Re Zero DMMS 78 (Patreon)

Beatrice held a purple blade in her hand, which had already pierced through her chest, and her body was rapidly turning into points of light and disappearing.

Spirits do not have flesh and blood in the true sense. Their bodies are essentially made of mana, so after they die, their bodies dissipate into mana.

Seeing the door open, Beatrice's fading consciousness spotted Kenma and Echidna standing at the doorway.

A single tear rolled down her cheek, but it too turned into points of light and dissipated.

Mother... If there is a next life... Betty doesn't want to meet you again.

Looking at Beatrice, who had completely disappeared, Kenma turned around and grabbed Echidna by the neck, his eyes filled with bewilderment.

"Echidna, I'm somewhat curious as to what you said to make your daughter break down and commit suicide on the spot."

He wasn't angry, just curious. Logically speaking, Beatrice should have been prepared many years ago. She should have realized it the moment the Book of Wisdom stopped showing her destiny.

Yet now, this great spirit who had endured 400 years of loneliness and misery chose to commit suicide after a mere three-minute conversation. Even if her mental defenses crumbled, it shouldn't have happened so quickly.

"Uh..."

Seeing Echidna hesitating to speak, Kenma laughed out of anger and immediately activated the contract.

Under Kenma's control, Echidna's expression changed, but she still couldn't stop herself from speaking the truth.

"First, I told Beatrice that the 400 years of waiting was just because I thought it would be fun, and then I couldn't help but want to explore new possibilities."

"I just wanted to see what kind of possibilities would unfold if a mother who had deceived her for 400 years told her to commit suicide and die the very first time they met, while promising to reincarnate her."

"But even I didn't expect that Beatrice would choose to end her own life without a second thought. But then again, isn't this also a possibility? Perhaps she had wanted to die for a long time, but just didn't dare to without permission."

As the control ended, Echidna immediately covered her mouth with both hands and looked at Kenma with trepidation.

Oh no! The contract actually made her voice all of her inner thoughts.

Kenma looked at Echidna with a fake smile, uttering the coldest words, "What a fool. Without my permission, what right do you have to explore possibilities? What makes you qualified?"

"From now on, every bit of pain from my deaths will be imposed on you without any reduction, and each time, the pain will be the sum of all my deaths. Once you understand that you must obey my commands, I will stop."

As his voice fell, Echidna's illusory figure dissipated, recalled back into Kenma's body.

"Ahhhhhhhh!!!"

A heart-wrenching scream echoed in his mind.

With a thought, Kenma shut off her five senses, immediately restoring peace and quiet.

Looking at the empty Forbidden Library, he sighed.

What a pain in the ass.

This save point was ruined by that fool Echidna.

His primary purpose in coming to the mansion was to win over Beatrice, and not by signing a contract with her. Instead, he wanted to take away a fully intact great spirit with 400 years of accumulated magic reserves.

But now, Beatrice had been enticed by Echidna into committing suicide on the spot, making this trip to the mansion an absolute failure.

Fortunately, he had a save point.

Kenma clenched his fingers into a tight fist and punched his own head with full force.

The entire mansion shook in the violent blast of air, and the powerful shockwave pierced straight through the wall behind Kenma.

Meanwhile, he had turned into a headless corpse, standing stiffly in place.

The world collapsed, and restarted.

—

Kenma opened his eyes, and the first thing he sensed was Shaula's loud shouting.

"Yes, Master. Take this!"

Shaula yelled, then rushed forward and delivered a flying kick straight to the door.

Bang!

The door was kicked open, and what came into view was no longer an ordinary room, but a library exuding the scent of books.

Amidst the rows of bookshelves, right in the center facing the door, a petite figure was sitting at a table drinking tea, her hands turning the pages of a book.

Back here again...

This time, before Beatrice could even speak, Kenma got straight to the point, "Beatrice, I am an old friend of your mother, Echidna. She sent me to find you. I am 'that person' for you."

Quite easily, he convinced Beatrice using this direct and forceful reasoning.

There was no need for spiritual redemption or emotional dependence. He only needed to trigger the emotions deep within Beatrice's heart.

After all, Beatrice had guarded the Forbidden Library for 400 years precisely because her mother, Echidna, had told her to wait for the instructions of 'that person.'

Once Kenma chose to trigger the instruction, no other steps were necessary. Everything would complete automatically.

Standing in front of the mansion, he glanced at Beatrice beside him and couldn't help but ask, "We definitely won't be staying at the mansion after this. How are you going to move the entire Forbidden Library with you?"

Beatrice smiled triumphantly and raised her hand, the two large twin drills behind her shaking slightly.

"Don't underestimate Betty. Betty is a master of Yin Magic, so compressing space is quite easy."

As soon as she finished speaking, the entire Forbidden Library was enveloped in a purple light, then it floated out and continuously compressed in midair.

By the time it floated in front of Kenma and Beatrice, the Forbidden Library had been compressed into a purple cube the size of a sugar cube.

Beatrice took it in her hand and swallowed it.

"This way, Betty can use the mana of the Forbidden Library whenever she wants, and there's no need to worry about it being damaged."

"After all, Betty has swallowed the Forbidden Library. If even that gets destroyed, then Betty would probably be dead anyway."

Seeing this move, Kenma could only feel that the original work's malice toward the protagonist's group was truly immense.

A male lead with an extremely high affinity for spirits could become overpowered if he controlled spirits.

A great spirit with 400 years of accumulated mana possessed an almost infinite backup energy source.

Yet when these two were put together, it actually resulted in a 'one plus one is less than two' situation. Who could possibly bear that?