The Plum Blossom Swordsman Reincarnated into a Count's Family

"ROLF!!!!!"

Wayne roared Rolf's name and called upon the power of the demon he had contracted. Rolf, who had been struck dead by black lightning only moments before, forced his body upright once more. The face of a man who had died and come back was deathly pale.

The Lightning Demon pressed a hand to the place on his chest where the black bolt had driven home. There was no wound. No tear in his clothes. No pain lingering in the flesh.

But the agony that had ripped through him the instant that black lightning pierced his heart had been real beyond any doubt. In this life, and across the whole span of his existence as a demon, he had never felt anything like it. That pain had already curdled into fear, and the fear was eating him alive.

Dangerous…! That black lightning felt like it was tearing my soul apart!

Rolf had once imitated a fragment of the Demon King's power and seized an immortality art for himself — a secret technique that implanted his soul into the unborn child of a pregnant woman. So long as humanity did not go extinct, he could live forever. There was, however, one absolute condition: the soul itself had to remain intact.

I'm certain of it…! That woman's black lightning has the same power as the Demon King — the power to annihilate a soul.

Cold sweat ran down Rolf's back. Two choices rose in his mind.

Trust Wayne's power ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and fight. Or flee this place right now.

…Can I even run? I have no confidence I can dodge that human woman's black lightning…

The choice was made.

He would trust Wayne's power and fight. With Wayne behind him, he could battle for an infinite stretch of time. Sooner or later, even that woman — if she could still be called human — would tire.

"I am!! Rolf, the Lightning Demon!!!"

Rolf bellowed, dragging his confidence back up by force. He was a top-tier demon. In pure combat strength alone, he ranked among the handful of true powerhouses even in the Demon World.

Crackling golden light erupted across his body. His flesh dissolved into golden lightning, then compressed, blazing brighter and tighter with every heartbeat.

If he opened his full power, his physical body would not survive it — but Wayne stood at his back. Even if he died, Wayne would bring him back.

"I'll kill you!"

The blue dragon behind the silver-haired woman would be caught in the blast and die with her, but Rolf no longer had the luxury of caring about collateral damage.

"You won't even get the chance to scream!"

The compressed golden lightning shot forward — and stopped. Rolf, transformed into pure lightning, had not advanced so much as a single meter. A pitch-black shadow had surged up from the floor and seized the golden bolt in its grip.

"Don't make me laugh, this kind of—!"

Crackling furiously, Rolf discharged golden lightning in a desperate bid to shake the shadow off. The bolt that could have incinerated an ogre in a single breath did not so much as scorch the darkness holding him.

Yuria watched the golden lightning with cold eyes, then gave the slightest tilt of her chin. The shadow that had caught the bolt simply sank back into the greater darkness beneath it, taking its prisoner with it.

"……."

Three seconds of silence. Then the shadow spat Rolf's body back out. Flesh and bone, organs and blood — every component of a living form had been dismantled. The heap of meat that hit the floor with a wet slap was grotesque beyond words.

"ROLF!!!!!!!!!"

"Ugh…."

Wayne cried out in horror. Behind him, Bezel clamped a hand over her mouth and gagged.

"Rolf! You must not die here!"

Wayne activated his ability.

Bone and flesh, blood and organs all moved at once, knitting themselves back together at a single point. In an instant, Rolf returned to the form of a young boy.

"…Haaah!"

Rolf forced a breath out of his restored lungs. His whole body was shaking. Inside that empty shadow he had been taken apart slowly, piece by piece, for eight full hours. Outside it, only a few seconds seemed to have passed.

Even while my body was being dismantled by degrees inside the shadow, I couldn't die…! That space inside the shadow is completely under that woman's control! Whatever happens, I must not fall into the shadow again…!

Rolf stared down at the floor, sweat pouring off him. The shadow rippled.

"……!!"

Startled, he shot upward and clung to the ceiling. A single drop of cold sweat fell from his brow. He looked down at the unmoving shadow and allowed himself a breath of relief — except the shadow was still trembling. It was trembling because his own body would not stop shaking.

