directly to let the Witch Cult know clearly that my, Roswaal’s, mansion is by no means a place they can infiltrate at will.” *Subaru-kun.* *For Echidna…* *I can only ask you to suffer a little.* —