Having traversed countless realms, can you possibly be as clever as me?

"That's our contract. Every time you die, I have the right to control the five minutes before you die," Tsurugi said with a casual smile.

"Unfortunately, I'm not as arrogant as you, so I'll kill anything that displeases me. Don't forget how she tortured you just now; I won't forgive everyone like you do~~~~"

At this point, he looked at this seemingly weak soul and praised it.

"Anyway, if you were given another chance, you would still want to save everyone, including this girl who tortured you, wouldn't you? So what's wrong with letting me kill them? If you were given another chance, you would still consider yourself a savior who can save everything."

"Natsuki Subaru, you are truly the most arrogant human I have ever met!"

......

"Hey buddy, wanna buy an apple?"

The scarred-faced uncle in front of the fruit stand, a blade of grass dangling from his mouth, uttered a classic line from iAngTV, while Tsurugi, standing in front of the stand, smiled and handed over a gold coin.

"Yes, give me another bag."

However, the man at the stall didn't seem to respond, so Tsurugi simply put down a silver coin, picked up a bag of apples, and left.

Although I'm a devil, I'm also a law-abiding person who pays for meals.

Walking along the bustling streets, Tsurugi looked at the crowds of people passing by.

The city layout resembles that of the Middle Ages, but with a seemingly conventional circular structure.

It's written as demi-human, but it includes all races of elves and orcs, and the orcs are all hairy, not green-skinned orcs like Fury.

In addition, there are hair colors that come in all colors except black, such as gold, red, green, and blue, which are hair colors that normal earthlings would never have.

This is exactly what a template-based Japanese-style Western fantasy world looks like.

To be honest, this was indeed the first time Tsugumi had entered this type of world.

—If we don't count the moon, although Type-Moon Age of Gods is quite fantastical, it's still set on Earth, so it doesn't count!

So, according to stereotypes, shouldn't a Japanese protagonist who travels to such a world have all the elements of having a cheat code, being framed, or having a harem of slave women?

How could such a person satisfy both the elements of arrogance and savior?

With a mind full of curiosity and amusement, Tsugumi exists in this world as a projection of consciousness.

He is not a physical body, but merely the embodiment of will and power; describing him at this moment as a 'holy spirit' and an 'evil spirit' would be quite apt.

Therefore, if he wants to, no one in this world can see him. Even the world itself cannot observe him in this quantum superposition state, thanks to chaos and harmony.

However, once he starts interfering, his current state will collapse, and he will become known to others.

He didn't interfere with the world's course the first three times, so—he observed the world's two 'destructions'.

Yes, the world was 'destroyed' twice in front of him, or rather, collapsed and rebuilt twice!

It was a rather interesting experience to witness firsthand how the fundamental particles of everything annihilate in an instant and then recombine according to some predetermined procedure.

Theoretically speaking, the world was indeed destroyed and then rebuilt, and the life within it was still itself, not a fabricated result of copying and pasting.

This at least shows that the world is not a computer program or anything like that.

But the two destructions and reorganizations also made Tsugumi realize the special nature of this world.

—This world has a primordial will called Ode Ragnar, and this thing, which is similar to the 'Great Source', has no self-will, but will ensure the normal operation of the world.

However, this is a world without parallel worlds.

The second point is the most important—if a world doesn't have parallel worlds, then it means that this world is not a product of objective nature.

There is no multiverse here, and there is no absolute world barrier—in other words, the world here is almost completely defenseless against invaders.

Of course, because it does not have a multiverse and is therefore small enough in a world as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, it is almost never invaded by other worlds. At the same time, its world origin is concentrated in one, making it exceptionally powerful and formidable.

This unguarded yet inherently powerful ability was directly manifested in the three world destructions that Tsurugi witnessed.

Why does this world destroy and rebuild? According to Tsugumi's direct observation of the world using the 'Chaos and Harmony' technique, the reason is that she encountered a 'BUG'.

The cycle of life and death in this world works like this: after an individual dies, they return to a subspace called the 'Memory Corridor', and then return to Od Ragnar to rejoin the cycle, re-entering the original world for the next reincarnation.

898 >>

However, when an incompatible soul enters the memory corridor, Ode Ragnar will be unable to read it and throw it back into its original world, because it does not belong to any part of the world at all, thus creating a bug in the loop system.

Ode Ragnar was unable to read the souls of the other world, and the source of this small world was too rigid to be able to directly intervene and correct it after encountering such a bug.

If this were the Type-Moon universe, even the Great Source wouldn't need to intervene; secondary wills like Gaia and Alaya could easily handle these incompatible souls. Whether they were shattered and reassembled or simply discarded, it wouldn't interfere with the system's operation.

Because the bug cannot be fixed, and the source material is so abundant that losses can be ignored, this world will choose to directly 'roll back the data', reverting it to the time when the otherworldly soul that caused the bug was still alive.

So to put it bluntly, all incompatible alien souls in this world will have a 'death return' cheat, which is entirely a result of the weak world's inability to handle bugs.

This fact is extremely dangerous, especially for dangerous individuals like Dongjiang.