Yuria threw a dagger. The throw was pure ambush, and the blade crossed the sound barrier as if it cost her nothing at all. It punched clean through Wayne's throat, drove into the wall beyond him, and kept going until it vanished from sight.

Wayne's corpse staggered and began to topple. An instant before his head could strike the floor, his body found its balance again and stood perfectly upright. He blinked, then ran his fingers over a throat that no longer bore any wound at all.

…So the ability still triggers even if I kill him by surprise.

Wayne ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Lysis, president of Pantheum, commanded time itself — limited temporal manipulation. That was why Rolf, no matter how thoroughly he died, kept coming back whole. Wayne simply rewound the time of the body.

Body and soul can be restored, but memory cannot. Or rather, in this case, he chooses not to restore it.

Yuria sank into thought for a moment — a moment measured only by the speed of her own mind. In real time, less than five seconds passed.

What shall I do?

Even alone with her own thoughts, she used formal speech. There was no particular reason. Honorifics had simply become too deeply habitual.

Following the original story and severing the bond between demon and contractor would be the convenient path… but then the demon would escape.

The Time Demon, Mupapa.

Letting a demon with the authority to manipulate time slip away would make everything that came after considerably more troublesome.

He is almost certainly hiding in a fold of time, just as in the original. No matter how I turn it over, pressing the contractor — Wayne — is the best course.

The power of time was not infinite.

If she kept killing Wayne and Rolf, Wayne's strength would eventually hit its limit. And at that limit, the demon would be forced to show itself. A demon could not unleash truly overwhelming power without revealing its form.

Neither of them could dodge. Both were electrocuted on the spot. Both died — and both were rewound to the instant before death.

"Kh… What the hell is this lightning…"

"Damn it all…. No matter how many times I take it, the pain of a soul being torn apart never gets easier. Wayne — that woman is a monster. Don't even think about fighting her. Just endure as long as you can."

"Unexpected. I never thought I'd hear that from you, Rolf. Is she really that strong?"

"She's a monster. Equal to the Demon King… no. She might even surpass him."

"That's overestimating her by a wide margin. Selling the Demon King's name just to prop up your pride… aren't you embarrassed?"

"You stupid bastard. Shut up and hold out. And try falling into the shadow at least once. It's as snug as a mother's womb."

"Coming from someone who clawed his way out of his own mother's belly, that argument has no force at all. I will make absolutely certain I don't fall into any shadows."

"You sharp little s—"

Thwick.

A dagger flashed past and took Rolf's head clean off. The severed head dropped toward the floor.

"ROLF!!!!!!!!!"

Wayne activated his ability again.

"Hah! Shit! By the time I saw it, it was already too la— huh?"

A shadow hammer dropped from the ceiling and crushed Rolf flat. He died in a single blow, reduced to pulp.

"ROOOLF!!!!!!!!!"

"What the hell…?!"

The moment Rolf revived, a thin thread of shadow slipped up his nostril. An instant later his body exploded, fragments of flesh spraying in every direction.

"Rolf!"

Wayne's voice had lost its strength. There was no emotion left in his eyes. He used his ability like a machine.

"Gaaah…!"

Rolf came back only long enough to scream a death cry. Dozens of shadow spikes had already punched through every part of his body.

"Rolf…."

Wayne rewound time.

"Fuck— ghk-ghk!"

Rolf was hanged by a noose of pure shadow.

"……."

Wayne restored him without even calling his name.

Rolf's deaths continued after that without pause. It ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠did not take long for the count to climb into triple digits. An ordinary human would have gone mad long before, but Rolf was not human — he was a demon. A demon's mind did not break over something so trivial.

"Damn it all…. How many times are you going to kill me?"

"The one hundred twenty-first. This time… shadow parasites, is it? Those black worm-things are eating you from the inside."

Wayne spoke with something like admiration mixed into his voice. Across one hundred twenty-one deaths, Rolf had not died the same way even once. It was as if the woman were using him as a testing ground for her power.

"Stop…! Just stop already! You bitch! Kill Wayne instead of me! Wayne is the one with the time ability!"

