The Insane Regressor: Throne of Pride

Chapter 78: A Trick for a Trick

"Haa!"

Ravian gasped and opened his eyes in shock as cold air struck his body.

"What?" Ravian panted, standing frozen in place as he found himself somewhere vaguely familiar.

"Mr. Rayan, are you all right?"

A worried female voice came from behind him, forcing him to turn toward its owner.

When he did, he saw her.

She was seated at a wooden table in the right-hand corner of the room, surrounded by many more tables of the same cheap, worn-out kind that seemed to scream of age and hardship.

It was Sophia, the black-haired waitress.

At that same moment, the sounds his mind had been unconsciously shutting out finally crashed into his ears.

"Kill him!"

"Yes! Finish off that Rassasian!"

The bettors’ voices were practically shaking the entire place.

It was then that Ravian’s mind finally grasped what had happened, and he remembered the system notification.

’That’s right... I died.’

The realization descended upon Ravian and nearly shook him to his core, his crimson eyes once again gleaming with that unnatural Pride.

’Calm down.’

Ravian placed one hand over his eyes and remained motionless, reviewing the previous events in his mind to determine his next move.

There was no time for regret.

The Ambassador of Truth.

Seventh Rank—the Riftmaker.

’It seems intelligence isn’t everything after all,’ Ravian thought as he returned his gaze to Sophia.

Information was no less important than mental or physical capability.

"I’ll head outside before you, and I’ll return for you within three days, as we agreed," Ravian told Sophia.

At that moment, his eyes seemed to grow slightly colder.

"Mr. Rayan, are you all ri—"

"I’m fine."

Ravian answered before she could finish.

Sophia swallowed the rest of her words.

’What happened to him? He changed into a completely different person in an instant,’ Sophia thought.

What Sophia didn’t know was that the Ravian standing before her now had been the real Ravian all along.

The person who had sat and spoken kindly with her earlier had been Rayan—the newcomer to the city who wanted to gather as much information about the capital as quickly as possible.

Ravian didn’t look back at her as he headed toward the tavern’s main entrance, beyond which the cause of his death in the previous loop was waiting.

Then, without warning, Ravian broke into a run.

Not a brisk walk.

Not a light jog.

He ran like a man who had seen a nightmare and decided to flee with everything he had.

...

Robert stood near the entrance with the doctors, the younger detective—Raphael—and the rest of his assistants from the city guard.

At that moment, he was questioning the manager, just as he had before.

"So you know nothing about what happened here beyond what the rest of your employees told you?" Robert asked the manager.

The manager lowered his head, visibly nervous.

"Yes, sir. That’s everything I know, and I hope the matter doesn’t grow any larger than this and affect my business. Please," the manager said.

The younger detective frowned at the shameless way the manager spoke.

"Do you think we’re here to play around? A murder took place inside your tavern, and one of your own workers reported it to us. Are we supposed to take the body away and bury it without even determining the cause of death?" Raphael rebuked the manager, his voice somewhat raised.

He was already being remarkably polite. If Robert hadn’t been present, Raphael might have beaten the manager senseless by now.

Before the manager could reply, however—

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Pounding footsteps struck the floor, drawing closer from the far end of the corridor opposite Robert and Raphael.

Their eyes shifted toward the person running at them.

A young man emerged from the shadows, possessing long white hair, crimson eyes, and a well-trained physique.

Huff~

Huff~

The young man panted heavily as he ran toward them.

"Help!"

"A deathmatch ring! There’s a deathmatch ring inside!"

Ravian came sprinting toward Robert and the city guards, shouting at the top of his lungs. His cries startled everyone standing there, including the doctors who had just finished examining the corpse.

Robert’s expression barely changed as he looked Ravian over from head to toe, as though measuring every inch of him.

Then, before Ravian could draw any closer, Robert abruptly raised one hand.

A crushing pressure bore down on Ravian.

’Not this time.’

The moment he felt Robert’s pressure descend upon his body, just as it had in the previous loop, Ravian immediately dropped to his knees.

This time, he didn’t hesitate to behave like an ordinary person who had never awakened. He collapsed to the floor, clutched his chest, and desperately gasped for air.

’My timing was perfect this time.’

Ravian used Absolute Focus to control his heart rate and force it higher.

In the next moment—

With his head still lowered, Ravian saw a brown leather shoe come into view before him.

He raised his head and looked at the person standing there.

Robert stood before him with perfect calm, staring into Ravian’s eyes as though searching for a needle in a haystack.

"What is that place you just came from?" Robert asked.

"Sir! It’s a deathmatch arena!"

