*Hum—* In the next moment, the blade swept past, but it failed to harm Diavolo.
Before the Authority of 『King Crimson』, even Reinhard’s Divine Protection of Initiative fell short.
Diavolo concealed his presence, while King Crimson materialized right behind Reinhard, targeting his heart with a thrusting fist.
No matter how strong this man was, inside erased time, he was nothing more than an empty shell.
This time, there would be no mistake.
One punch.
Time resumed.
Blood spurted everywhere as the fist successfully pierced straight through Reinhard.
“It worked.” Diavolo grew ecstatic.
At the same time, his understanding of this world deepened considerably.
“Wait…
no!” Suddenly, as if noticing something wrong, Diavolo looked at Reinhard in absolute disbelief.
The knight merely looked down at the arm puncturing his chest—his face held no pain, only confusion.
『Divine Protection of First Sight』 If an attack was visible, the opponent’s very first blow was guaranteed to miss.
It was precisely because of this that the punch aimed at his heart had veered off course.
“…I see.” Reinhard raised his head, his gaze locking directly onto Diavolo’s direction.
“Although I don’t know what you just did, but…” He tightened his grip on his sword.
“I just need to take your head before you can activate that ability.” “I won’t hold back,” Reinhard declared solemnly, holding the Dragon Sword tightly.
Even though Diavolo seemed to be no match for him now, he refused to grow careless.
After all, this was an opponent recognized by the Dragon Sword.
“Y-You…
stay away from meeeee!” Diavolo backed away repeatedly, his expression contorted in terror.
The Reinhard before him instantly reminded him of Giorno’s Gold Experience Requiem.
It was an entity that even the invincible King Crimson could not defeat.
In that moment, the two figures gradually overlapped in his mind.
In the next second, a flash of sword light erupted.
Diavolo couldn’t even see how he drew his blade.
Too fast.
This man’s speed…
It was as if even if he could trigger time erasure again, he still wouldn’t be able to dodge it.
…
“Young man, do you want an appa?” Looking at the familiar appa vendor, Natsuki Subaru stared blankly.
Even though he was already certain, he still voiced one final question.
“Old man, how many times have you seen my face today?” “What do you mean, ‘how many times’?
This is the first time I’ve ever set eyes on you!
I’ve never seen anyone dressed as weirdly as you before.” “So, kid, you want an appa or what?” The appa vendor held up an appa, asking once more.
At this, Subaru let out a chuckle.
“Old man, I don’t have money.
Can I trade you something for it?” Subaru lifted the plastic bag in his hand, holding it out toward the vendor.
The vendor, who had originally intended to refuse and tell Subaru to beat it, looked at the novel object held before him and ended up accepting it anyway.
He then tossed an appa over to Subaru.
“Fine, kid, take it.
Now run along and stop blocking my business…
If you’ve nowhere else to go, you can come work at my stall, though there won’t be any pay.” “Got it, thanks old man!” Subaru responded energetically, then found a step nearby and sat down.
After roughly summarizing his past two experiences, Subaru finally understood his situation.
With so much objective evidence stacked up, he had no choice but to believe it, even if he didn’t want to.
I, Natsuki Subaru, can return to the past after dying.
In short, time rewind.
Combined with the fact that it only triggers upon death, it can be called— 『Return by Death』.
Maybe Big Bro Diavolo had already deduced this last time?
Now that it was truly confirmed, Subaru could finally set his mind at ease.
He couldn’t drag Big Bro Diavolo down to die with him.
Sure, Diavolo had killed those two people back then, but he had done it to protect him.
Subaru had finally come to terms with it.
He believed that as long as he was around, he could definitely correct Big Bro Diavolo’s bad habit of indiscriminately killing innocent people.
Right now, he just wanted to call Diavolo out and tell him to stop hiding.
“Are you there?
Big Bro…
Diavolo?” “Stop hiding already, I know you’re in there.
I have Return by—” *Thump.* He was only halfway through his sentence.
Suddenly, Subaru felt a bone-chilling coldness gradually seep into every corner of his body.
This coldness was entirely different from the physical chill of being frozen by the giant monster; it was a frigid dread that struck directly at the soul level.
Immediately after, his heart was seized.
Not metaphorically.
Literally, in the most physical sense, something had reached inside his chest and grabbed his heart.
“—Ugh!” Subaru doubled over violently, clutching his chest with both hands as his face instantly turned deathly pale.
Agony.
No, it wasn’t just pain.