"Rolf… are you betraying me here? How disappointing. The trust between us has just been broken."

"You fucking bastard! You sat there and did nothing while I died over and over! Trust? There was never any trust to begin with, you piece of shit! Stop using the ability! I'm sick of dying and coming back! Just let me stay dead!!"

"I cannot do that. If you die for good, I will be the one who dies a few hundred times. I am… not a demon. I am human. I have no confidence I could endure that many deaths in a short span and keep my mind intact the way you have."

"You son of a bitch! You're just using me!! Wayne! I'll kill you too— ghk!"

Rolf died. Wayne rewound time.

The revived Rolf watched his own arms and legs twist inward with a sickening series of cracks. Before long his entire body would crumple in on itself and he would die. He did not need to see it to know.

"You absolute bitch. Why is it only me…?"

"……."

Yuria did not so much as flinch. She regarded him with cool, empty eyes.

"Answer me!"

"There is no grand reason. It is simply because you are a demon."

"I'll kill you!"

Enraged, Rolf tried to transform into lightning — but a half-step ahead of him, his whole body crumpled inward. The fighting spirit that had flared on the fuel of pure rage snuffed out at once.

Death number two hundred seventy-one.

A smile touched Rolf's lips.

At last, the woman more demonic than any demon was tiring.

Yuria's breathing had grown rough, and sweat ran freely down her brow. The speed at which she was killing Rolf had dropped sharply over the last thirty minutes.

Even for Yuria, who carried a dragon's heart, pouring out power without rest for two straight hours was no small burden. The one mercy was that she was not the only one wearing down. Wayne was nearly at his limit as well.

"Kahahaha! You're exhausted! Don't even think about dying cleanly. I'll use Wayne's ability to pay you back for everything I suffered — and more…!"

"Rolf… I hate to rain on your parade, but I have nothing left. From here on I can rewind time maybe ten more times… and even then, three seconds is the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠absolute limit."

"Damn it! Borrow power from Mupapa!"

"I will not burn my own lifespan just to satisfy you. Unlike you, my life has a fixed end."

Yuria hurled a spear of shadow at Rolf. He had not let his guard down; he twisted his body lightly and slipped past it.

"Haha! The edge is gone from your attacks!"

"……Where is Leocio?"

Yuria asked the question out of nowhere.

"Leocio? That red lizard? He's off preparing the ritual, after dumping all the troublesome work on us."

"Rolf!!"

"Quiet, Wayne. Don't shout my name so loudly. Just hearing it irritates me. And there is no risk of information leaking. That bitch dies here."

"Why don't you just finish this already?"

From the rear, Bezel spoke with her arms folded and an arrogant look on her face. Until moments ago she had been watching with open anxiety; the instant she saw Yuria flagging, her entire attitude flipped.

"Heh. Fine. First — the right arm!"

Rolf became a bolt of golden lightning and shot toward Yuria. She swung her fist with perfect calm. The punch caught him, drove him into the floor, then sent him up into the ceiling, then down again, then up — dribbling him like a basketball. At some point his body tore apart and the pieces scattered in every direction.

"ROLF!!!!"

Wayne used his power. He had to rewind a full six seconds. The stink of blood was thick on the breath of the exhausted man.

"Damn it… so she still had something left…. But that had to be her last thrash. The moment her fist hit me, I could tell how much strength she'd lost. This time I'll kill— what is she doing?"

A soft crackle of residual energy hung in the air as Wayne's eyes went wide.

Yuria was drinking a potion she had crafted with painstaking care — a recovery draught refined from the spiritual medicines Yujin had given her. It lacked the dramatic, absolute effect of an Elixir, but it restored both stamina and mana.

"As you can see, I have drunk a potion."

"…You restored your stamina and mana…? Damn it. You've been toying with us from the start…. Wayne! There's no other way now! Use your power!"

Shadow erupted from the ground beneath Rolf. In a single motion it carved his body into pieces, then transformed into lightning and annihilated even his soul. What remained of Rolf's corpse pattered down onto the floor.

Yuria regarded Wayne through half-lidded eyes.

"Will you not revive him?"