How to Defeat The Undefeatable

Zale walked slowly toward the Perfect Prince's residence.

The estate was neither overly massive nor pretentious, but it radiated the quiet, polished wealth of high-tier continental royalty. Heavy stone pillars flanked the entrance.

This is for my parents! I just need to trust sir Toshio, Zale kept encouraging himself.

Stopping just short of the iron gates, the bard put on a timid expression. 

"I… I wanted to present some flowers to the Prince as a token of my deepest gratitude," Zale stammered, holding up a bouquet of fresh roses.

The head gate guard shrugged loosely, leaning back against the wall.

"Sure, go right ahead."

Zale blinked, his hand tensing.

"Do you… not wish to check me for hidden weapons? A security check?"

The guards instantly erupted into booming, careless laughter.

"You actually stopped!" one of the guard cackled, slapping his knee.

"Most people just walk right past us. I mean, look at us. Who are we to protect the Perfect Prince? He’s just nice enough to hire us for these sit-around shifts."

Zale stood speechless as they continued laughing. The security was completely hollow.

Every bit of the crushing stress he had felt inside the cellar had been for nothing.

Zale stepped inside the sprawling, silent interior of the stone manor, the roses cradled in his left arm. Tucked tightly beneath the vibrant peacock feather at his waistband lay a concealed asset

It was a lethal, black-tinted dagger created through the combined expertise of Lily and Stacy, laced with a rapid-acting paralytic toxin.

He moved through the quiet corridors, watching the high vaulted ceilings, when a sudden, light tap pressed against his shoulder from behind.

Zale’s muscles locked. A scream nearly tore from his throat, but his facial expressions stayed unchanged. He was a master of deception, a visual actor forged by the harsh realities of the desert kingdoms.

He slowly spun around. Standing there with a casual, gentle smile was the Perfect Prince himself, Suzuki Sawada.

"Ah, the performer from the plaza," Suzuki said warmly, his perfect hair flowing in the early morning winds.

"Thank you… I truly wanted to thank you for saving my life, my lord," Zale lied smoothly, his meek presentation flawless.

He knew the boy was no normal person. Zale wasn't looking at a young savior. No, he was looking at an absolute anomaly.

"Actually, I was just about to summon you myself," Suzuki said, turning on his heel to guide the way.

"The dude we detained with the explosive keeps saying that someone with a huge amount of money hired him to kill you and a random noblewoman. Can you help me find more about this issue?"

"Of course, my lord," Zale murmured.

Just as Toshio planned, being victims was a great decision. Zale was admiring the depth of the salaryman's wisdom.

They began descending a flight of hidden stone stairs, moving deep into the sub-levels of the manor.

The air rapidly turned damp and freezing. There were absolutely no guards down here. Suzuki was simply too reliant on his overpowered skill. The oversight had made his daily habits completely careless.

They reached a lowest corridor, lit only by flickering wall torches.

Shadows danced across empty iron cells along the damp walls. In the deeper dark, a few ancient skeletal remains still hung suspended from heavy, rusted wall chains.

Zale walked half a step behind the Prince. Toshio's one order echoed clearly inside his mind.

Look for the sign. Trust my calculations. Stab the Prince.

Suddenly, Suzuki’s shoulders slightly flinched.

It was a fraction of a movement, as if the Prince's consciousness had suddenly felt a threat and tried to turn around to face Zale. But his ordinary muscles were physically too slow to match the absolute, lightning-fast reflexes of a desert combatant.

*SHUCK*

Zale drew the poisoned blade and drove it violently straight through Suzuki's back.

With a surge of physical momentum, he hurled the bleeding teenager forward, slamming him face-first onto the stone floor of the closest cell, and instantly threw the iron door shut, locking the heavy door with a resounding noise.

*CLANK*

"Stop…! I lose! Just stop!" Suzuki screamed, his face violently twisting in agonizing pain as he collapsed onto the stone floor.

Blood rushed to his head, the peacock-feather knife still deeply embedded in his back, draining the toxic fluid directly into his system. The Prince lay panting heavily, his fingers clawing at the dirt.

Zale took a step back, his breath steady. "What on earth are you talking about?"

Suzuki let out a raspy, blood-flecked laugh, his eyes rolled back in absolute exhaustion.

"Wait… just wait… he will be here to explain everything in three… two… one…"

*Step* *Step* *Step*

Right outside the iron bars of the cell, Toshio Tanaka and the rest of the adventuring party stepped smoothly out of the dark, torch-lit corridor.

Zale’s jaw dropped. "Master Toshio?! What are you doing here?!" Panic surged through him.

"What about your safety?! The Prince has seen your face now... No, no..." Zale started breaking down, thinking they had failed.

"Calm down, Zale," Toshio stated calmly, adjusting his spectacles as he looked through the rusted bars.

"But.. how did you manage past the guards?!" Zale was riding a heavy adrenaline rush from fear and confusion.

"What guards? Those sloths didn't even look at us. We just simply walked behind you, once you and him started going down."

Toshio paused and looked around.

"You being stuck in here with him means our victory is completely secured. We won," Toshio said with a faint grin.

"I don't understand... I don't understand anything," Zale demanded, thoroughly flabbergasted.

"We have successfully trapped the Perfect Prince in a closed causality loop," Toshio explained.

"He is trapped in a state where he gets stabbed the exact moment he returns to his save point in past. He flinched because you stabbed him in a future timeline. You stabbed him in this timeline because his body flinched. I do not know which occurred first, but the loop is officially locked."

"How did you know when his past point was?! What if he had flinched before I even entered?" Zale was asking all the right questions.

"Because... I already used it once... huh... at the plaza," the Perfect Prince answered from behind, still down on the floor with a bleeding back and in a poisoned state.

Zale stood paralyzed.

The invincible, continent-tier Hero he had sought to destroy was currently weeping on the stone floor, completely broken, with poison actively destroying his internal systems.

Toshio stepped closer to the bars, closing his eyes with a cold, serene smile.

"So, Suzuki? Your reaction confirms my victory. Tell me… how many times have you died in this specific cell block?!"

Suzuki let out a painful chuckle, looking up through his messy hair.

"You are an absolute monster, you know that? But yeah… I have died 1,56,235 times already."

"What?!" Luck and the rest of the party gasped in unison, their faces pale.

Understanding the theory of the skill was one thing, but hearing the huge death number straight from the Prince's mouth was entirely surreal.

Toshio let out a brief laugh, the sound echoing sharply off the stone dungeon walls.

"So, are you finally prepared to bargain, Suzuki Sawada?"

Suzuki slumped against the wall with a painful smile, his strength entirely spent.

"I'll tell you... ugh... where the witch is..." The poison was spreading quickly.

Everyone present was confused but strangely thrilled.

They were witnessing the smartest hero admitting defeat by himself, all to a powerless salaryman.