The sky shattered, the earth split apart, and everything was annihilated into nothingness.
Even the Sword Saint, Reinhardt, found himself breathing heavily, his mind shaken as he watched the destruction of this world unfold.
As for Subaru, his entire body trembled, unable to utter a single word.
Against such a sight, even his Return by Death would likely be completely useless.
The members of the Multiversal Chat Group, watching this scene through Subaru's live stream, were left speechless.
Only Dark Strange remained somewhat composed, having already witnessed the destruction of an entire universe before.
Portal Daddy: I once believed that whatever lurked behind the Reincarnation Palace was an existence beyond reach.
Portal Daddy: But it… had absolutely no ability to resist the being that was summoned.
Portal Daddy: Just a mere gaze from that being seemed to reduce an entire world to nothingness. Such power… is simply terrifying!
Portal Daddy: This SCP Foundation President… his existence is likely far beyond anything we can comprehend.
Back in the Re:Zero world, Haruto waved his hand, dispersing the projected image. With a single step, his figure twisted and vanished.
He was off to claim the rewards of his scheme.
Reincarnation Palace's World
Greylin's inscriptions had reached their limit, drawing the gaze of the Sevenfold Destroyer. And, as expected, the Reincarnation Palace's world was erased.
Every narrative layer it existed upon was completely annihilated.
The Reincarnation Palace itself—its so-called Supreme Divinity—was clearly weak before the Destroyer.
Had it not fled, it would have been erased along with everything else.
And as for where it could flee—
There was only one link left behind.
Haruto's connection.
Crossing worlds, Haruto arrived in a silent, desolate universe. Perhaps only an instant passed, or perhaps entire centuries.
To Haruto, time held no meaning.
What mattered was that it had fled here.
To his surprise, it actually had a physical form rather than being a purely conceptual existence.
It resembled a bloody fusion of slime-like mucus and a black hole.
It sounded abstract, but that was simply because its very existence was abstract. It was clearly wounded, though not in a way visible to the eye.
Haruto could sense that the metaphysical concepts it embodied were broken in several places.
No doubt, this was due to the Destroyer's gaze.
Tsk tsk, that thing really is terrifying.
But this was fine. It meant Haruto could save himself a lot of effort. The moment it arrived, Haruto activated The World.
Time across the multiverse came to a halt.
Despite this, Haruto's movements were completely unaffected.
At some point, a scalpel had appeared in his hand.
And he began his meticulous dissection.
Even with the Root: Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, Haruto was unable to see its Root Death Lines.
So, he opted for the next best thing—
Cutting apart the Death Lines of its conceptual existence.
It writhed in sheer terror.
Yes.
Even in a world frozen by World Power, it still reacted.
It howled in agony.
And in the end, at a certain precise cut, it actively shed a large portion of itself. A concept vanished into the void, disappearing entirely.
Seeing this, Haruto could only sigh.
A shame—I still couldn't completely devour it.
But at least he had learned something new.
Apparently, Supreme Divinities could sacrifice parts of their own conceptual existence to escape any restriction.
Of course, Haruto had no desire to ever find himself in a situation where he needed to use such a method.
Besides…
[Successfully Contained Anomaly: Seven Fragments of the "Plunder" Concept.][Containment Level: 6 - Supreme Divinity. Containment Degree: Twin Gods.][You may choose to receive one Level 6 Lottery Draw or directly integrate the Supreme Divinity fragments into yourself.]
The many fragmented concepts Haruto had carved out remained, serving as his spoils of war.
After glancing at the system prompt, he didn't hesitate.
He chose to assimilate the Supreme Divinity fragments.
A Level 6 Lottery Draw was certainly tempting. But there was no guarantee it would yield a complete Supreme Divinity. On the other hand, consuming 70% of "Plunder's" fragments—
Would not only grant him an unprecedented boost in power, but also give him a future opportunity to track down and devour the remaining "Plunder" entity.
Being of the same origin, there would always be a connection.
No matter how vast the myriad realms were, as long as he had a direction, Supreme Divinities were easy to find.
Before him, the many fragments transformed into blood-colored streams of light, merging into Haruto's body.
The concept of Plunder rapidly unfolded within his understanding, becoming something he fully comprehended.
Now—
Haruto was the embodiment of Plunder.
At the same time, he finally grasped a clearer picture of what a complete Supreme Divinity entailed.