If he wanted, he could easily turn this world into one riddled with bugs, causing it to 'crash,' and the people here wouldn't even be able to escape, since they don't have a multiverse.

Of course, Tsugumi isn't a major villain, so she wouldn't do something so pointless.

He came purely to observe that arrogant savior.

After the reorganization, he had pinpointed his whereabouts and identity, and when Tsugumi arrived—he was experiencing his third death.

In the alleys of the capital, the afternoon hustle and bustle was abruptly cut off by the high walls on both sides, leaving only the echoing dripping sound on the damp stone slabs.

Natsuki Subaru's body was pierced by a sharp blade.

"Cough... Gah..."

The instant he became aware of it, an unbearable, intense pain choked his throat. An extremely pure and primal urge of agony left his mind with only the simplest, most instinctive groans.

—I've been stabbed! I ...

The thug with the knife struck first. Subaru, who hadn't noticed that the other man had already drawn his weapon, was stabbed just as he was about to forcefully push him aside.

He had already experienced this excruciating pain three times in just a few hours. But no matter how many times he experienced it, he probably would never get used to this kind of pain in the future, or ever.

"Hey! You really went in with it?"

"There's no other way! Otherwise, he might escape to the main road, and that would be troublesome."

"Stop it, you idiot! Ah—this guy's done for. If his internal organs are pierced, he's doomed. Hey!"

The three thugs also seemed very flustered. They clearly didn't intend to kill anyone, since the consequences of being caught for robbery and murder are completely different.

Repeated, hoarse, disordered breathing; my throat felt like it was drowning, soaked in surging blood. The sensation in my hands and feet was fading further and further away; even now, my thoughts flickered weakly, almost ceasing altogether.

My vision was plunged into darkness once more. Just like last time, this time it was all over.

But this time...

"Mr. Subaru Natsuki. Welcome to the afterlife. You unfortunately passed away not long ago. Though brief, your life has come to an end."

In the empty space, Natsuki Subaru stared blankly at the figure before him. There was a chair in front of him, and the person who had declared the end of his life was sitting in that chair.

It was a blurry figure; Subaru Natsuki couldn't make out his appearance at all. All he could see was a silhouette tinged with deep red.

"This is...the afterlife?" Subaru Natsuki looked at his hands, bewildered.

"So I'm really dead? Truly, completely dead at the hands of those three thugs?"

Why didn't I return this time?

"Your existence is a bug in the world, which is why you gained this so-called ability to return from death." The crimson silhouette rested his chin on one hand, speaking with great interest.

"But now that I've removed you, the bug has been removed from the system, so you can die in peace."

"...Are you a god? A death god or something?" Natsuki Subaru snapped out of her confusion and despair, staring blankly at him.

"No, that's not it," he said with a smile.

“You can call me Tsurugi—though you might be more familiar with the name Dongalos.”

Dongalos... Subaru Natsuki searched the meaning of the word in his mind. Because he had forced himself to memorize a lot of knowledge unrelated to studying when he was young, he quickly found the meaning of the word.

The Crimson Lord, the Destroyer of Eden, the Great Demon of the Bible

"You're a demon—am I going to hell?!"

"No, no, no, it's not that bad." Tsuruga waved her hand, poured herself a glass of wine, and said leisurely.

"I'm just a passerby. In this strange world, you and I are both outsiders. But I found you quite interesting, so I'll give you two choices."

898>>>>

He held up two fingers and said

"My first option is to send you back to your original world. Your parents are searching for you, and if nothing unexpected happens, they will spend the rest of their lives tormented by the pain of their son disappearing after going out to buy something."

"I choose this!!!" Natsuki Subaru almost couldn't contain his intense desire and wanted to shout out this choice!

However, he thought of Emilia, the fairy girl who had saved him. If it weren't for him, she would surely have died in that world.

Seemingly seeing through his thoughts, Tsugumi's lips curled into a playful smile as she continued...

"The second option will allow you to eventually return to your parents' side, and it will also give you a way to save the girl you like."

"Really? Thank you!!!" Ang shouted excitedly.

"Don't rush, let me finish explaining the contents of the contract first," Tsugumi said leisurely, her arms crossed.

"The second option is that we will sign a contract, and then I will live in your body and become your tenant. In return, as long as you call out my real name before you die, I will control your body for five minutes. But in the same way, you will only remember what I did during that time when you call out my name."

"Based on this contract, Subaru Natsuki, when you have fulfilled your heart's desire and feel completely satisfied, I will send you back to your parents. But in return, your soul will belong to me completely."

899

618. [RE:0] The Demon's Pact, Five Minutes of World Annihilation

Subaru knew very well that every contract was based on something, and apart from family, no one in this world would give another person complete preferential treatment without any ulterior motive.

Not to mention, this was a gift from the devil.

But at the same time, he didn't think he had anything about him that would make a powerful demon covet him.

Natsuki Subaru, a loser who gave up, a person who... has no special talents.

To be honest, he was in good health and had previously achieved decent academic results. Apart from that, he didn't think he had anything worth coveting.

Does the devil's second contract ultimately demand his own soul?

These are truly devilish conditions. So, what should I choose?

"Let me ask you this: what do you want my soul for?"