The Academy’s Doomed Young Lord Dies Ten Thousand Times

Chapter 54 - The Road to Midnight (6)

As I've said before, Gabriel was a recurring character from Chapter 1 to Chapter 4... a so-called Team R-cket type of enemy.

A Team R-cket with a hundred times the viciousness and reduced charm.

What's the method to keep appearing without losing your life?

Yes, he had a gimmick where he would flee once his health dropped below a certain percentage.

I think that gimmick appeared about five times in the game.

'This was what hurt 's reputation. It was so infuriating.'

The feeling of being toyed with by that loathsome villain against my will was, even thinking about it now, utterly disgusting.

Well, setting aside such ramblings... the point was this.

Unlike the battles I had experienced so far, in this battle, the possibility of the enemy escaping was open.

In the first battle I experienced, the one with the assassins, there was no way they would run away.

I was the weak one, they were the strong ones... and the enemies had to take my head.

In the second battle, the monster suppression test, it was out of the question.

It was just a test, and monsters, in most cases, don't run away.

The third, the sparring test. Naturally, running away was not even a consideration.

The fourth, the Gargoyle subjugation, and the fifth, the Judgment subjugation, were all the same.

The combat techniques I had acquired so far did not account for an enemy's retreat...

And that became a rather significant problem.

***

My regressions dragged on unexpectedly.

One of the reasons was Gabriel's escape, as mentioned before, and also... there were cases where I was caught off guard by Gabriel and killed.

Although we had the advantage in terms of overall power, in terms of individual skill, my power was inferior compared to Gabriel's.

There was a strange incident I experienced when I was killed by Gabriel, and I'll talk about that first.

It was during my 251st life.

Shunk-.

“Keuk...!”

Gabriel's dagger, 『Viper』, pierced my neck.

'That brief opening...'

It was a momentary gap. A very brief opening that appeared between Serene's and my coordination.

But the veteran assassin did not miss that brief opening, and this was the result.

“Ah, ugh...”

With a dagger instantly piercing my neck, I couldn't even make a proper sound.

“Mister Rain...!”

“Ahaha, since the other sirs aren't coming, it seems the plan has gone down the drain... I'll just call this my own way of blowing off some steam~.”

The last thing I heard before my consciousness briefly faded was him responding to Serene's enraged voice with his usual nonchalance.

I don't know what happened after that. As my vision turned black, I was sure I would die and move on to the next round...

But what I perceived after regaining my senses was, surprisingly, not the system window announcing my regression.

“...No, no...”

The first thing I could feel was Serene's voice, faintly audible.

Then, in succession, I felt the intense pain from the poison spreading throughout my body, a chill from my neck, perhaps due to the hole pierced there, and the sensation of something soft on my head.

Overcoming those sensations, I struggled to open my eyes, and what came into view was Serene, with a somewhat desperate expression, trying to stanch the wound on my neck.

'It's no use.'

It's nothing to brag about, but having died many times, I had a rough idea.

I was going to die soon. It would be a miracle if I regained consciousness right before death like this.

Seeing Serene's desperate expression, I opened my mouth to tell her she didn't have to do that, but...

“Aagh... aaah...”

Only such fragments of language flowed from my mouth.

Right, come to think of it, my neck was pierced by a dagger.

“M-Mister Rain, don't speak. I'm stopping the bleeding now...!”

Looking at Serene's face as she said that, I couldn't help but feel a strange sensation.

And for good reason, because I didn't remember ever seeing Serene make such a desperate face in the original .

A girl who might show a sad expression, but never one that looked like it was about to collapse, a girl who seemed to be the human embodiment of unyielding strength.

Why was such a girl making a face like this?

That question bloomed hazily amidst the intense pain from the deadly poison.

Tug.

Though various feelings crossed my mind, the first thing I did was... barely move my hand and grab Serene's hand, which was stanching the blood from my neck.

“Mister... Rain...?”

At that action, Serene looked at me, and I shook my head from side to side.

Serene's hemostasis was meaningless. The fate of my life was already decided, and Serene, too, must have been well aware of that fact.

'She wasn't the type to do such a meaningless thing.'

A moment later, Serene took her hand off my neck. It seemed she had understood my intention.

And almost simultaneously, I felt a faint tremor in Serene's hand that I was holding.

'What kind of expression must she be making.'

I was curious about the expression Serene was making, but there was no way to confirm it anymore.

My vision was blurring again, and I was falling into darkness.

Drip.

The last thing I felt was... the touch of a warm droplet that fell on my face.

[System: You have overcome death times.]

***

It goes without saying, but there were many strong individuals in .

As you can see from the characters introduced so far, even the playable characters possess monstrous power right from the early stages.

So, what about the enemies they face? What about their allies?

Naturally, for the sake of balance, they had to be monsters as well, and as the story progressed, that power inflation grew day by day.

With so many formidable powerhouses appearing, a debate about the strongest character existed in . In short, it was about ranking combat power.

