Re Zero DMMS 93 (Patreon)

The one thousandth loop.

Al stared fixedly at every single movement Kenma made. Once he noticed any startup animations of an attack from him, he would make the corresponding dodging maneuvers without the slightest hesitation.

A full 1,000 attempts had made him thoroughly familiar with all of Kenma's attack habits, finally enabling him to achieve a flawless, hitless run.

After yet another slash was dodged by Al, Kenma realized that this guy had definitely looped countless times.

If that was the case...

Thinking of his memories from his past life, where he was beaten to death by bosses in various soul-like games, Kenma sneered and raised the flesh greatsword once again.

Al, who had previously felt victory was firmly in his grasp, suddenly felt his scalp go numb upon seeing this completely new movement.

You've got to be kidding me. It's already been 1,000 times. Could there still be a new move he hasn't used yet?!

Amidst Al's horrified gaze, Kenma moved to the absolute center of the arena, then pointed the tip of the flesh greatsword downward and thrust it into the floor.

Immediately afterward, he twisted his wrist, rotating the hilt along with it, and a crimson ring expanded outward from around him, covering the entire room.

Seeing this scene, Al, who considered himself a veteran player, found peace. He tossed his longsword aside, and was then immediately engulfed by the crimson ring on the spot.

There's even a large-area AOE attack.

The next second, the skin all over his body was completely destroyed, followed by his muscles and bones, turning into ash amidst the violently rampaging crimson light.

...

The ten-thousandth loop.

Continuously dodging Kenma's slashes, Al looked completely at ease.

Facing an attack speed that surpassed his reaction limits, he twisted his body almost instinctively, narrowly dodging fatal attacks that would have killed him upon a mere graze time and time again.

Unwittingly, a sense of achievement from conquering a boss welled up in Al's heart.

Perhaps this was the true charm of using infinite loops to defeat an impossible opponent.

Just at the moment when Kenma raised his greatsword high once again, Al had already closed in near the doorway.

Quick-eyed and quick-handed, the instant the crimson slash pierced through, he decisively opened the door, slipped through, and shut it behind him in one smooth motion.

Upon hearing the sound of wooden boards hitting the floor inside, he opened the door and jumped back in without hesitation, continuing to kite.

Finally, amidst weaving through and dodging countless attacks, he seized the final opportunity.

He closed in, pushed off with his left leg to dodge Kenma's punch, and the tip of his sword pierced the air, aiming precisely at Kenma's eyeball.

This was the final sword strike after 10,000 loops!

Al's heart was filled with boundless heroism, and a smug smile of assured victory had already appeared at the corners of his lips.

No matter how powerful a person's defense was, their eyeballs were bound to be fragile, and a sword could pierce straight through the eyeball to scramble their brain. In other words, he had won.

At the very next moment, the blade collided head-on with the eyeball.

One was a human's soft eyeball, the other a sharp longsword forged from steel. There should have been no suspense whatsoever between the two.

However...

Looking at the flying metal fragments filling the sky, Al's body was frozen in place.

Forget it, how about we stop fighting?

With that thought in mind, his head was blown apart by a single punch from Kenma.

...

Facing the charging Al, Kenma's arms turned into afterimages, unleashing dozens of consecutive slashes forward with the flesh greatsword in his hand.

However, facing attacks that even Reinhard would find somewhat too late to dodge, Al easily sidestepped it.

Noticing this abnormal scene, Kenma immediately realized that Al must have restarted in this room countless times.

Just as he was preparing to unleash an area-of-effect attack, Al came to a stop. He threw the sword in his hand onto the ground, then dropped to his knees, kowtowing heavily toward Kenma in front of him.

"Brother... No, Big Brother, Daddy, Grandpa! I know you're about to release an AOE attack next. Can we please stop fighting? I'm begging you!"

He scooted over on his knees and tightly hugged Kenma's thigh.

"But Big Bro, please don't kill Priscilla-sama. You can kill me instead. I promise I won't use my ability, I just beg you to spare her life."

Listening to Al's plea, Kenma lowered the flesh greatsword in his hand and asked, "How many times have you looped?"

"Uh..."

Al scratched his helmet and began counting on his fingers.

"I didn't deliberately keep track of this, but it's probably been over 30,000 times."

Upon hearing this extremely exaggerated number, Kenma smacked his lips.

Damn.

Honestly speaking, Al is simply not human. Let alone in reality, even if he were made to die over 30,000 times fighting a boss in a video game, he would have smashed his computer long ago.

Moreover, Al didn't have his pain sensitivity reduced. He purely persisted through a completely inhuman willpower.

Kenma walked forward and patted him on the shoulder. "Fine, you're really something. For your sake, I won't kill Priscilla."

Hearing these words, Al could no longer hold himself together, his entire body collapsing limply to the ground.

He felt that his more than 30,000 deaths had in exchange changed Kenma's mind, and everything was worth it.

Watching the tears flowing out from under the helmet, Kenma walked out of the room somewhat awkwardly and headed toward the main hall.

In fact, he never intended to kill Priscilla in the first place. But since things had already reached this point, he might as well let Al be moved for a while. Otherwise, it'd be a bit too cruel.