While the crowd was stunned in one of the many waiting rooms meant for the participants, Rimuru, who was looking at the direction where Anos's test was being held, had an incredulous look on her face.
"Hey Ciel, is it me or is Anos getting dumber with each passing second?"
[Negative, Master. I too am starting to believe the same.]
"You know, right? I mean, who is he trying to fool? He himself knows his physical strength far surpasses any demon, even in the old days."
[I think he is experiencing his childhood in this life, so his mind may be a bit amateur.]
"That better be the reason, or I will make sure to give him a piece of my mind."
At that moment, Anos felt chills running all over his body. He felt as if he just escaped from a death sentence. As he was about to use magic to find out who was making him afraid, he was broken out of his thoughts when the crowd got noisy.
"What… What was that magic? The dead Zepes was revived from it!"
"He brought the dead back to life! Such magic surpasses common sense!!"
Anos looked at the crowd weirdly and thought, 'Why are they surprised? Is it a big deal for them to get noisy over Zepes being revived? If I couldn't use this magic, death would really mean death.'
He then looked at the now revived Zepes, who looked around trying to find out what happened. He didn't even notice how his earlier wounds were healed.
"How does it feel, dying once? Feel like giving up yet?" Anos asked him again so he could end it quickly.
"Id….idiot....who's giving up—gya!" Again, he was interrupted when Anos flicked his forehead, and he died again.
"Oops, I killed him again. Oh well. As long as it's within 3 seconds, [Ingall] can bring him back without any risk. It's the 3-second rule."
The silence from the arena washed over him like a wave.
Anos looked around, seeing his joke was not funny to the audience, and felt a little awkward. He even almost heard Rimuru's angry shout about how she was going to have a very long talk with him later, but he thought it was his imagination, so he brushed it off.
'As expected after 2000 years, even the humor has changed. Actually, looking closely, everyone looks terrified. Is my joke that bad? Hmm, looks like I have to restrain my jokes until I understand this age's humor.'
Sighing, Anos cast [Ingall] again. Again, the magic circle appeared, and Zepes was revived again. But unlike the first time where he was confused, now he had a terrified expression. Seeing his expression, Anos thought,
'Is he starting to feel it? This much shouldn't become a trauma for him, right?'
What Anos said might be true in the mythical era, but he forgot that even resurrection magic is a myth, so dying once is already traumatic for a normal demon, much less for a spoiled noble like Zepes who didn't know pain.
"You said you wouldn't give up even if you died. Surely you didn't think your life would end with only one death?"
At this time, even the audience had chills running down their spines. They couldn't believe that someone would be this brutal to their enemies when this is not even a war.
But they surely underestimated Anos's cruelty when he was not even trying to do anything.
"Now, would you like to give up?" asked Anos impatiently, as he could sense whatever made him scared has begun to come towards him as he could feel his instincts screaming at him to run away quickly.
At first, Zepes was about to give up, but then his pride got in the way, and his eyes showed cruelty and thirst for revenge, so he tried to threaten Anos again and he was killed.
As Anos was simply getting bored, he asked a question,
"By the way, [Ingall] has an interesting philosophy behind it. After you revive, are you the original, or are you a copy of the original with the same personality and memories? Or could you be a completely new person? What do you think? Can you say the answer with your experience?"
While he was asking, Zepes was being killed and revived over and over. Normally, no one would be sane to hear his question, but Zepes actually heard every last word of it.
After 20 or 30 times, Anos let Zepes rest by not killing him instantly.
A sound of chattering teeth can be heard from Zepes' shaking lips. His face is completely pale.
"B.....ba...….bastard.....such cruel behavior....."
"Fumu, not interested I see. In my era, this was a hot topic for debate."
Anos said while thinking, 'Damn, give up already. Bringing you back requires a drop
of blood every time, and it's annoying to prick my finger each time, with the regeneration factor healing it after one second.'
"Well, let's start killing you again," Anos said with an innocent smile.
"Y….you....talk about....killing so easily...."
'Haha, I may have awoken something new today,' Anos thought while still having that innocent smile.
"What's this? You said something so modest all of a sudden. Being dead doesn't really mean death, you know."
He then extended his finger towards Zepes.
"P….pl….pl…..please wait...."
"Oops."
'Crap. My finger slipped, and I killed him by mistake. He was trying to say something as well. Oh dear. Let's revive him again.'
"Ba…Bastard!! I told you to wait!!"
"Haha, sorry about that. It's just that my finger slipped, so don't take it to heart, okay?" Anos said while awkwardly scratching his head.
"Ha ha ha, my ass! Shit! How do you kill someone carelessly?!" Zepes said, wondering how much of a psychopath he had encountered.
Though he didn't say it to his face, Anos felt that Zepes was thinking something bad about him, so he thought to punish him a little more.
"Oh. You seem a lot better now. Well then, one more time." Saying so, he brought his finger to Zepes' forehead again, and his eyes immediately lost all color and shine.
"…..Please wait…." Zepes said weakly.
"What is it?" Anos asked, although he has an idea of what he has to tell. Hell, even a child could tell what he has to say, seeing his face.
"I....."
With an expression stained with humiliation, Zepes said finally,
"It's my defeat. I give up."
"You didn't last long playing our game. I was intending to kill you at least 10,000 times."
Anos said that as a joke with a smile to show that there's no hostility, but Zepes, who heard that, trembles like he was sentenced to death.
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