"People are killing one another inside a ring while everyone else bets on them! I even saw some of them with terrifying gray skin!" Ravian exclaimed with a horrified expression, fabricated tears of panic streaming down his cheeks.

Robert didn’t reply immediately.

Instead, his eyes gleamed for a moment, just as they had inside Earl Patrick’s study.

’There he goes, doing it again.’

Ravian recognized Robert’s use of an ability belonging to the Truth Taboo, but none of his thoughts showed on his face.

If even the slightest trace of calm or recognition surfaced now, it would destroy everything he had built.

Robert’s eyes gleamed for another moment before the light faded and they returned to normal.

’Success.’

Ravian had heard no echo like the one from before, nor had the gleam in Robert’s eyes intensified.

That meant the ability had judged his words to be truthful.

But that wasn’t all Ravian wanted.

Robert’s ability hadn’t merely verified Ravian’s words. From Robert’s perspective, it had also validated Ravian’s panic and tears, even though the ability itself worked only on spoken words.

Ravian’s truthful words aligned perfectly with his fabricated expressions, leading Robert to a single conclusion.

"He’s telling the truth. Take down his statement," Robert ordered as he stepped past Ravian, no longer paying him any real attention.

As far as Robert was concerned, Ravian’s innocence, panic,, and reaction when the pressure descended upon him had proven that he was merely an ordinary, non-Awakened civilian who had stumbled upon the place by chance.

’Just an ordinary civilian.’

A faint smile appeared on Ravian’s lips as Robert passed him and looked toward the entrance from which Ravian had just emerged.

’Absolute Focus.’

’Void Shadow.’

Then, without warning, something happened that plunged nearly everyone present into utter disbelief.

The white-haired, crimson-eyed young man who had been sobbing on the floor only moments earlier suddenly slipped both hands beneath his shirt the instant Robert turned his back.

In the next moment, there appeared in his grasp...

A black dagger.

Everyone practically froze at the young man’s sudden transformation.

A moment ago, he had been a timid young man kneeling and sobbing with tears covering his face.

Now, although his appearance remained almost exactly the same, not a single trace of panic remained on his features.

In its place, a cold, crazed, obsessive smile appeared in an instant—one that promised eternal torment to whoever stood before it.

"Sir—!" Raphael tried to shout.

But it was already too late.

"Hmm?"

Robert hummed and began turning around when he noticed the sudden silence.

Shlick!

The sound of metal piercing flesh rang out with far too much clarity.

Cough!

Robert coughed up blood almost instantly.

He lowered his gaze.

And saw it.

The same weeping young man who had been kneeling moments earlier now stood directly before him, gripping a black dagger with both hands and driving it into the spot where Robert’s heart lay.

"Y-you..."

Robert couldn’t form another word as he felt his heart being split open by a dagger made from some strange material.

Ravian’s smile widened.

"A trick for a trick," Ravian said before twisting the dagger inside Robert’s heart.

Cough!

More blood spilled from Robert’s lips, sliding over his chin and down his neck.

"Captain!" Raphael screamed as he ran toward them, tears filling his eyes and despair twisting his face.

Just as Ravian was about to pull the dagger from Robert’s heart—

Robert seized his wrist and prevented him from moving.

"Hmm?"

Ravian frowned.

Bam!

Ravian struck Robert across the face with his free fist.

"Agh!"

Robert reeled beneath Ravian’s steel-like fist, but his grip didn’t loosen.

Bam!

Bam!

Ravian continued punching him in the face without pause. He wasn’t someone who would show mercy, even when the man before him was already on the verge of death.

This time, Ravian had carried out the entire attack fully prepared to die.

[Ding!]

[The Ambassador of Truth’s Records have been successfully extracted!]

[Now absorbing the Ambassador of Truth’s Records...]

’Huh? His soul’s Records have already been absorbed? Then how is he still resisting?’

Ravian couldn’t understand it.

Kraaaaa!

Sriiiiik!

Without warning, a colossal echo exploded throughout the entire tavern, freezing everyone in place as they clamped their hands over their ears.

"Aghh!"

Ravian winced in pain as he felt something warm trickling from his ears.

When he placed one hand against an ear, he saw it.

A dark crimson liquid mixed with a strange gray hue.

’What?’

Ravian couldn’t understand what was happening, and the echo around him still hadn’t stopped.

In fact, it felt as though the echo was shaking the entire city, not merely the tavern.

[Warning!]

[A transcendent external intervention into the material world has been detected.]

[Entity Classification: ...]

[Descent of a Taboo!]

Ravian’s eyes widened in absolute shock as he read the notification.

[System Advice:

Kill yourself.]