129 So, we won, right?
Xiao Qiangwei reached the 308th square with an unnatural speed, and read the current task…
"Fly"
Oh, that was his task, he wrote it since only he and Jibril could fly, to a certain extent even Sora and Shiro could, but making an item made for flying in 72 hours is too hard.
So Xiao Qiangwei floated some centimeters over the ground, and he finished the task.
"Task Accomplished"
Xiao Qiangwei, Dices were 25 now, since even if he won or lost, nothing would change, and a dice was gone from the throw.
So, he threw again his dices… 92.
The number made Xiao Qiangwei smile, it was literally the last square, just behind the one where the Old Deus and Miko's body stood.
In mere minutes, he already reached the 400th square, and the task on the billboard was the following.
"Amongst the eight souls that the Old Deus holds, choose one to be released and killed, then, be transferred to the final square."
It may be really cruel, but the solutions were simple and unharmful…
1st. Sacrifice Xiao Qiangwei. He was only an avatar, a clone made from the Qi of the original who holds his memories, emotions, powers, and everything else, and they are even linked. Even if he suddenly disappears, the original will just stay unharmed.
About the 2nd… First, Let's explain how things really work here.
Question, why would the Old Deus accept the challenge from their group? Judging from the arrogance of the Old Deus, it could just ignore them.
Answer, because it was threatened, someone or something is threatening it to play the game.
.
Question, who threatened it?
Answer, Miko, there was more between the Miko and the Old Deus than he could see.
.
Question, who is the traitor?
Answer, there is no traitor, only an impostor, a puppet with the same semblance, emotions, and behavior of the original. Meaning that it doesn't have a soul to begin with.
.
Question, who is the 8th Soul?
Answer, Miko, since it is being held from the Old Deus as part of the bet.
.
Question, who is the person that the impostor copied everything from?
Answer, Stephanie Dola, the currently so-called "Traitor".
.
Question, why her?
Answer, she never accepted to participate, so the Old Deus can't take her soul.
.
Question, where is she?
Answer… *Sigh* She is carrying Laira at the capital of the Eastern Federation… Hopefully she won't see Xiao Qiangwei again, for the love of god… But her daughter is more than ok.
.
Question, what was doing Leila here?
Answer, well, each player was betting a race piece for the Old Deus' piece, Xiao Qiangwei, Sora, and Shiro were betting the Imanity piece since they are considered a single representative.
Plum was betting the Dhampir piece.
Jibril was betting the Flugel piece.
Ino was betting the Werebeast piece.
And Laira lent Izuna the Seiren piece, at a cost… That motherfucking NEET and hikikomori promised that Xiao Qiangwei would "Play" with her…
So it leaves out Steph, who is the Traitor.
.
Question, why would Sora want to send the Traitor to the Old Deus?
Answer, because since she was created from the Old Deus, she had a slight link with her, and knows what is the right "Key" for victory.
.
Question, what key?
Answer, the key that would let the Old Deus, from what Xiao Qiangwei gathered while he was 6000 years in the past, every Old Deus had a "Quintessence", Artosh has the Quintessence of War.
And right now, this Old Deus is going a bit too far, slowly destroying her own Quintessence. If the Quintessence is destroyed, then the Old Deus is dead.
Even now, Shenleif, the Old Deus that created the Dragons, is still alive inside the crystal, but its capabilities are incredibly limited. Maybe he can make it a pet… It may be weak, but Shenleif is made from a concept, his own Quintessence, unless that is destroyed, or a Godly Law practitioner comes out, then it will not die.
.
Question, why the Old Deus is commiting suicide?
Answer, don't ask me, ask the Miko.
Anything else? No? I don't hear any question behind the screen so I will start to wait for the game to end.
Xiao Qiangwei took a meditative pose and deeply breathed… Time started to go fast, but not from Xiao Qiangwei's interference, but because he changed his own senses, making it so that time seemed to go fast, Tet was interfering with time acceleration so he couldn't use it.
1 day… 3 days… 9 days… 14 days… 24 days… 31 days.
When he opened his eyes, he saw that Sora, Shiro, and Steph were at the last 50 tasks, which had each one the same task of his.
Now that 1 month passed since he was created, he tried to check on his original body, who was just under them, and was currently at the 1st Great Core, he tried to gain information from what happened during the time he was waiting and the time the original came out from the Nirvana…
Apparently Fiel Nirvalen and Chlammy tried to betray them, trying to take away the Eastern Federation and Elchea, so they could fuse with the Elven Garde, which was theirs right now.
However, Plum, who got eliminated and turned into a ghost since his body disappeared, surprisingly planned something else, and stopped Fiel and Chlammy from leaving and made a game, where is he won, he would have get 50 Werebeasts and Fiel as a source of food, to be stronger.
