3: Chapter 2: King Crimson!
3: Chapter 2: King Crimson!
Chapter 2: King Crimson!
In the next instant, his body moved on its own.
The realization gave Natsuki Subaru a sharp jolt.
Right now, he felt like a spectator pushed into the nosebleed section.
Even though he was still inside this body, even though he could still feel everything, he had lost all control.
He could only watch helplessly as his own hand reached out and seized the punk’s ankle.
“Wait, wait, wait!
What are you doing?!
That guy’s holding a knife!
I’m gonna die!” Subaru screamed inside his mind, feeling that taking a cautious approach was the right move against these guys; one wrong turn and getting stabbed would be no laughing matter.
If he didn’t feel that he could reclaim control of his body at any given moment, Subaru would never have let Diavolo act so recklessly.
At the same time, he wanted to see what kind of person this second soul inside him really was, and how he intended to resolve the situation.
Hearing Subaru’s words, Diavolo had no intention of stopping.
An emperor’s pride did not permit him to bow his head.
Even if he wasn’t the one physically bowing it.
“You still dare grab me?
Watch me chop your hand off!” Seeing the other party resist, the punk raised his knife, making a motion to hack down.
However, he didn’t actually intend to chop off Subaru’s hand; it was merely a scare tactic.
After all, losing a hand was practically no different from dying, and if Subaru died, they would be in serious trouble.
Their goal was just robbery—there was no need to commit murder.
“Heh.” A soft laugh slowly drifted from Diavolo’s mouth.
At some point, a sinister smile had crept onto his face.
“Natsuki Subaru, is it?
Watch closely.
Your physical condition is decent enough—there is no need to fear.” Diavolo yanked his arm sideways.
The punk instantly lost his balance.
The hand holding the dagger was forced to plunge straight toward Subaru.
Taking advantage of the momentum, Diavolo flipped and stood up, dodging the stab.
He reached out, grabbed the punk’s right wrist, and exerted a fraction of his strength.
A grip strength of 70 kilograms.
“Gah!” Pain shot through the punk’s right hand.
The short dagger slipped from his fingers and was caught firmly by Subaru.
Now, the punk held his second knife in his left hand, propping himself against the ground, his center of gravity completely thrown off.
By now, the remaining two finally reacted—it had all happened far too quickly.
A guy who usually possessed only raw strength had suddenly become seasoned and nimble, catching them completely off guard.
“Knock the knife out of his hand, fast!” The punk shouted, instantly evaluating the crucial point of the battle.
Subaru could already send a heavy brute flying with a single punch; if they let him wield a knife, they might not be able to match him.
Seeing this, the two rushed forward immediately, not even pausing to draw their own weapons, lunging frantically at Diavolo’s hands.
Yet in the very next second…
Diavolo seized the opening and plunged the blade straight into the big brute’s wrist.
*Pfft.* The blade sank deep into flesh.
“Wait, huh?!” Subaru, watching the fight from within, widened his eyes in horror.
He could clearly feel the resistance of the blade cutting through skin, the rubbery snap of severed tendons, and the sticky warmth of blood flowing down the handle onto his palm…
Every sensation was unbearably vivid—so vivid that he wanted to stop everything right then and there.
Because of Subaru’s instinctive recoil, the physical body in the real world wobbled.
“Tch.” Diavolo clicked his tongue in annoyance, forcibly regaining his balance, and kicked the charging dwarf off his feet.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…” “But…
but this is seriously disgusting…
Is that my hand?
There’s blood on my hand?
So much blood…” Realizing he had disrupted Diavolo, Subaru’s voice grew smaller and smaller, thick with embarrassment.
After all, Diavolo was trying to help him, yet he was voicing such pathetic complaints.
“Silence.
Stop getting in my way,” Diavolo barked coldly, his eyes shifting back to the punk.
Because of Subaru’s interference, a surge of nameless rage ignited in Diavolo’s chest.
“A few worthless pieces of trash…
how dare you step on my head?” Diavolo hesitated no longer.
“『King Crimson!』” A deep-red, muscular humanoid Stand slowly manifested beside Subaru.
Most eerily, a tiny second face was embedded upon its forehead.
Yet the three thugs acted as though they couldn’t see it at all—including Subaru inside the body.
Observing their lack of reaction, as well as Subaru’s, realization dawned on Diavolo in an instant.
“It seems the Stand’s invisibility remains intact.
There are no Stands in this world—perhaps I am the only one who can see it.” Right now, the kid was still asking him in his head why he had suddenly shouted that out loud.
Under Diavolo’s command, King Crimson lunged violently toward the punk.
A red fist wound up in the air and thrust forward with lethal precision.
*Pfft.* The punk, who had just managed to stabilize his footing, suddenly felt his pupils contract to tiny pinpricks.
He had no idea what had just happened.
He felt only a sharp pain in his chest, before spurting a mouthful of dark blood.
Slowly looking down, he saw a gaping hole carved straight through his chest.
“What…
is this…?” The punk’s abrupt death caused the other two’s faces to turn pale with horror.
They whipped around to stare at Subaru standing in place.
“You…
what did you do?!” “Run!” The dwarf screamed at the top of his lungs, turning on his heel to sprint away.
The tall brute didn’t even care about the wound on his wrist anymore, hastily scrambling to follow.
Seeing them flee, Diavolo immediately gave chase.
Right at that moment, however, Subaru spoke up from within.
“Wait, Big Bro Diavolo, what was that just now?!
Did you do that?
Is that a superpower?!
How could you kill him?!
That’s…
that’s wrong!” Subaru felt like he was watching a movie, witnessing his own body act.
At first, he thought he looked incredibly cool, but the moment he saw the punk die a sudden, violent death, panic seized him.
At the end of the day, he was just an ordinary guy; taking a human life was something he couldn’t easily accept.
“Enough!” Diavolo snapped in fury, furious at his lack of resolve.
“He was trying to kill you!
Were you going to stand there like a good little boy and wait for it?!
Were you going to gamble that the knife in his hand wouldn’t pierce your heart?!
Even if they spared you this time, are you going to gamble that they won’t come back?!” “Snap out of it, you fool!
This alternate world is no house-playing game!” Subaru’s emotional turmoil heavily disrupted Diavolo’s control, making it feel as though the body were slipping back into Subaru’s hands.
“B-But…
couldn’t we just give them a lesson and let them go?
Besides, they didn’t want to kill anyone in the first place—they just wanted to steal our stuff!” By now, the two had already run far out of range, exceeding King Crimson’s attack distance.
Yet Diavolo refused to give up, forcibly maneuvering the body to pursue them.
In the next second, however, Diavolo’s heart leaped into his throat.
He whipped his head back.
An icicle was hurtling straight toward him at blistering speed.
“Damn it, no time!” “『King Crimson!』 This time belongs to me alone!” —