Supreme Divinities corresponded to fully realized, absolute concepts. For reference:
His Wisdom corresponded to roughly 30% of a complete Supreme Divinity.
His World Power amounted to 20% of a complete Supreme Divinity.
His Root Origin: Mystic Eyes of Death Perception accounted for 60% of a complete Supreme Divinity.
The difference in power levels stemmed from the varying potency of these concepts.
Now that he thought about it, Haruto had previously been puzzled by Plunder's cowardice.
After all, even as a fragmented Supreme Divinity, it should have been stronger than him.
But the truth was, even if Plunder hadn't been severely wounded by the Sevenfold Destroyer…
Two forces clashed, yet it was clear that the victor would be Haruto.
It wasn't just a matter of stacking more fragments together; rather, the concepts of time and death were inherently far superior to other concepts.
And now, after having seized seven-tenths of the plunder...
Haruto had already far surpassed ordinary supreme divinities. However, when facing certain metaphysical entities...
Cough, cough.
After witnessing the attack of the Sevenfold Destroyer, Haruto had concluded that the thing was at least a composite of several complete concepts.
There was no way he could defeat it.
Afterward, Haruto used his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception to sever all traces of his presence in this dead, silent universe, cutting off all connections.
Only then did he return to the Re:Zero world.
The power of the world was lifted.
Time resumed its flow.
Subaru and Reinhardt were astonished to see Haruto who had previously disappeared in a distorted manner, had reappeared.
"The matter with the Reincarnation Palace is settled. From now on, across all worlds, there will no longer be a so-called Reincarnation Palace."
"The Re:Zero world can now function normally. As for whether the SCP Foundation should intervene in this world..."
Haruto turned to look at Reinhardt.
This was something Reinhardt would have to decide.
After all, that guy was the child of the world, it wasn't unreasonable for him to decide the world's fate.
Under Haruto's gaze, Reinhardt quickly waved his hands in refusal.
"This matter is not something I alone can decide. I'm merely a knight of the kingdom."
Haruto sighed.
That humility wasn't an act, which made it all the more troublesome.
So, Haruto gave Reinhardt a brief explanation of the SCP Foundation's existence and its responsibilities.
The Re:Zero world could never be fully contained, abnormalities were deeply rooted within it.
Moreover, this was a world not entirely ruled by humans. Judging abnormalities through human perspectives alone was fundamentally flawed. If the Foundation were to intervene, its role would be to eliminate certain threats, while also acquiring usable powers to enhance the Foundation's diversity.
After listening to Haruto's explanation, Reinhardt fell into deep thought.
It was a significant matter and required time to consider.
Haruto wasn't in a rush either. He sent Reinhardt away and kept Subaru behind.
Being left alone made Subaru a little uneasy.
Haruto simply patted him on the shoulder.
"No need to be nervous. Since you're a transmigrator, are you aware of the abnormalities within yourself?"
Subaru was momentarily stunned before realizing—Haruto was referring to Return by Death.
After reading the original work within the group chat, Subaru had already gained a clear understanding of what Return by Death truly was.
It was the Witch's Love; a granted authority, similar to the Witch Factors possessed by the Sin Archbishops.
It was the power of the Witch of Envy.
"Judging by your reaction, you seem to be aware of your own abnormality. Do you want to get rid of it?"
Haruto asked again.
Hearing this, Subaru's eyes widened in shock.
That was the Witch of Envy's power!
But soon, he calmed down.
In the Re:Zero world, no one could strip away the Witch of Envy's power, as her existence was close to the ceiling of this world's power system.
But who was the person standing before him?
This was someone who could erase an entire world with a mere gesture. The ability to strip away the Witch of Envy's power wasn't surprising at all.
After a brief moment of thought, Subaru nodded.
"I want to remove it."
Return by Death might sound invincible, but in practice, it was nothing more than a tragedy generator.
He couldn't tell anyone about it, and he was forced to experience death over and over again. That kind of suffering…
Subaru thought, whoever wants it can take it!
Haruto nodded.
The next moment, a scalpel pierced Subaru's heart.
Subaru's eyes widened.
Before he could even scream—
The blade was already withdrawn.
Not a single drop of blood spilled. There wasn't even a wound, not even his clothes were damaged.
Subaru checked himself in amazement.
Haruto, however, simply waved his hand.
"I've contained the anomaly."