Ino was also eliminated, the reason is unknown, but his original body was trying its best to rub the memory of Ino's naked body out from his brain, metaphorically and literally.
Steph didn't came only with Laira, but also a letter written during the 24 hours that Sora made the rules before the game, which first of all, insulted everyone, then he asked of taking possess of Elven Garde if Plum would have won, and the latter's request would be nullified.
Then it talked about everything that happened during the 24 hours where they lost their memories.
And now, Ino scripted a game similar to Love or be Loved, the game that Izuna played against them, and made every single NPC have Sora's looks and behavior, before punching the shit out of them.
Xiao Qiangwei's Immortal Senses came over the Square where Sora, Shiro and Steph are. Steph chosen someone, and since Xiao Qiangwei wasn't gone yet, it means that Steph chosen Miko as a sacrifice, and since she was already sacrificed, Miko turned back to her vessel. How? God knows.
Then Steph(AN: The impostor) was teleported to the square that was just right in front of him. In that square, there was the Old Deus.
Meanwhile the Miko took Steph's place and stood with Sora and Shiro, some seconds later, the dices on Xiao Qiangwei's chest disappeared, meaning that Steph made her request to the Old Deus.
Steph: "I demand that the Quintessence that Miko has is returned to the Old Deus."
Xiao Qiangwei knew about the intention of Sora, he didn't want to kill the Old Deus because of the same reason he made an alliance with the werebeasts… 10th Pledge, "Let's all have fun and play together!".
Right now, the ground rumbled and shook, and the game board collapsed. Xiao Qiangwei almost flew towards the group to reunite, but Sora, Shiro and the Miko got teleported just beside Xiao Qiangwei, together with the same girl that Xiao Qiangwei saw before the game started, the Old Deus…
Old Deus: ...Why doth thou not seek victory…?
Xiao Qiangwei raised an eyebrow when she spoke, this time there was not a single hint of arrogance, it was as if she was a child.
Old Deus: ...Why doth thou not seek "profit"...?
Xiao Qiangwei: ...We still won though… Right?
The Old Deus' expression trembled and spoke with sorrow.
Old Deus: ...Why didn't thou steal from me? Why didn't thou allow me to die…?
Sora: ...Ehm… Well, you see. This is a game, right? Is there any meaning to a game master killing people!?
Xiao Qiangwei: Sword Art Online.
Sora: ...*Ahem* Instead, they'd want to play again, right? Or rather, we'd feel disgusted if we let you die! It would be a heavy burden, c'mon!
Shiro: ...It wouldn't, be fun… it'd leave a bad, aftertaste… we have, chicken hearts, after all…
Miko: The ones who bet their lives so calmly have chicken hearts… such a funny joke.
Sora turned towards Miko and screamed with a serious face.
Sora: And actually!! I can't take it anymore, so I'll just let everything out, alright!?
Xiao Qiangwei: Then what the fuck are you waiting for? A street post?!
Sora nodded and took a deep breath before pointing a finger to Miko.
Sora: You!! Listen to what Tet says a little bit more!! Aren't you ignoring him a little bit too much!? Even if you say it's because he's annoying, won't you spill a single tear of sympathy after coming this far!? The 10th Pledge! C'mon!! Repeat it!!
"Let's all have fun and play together!"
Sora: What would you do if you had killed her!? I'm only asking because you seem to think I'm the crazy one!
Xiao Qiangwei: Kill…
He remembered the world 6000 years ago… Even a child never seen the sun because the gods wanted all the power, and almost destroyed the world for doing so, then he gave the last push to it… Killing everyone…
Heh, this is the first world he destroyed in this life, and he was just at the 2nd Immortal Earth back then… Yet, the burden on his heart got bigger, even if he destroyed planets left and right in his previous life… Killing billions and trillions… This isn't something one can just ignore.
The silence swallowed up the place, and then…
Old Deus: ...I don't understand… don't understand don't understand don't understand don't understand don't understand don't understand don't understand don't understand don't understand don't understand don't understand don't understand don't understand…
She continued to murmur while the game board kept collapsing.
Old Deus: In that case, just what is there to believe in?
Xiao Qiangwei: ...You can start in believing on your Quintessence.
The Old Deus clenched her teeth and yelled at Xiao Qiangwei with a tearful voice.
Old Deus: ...In that case… answer me!! Why… Why didst the medium(AN: Miko) betray me? Answer me, Immortal!!
Xiao Qiangwei: What the hell are you asking me for?! Ask Miko!
Miko: ...Then, since my suffering friend asked for it. If I were summarize it in a small sentence… The real thing starts now.
Then a black thing swallowed everyone, and unknown memories flooded in the minds of『』, Xiao Qiangwei didn't had a problem thanks to his experience and being a higher dimensional existence, but Sora and Shiro didn't had it good.
The time that was close to "Eternity", the time that the Old Deus lived, was all forced inside their heads.