It was a far more surreal, far more terrifying sensation— It felt as though a freezing, slimy hand had reached in through the gaps between his ribs, spread its five fingers, and then…
Squeezed.
“Ngh…
guh…!” He tried to breathe, but couldn’t draw a single gulp of air.
He wanted to speak, but only silent, broken whimpers escaped his throat.
His vision began to darken, and a loud buzzing echoed in his ears.
*What’s going on?* *What just happened?* Subaru’s mind was in total disarray.
He couldn’t understand it.
A second ago he was completely fine, and the next second his heart was being…
Wait.
His heart?
A terrifying realization suddenly flashed through his mind.
Could it be…
Could it be— “…Do not tell.” A voice resounded directly inside his head, rather than from the outside world.
A young girl’s voice.
A trembling, tearful voice that was at the same time impossibly cold.
This caught Subaru completely off guard; he had initially thought it was just a side effect of Return by Death.
Now, it was glaringly obvious that wasn’t the case.
“This secret…
must remain strictly between the two of us.” “You are not allowed to tell anyone.” “Absolutely…
never.” The hand tightened its grip just a fraction more.
Subaru felt as though his heart were on the absolute brink of being crushed into powder.
He dropped to his knees, his forehead pressed against the cold ground, his entire body trembling violently.
“Eh?” As if noticing something unexpected, the girl abruptly stopped terrorizing Subaru.
And right at that moment…
Inside Subaru’s body, Diavolo was mulling over Subaru’s words while wondering about his bizarre reaction.
Yet in the next second, he suddenly felt a piercing, bone-chilling aura surge from his surroundings.
It wasn’t a physical chill, but something far more fundamental—the terrifying sensation of being targeted by an entity beyond comprehension.
“…What is this?” He knit his brows in alarm.
Then, a voice resonated deep within their shared consciousness.
It wasn’t Subaru’s voice.
It belonged to someone else.
A girl’s voice, trembling with fanatical love and unhinged madness.
“Who are you?” “Why…
are you inside Subaru’s body?” “Get out.” “Out of Subaru’s body—GET OUT!!” A suffocating, terrifying pressure slammed down in an instant.
An unseen black hand lashed out violently at Diavolo.
Taking the direct hit, Diavolo let out a stifled grunt, nearly ejected from the physical vessel entirely.
He activated his Authority, 『King Crimson』, yet the outcome remained unchanged; he couldn’t deal any meaningful damage to the girl before him.
Any injured area regenerated instantly.
What followed was an even more violent flurry of attacks.
As for using time erasure—what good would that do?
It would do nothing more than grant a fleeting moment of relief.
“Get out get out get out get out get out get out get out get out get out…” The girl’s onslaught raged on without pause.
Yet despite such relentless ferocity, she was ultimately unable to purge Diavolo from Subaru’s body.
It was as if an insurmountable barrier stood in her way.
However, even if she couldn’t force him out, she could still beat him to death.
Right now, Diavolo felt as though he were dying all over again—a feeling identical to his time in the endless cycle of death.
*Is it possible…
I’m still trapped in infinite death, and this is just another new way to die?* Just as Diavolo’s consciousness reached its absolute breaking point, Subaru finally noticed the anomaly within his mind.
“Big Bro Diavolo, what’s wrong with you?!
Hold on, how can I help you?!” The instant Subaru uttered those words, the girl abruptly froze.
A faint light flashed across Diavolo.
The girl halted her attacks entirely.
“Subaru, I love you.
Subaru, I love you, I love you, I love you…” The girl murmured repeatedly, casting one final glance at Subaru before her presence slowly faded from Diavolo’s sight.
“What a terrifying entity…
Does this brat seriously attract monsters like that?” By now, Diavolo had roughly deduced the reason behind the girl’s appearance.
“Brat…
do not speak those three words ever again.
What you meant to say—I understand.” “I understand now.” Subaru in the real world was no fool; he understood what had just happened, especially with the harrowing sensation of his heart being squeezed still fresh in his memory.
At this moment, Diavolo suddenly felt that Subaru bore a striking resemblance to Doppio.
Equally kind, equally foolish, yet neither had ever abandoned him.
He suddenly remembered the words a fortune teller had once told him: “Light and shadow, front and back, dual personalities…
As long as this secret remains safe, your wealth and glory will never fade…” *Perhaps…
her retreat was a blessing bestowed by ‘Fate’ itself.* *And of course…
it wouldn’t have been possible without this…
brat.* —