There were various opinions in that debate depending on the assumptions, but there was one person who was consistently ranked at the very top.

As you might have guessed, that person was Serene El Stellia.

Yes, if I had to pick just one word to describe Serene El Stellia, I would choose 'strong.'

To that extent, strength was her identifying identity, and the 'strength' mentioned here did not just refer to simple physical prowess.

Serene was strong. Both physically and mentally, her strength was so abnormal that it was clearly in the realm of the extraordinary.

The girl was never hurt. And that wasn't because she was lacking in some way.

The reason for that abnormality, ironically, was because she was too strong.

Even if someone died in front of her, she would feel sadness, but her mind would never break.

Instead of feeling fear, the girl's brain would point the way towards a better world.

And that abnormality would have made people feel fear and awe towards her.

That's not to say the girl lacked joy, anger, sorrow, or pleasure.

Like other ordinary girls, Serene also enjoyed hanging out with friends and had perfectly normal hobbies, like enjoying sweet food.

It was just that the shell encasing the depths of her heart was too thick, and it was impossible to draw out her weak side.

For that reason, in the original , there were almost no scenes where Serene was mentally shaken.

There was a First Astro of 『Ad Astra』 who specialized in mental attacks, and it barely came out during the final battle with that guy and the final boss.

And yet...

'What on earth did I just see.'

-...No, no....

Because I knew about that Serene, I understood it even less. The desperate expression Serene showed when I was dying.

A precarious expression, as if she could collapse at any moment.

In the original , Serene witnesses countless deaths. But, that kind of expression... she had almost never shown it.

The closest thing might have been when she was hit by the mental attack of the aforementioned First Astro.

'Was Rain a more significant person to Serene than I thought?'

If I thought about it that way, another question remained.

Then why wasn't this fact revealed in the main story of ?

Compared to the side of herself Serene was showing now, as far as I could remember, Rain's role in Serene's part of the story was non-existent.

Considering that there was no noteworthy reaction even when the head of the Enlight family said he had sacrificed Rain Enlight with his own hands in the latter half...

'Something's contradictory.'

I don't know if there's a gap between the I know and reality, or if I'm not accurately understanding Serene, but...

'It's certain that something doesn't add up.'

Of course, even though such a question arose, I couldn't just focus on solving the mystery.

Given the situation I was in.

“...I should just take care of myself.”

Now was the time to focus on the 252nd life I was facing.

***

Gabriel is the type of enemy who flees.

Gabriel is stronger than me.

I have to kill Gabriel.

Let's organize what these conditions mean when put together.

I couldn't afford to show an opening against an enemy stronger than me, but I also couldn't push him too hard.

The moment he determined the battle was lost and there was no chance of winning, he would immediately leave the battlefield.

I had to make him think he was 'at an advantage,' and then aim for that opening to kill him.

In short, in the realm of psychological warfare and battles of wits, I had to win through deception.

'Thanks to 『Combat Sense』, I'm pretty good at psychological warfare and deception myself, but…'

The problem was that the target I had to use deception on was Gabriel, who was renowned for his psychological warfare within .

Having to fight on the home ground of an opponent stronger than me. It wasn't something I was keen on.

But well, apart from that point, all the other factors were positive.

If it was just me and Gabriel, I was at a disadvantage, but with Serene, our combat power was superior, and I had already figured out all of his tricks.

'Most importantly, I can keep trying, can't I.'

A challenge, a challenge.

I briefly wondered if the word 'challenge' was appropriate, but it wasn't a particularly important topic.

What was important was only one thing.

To kill the guy in front of me.

And so, death repeated itself.

The 252nd time, he fled as soon as the tide of battle turned against him.

The 255th time, the route got messed up, and Mathieu and the researchers were killed. He escaped.

The 260th time, a dagger was stabbed into my chest, and I died as the poison spread. The poison spread unnecessarily slowly, and I tasted plenty of pain.

The 263rd time, I tried using the 『Outlaw』 as my main weapon without hiding it... but of course, he never got hit. My proficiency was only C. Instead, he felt the fierceness of its firepower and fled.

The 267th time, he fled again.

The 275th time. I died from a dagger wound again.

The 288th time.

The 292nd time.

The 298th time.

…….

Dying, letting him go, witnessing death, letting him go, feeling pain, dying, letting him go.

Such processes repeated themselves.

I knew. That he wouldn't go down easily, and that the path I was trying to walk would not be an easy one.

I was prepared. Prepared to even use my own painful death.

Though it felt like I might laugh wryly at the contradiction of choosing death to escape from pain.

I couldn't complain. It was a path I had chosen myself, and no one else.

But I had no control over the emotions I felt while walking that path.

There were many kinds of emotions.

Emptiness when I let him go.

Hatred and pain when I was killed by him.

Sadness when someone else was killed.

But amidst the various situations I experienced through repeated regressions and pain, there was one will that grew stronger in every situation.

Killing intent.

'I will, without fail, kill him.'

From the depths of my heart, I came to think that I absolutely had to kill him.

Without fail.