Deja vu?

That's right, it truly was deja vu. Back when Xie Antong first truly came into contact with Pleasure, it was also a battle between three mental states fighting for control within her mind.

That moment then was exactly like this moment now!

Only this time, Pleasure had descended directly in its true form, and both Lu Ce and Xie Antong's strengths were far beyond what they once were.

The conditions of the three parties involved were not just one level higher than before!

Xie Antong (Sin) currently had no capacity to respond. Under the impact of that immense power, she was almost instantly "awakened"!

From the gaze shining in her eyes on that pretty face, it was clearly two different people—one was herself, and the other was Lu Ce.

After handing over the autonomous control of her body to Lu Ce, the next time she regained consciousness, she found herself in the current situation.

Once again, it was this three-way struggle!

But this situation was quite special. The energy beam linking to her wasn't harming her; instead, it was transferring energy to her!

Using wuxia novel terminology, it was similar to a kind of "empowerment transfer"!

Her power had already been skyrocketing because of what happened earlier, and now this was happening again. Xie Antong even began to suspect if Pleasure was trying to push her strength to become the world's number one.

But with a slight flicker of her pupils, she could see the hourglass before her rapidly draining.

The hourglass in Pleasure's hand naturally also had sand slowly trickling down, but compared to Xie Antong's side, it was flowing far too slowly.

Shrouded in the seven-colored energy glow, the aura emanating from Xie Antong's body was rapidly increasing, while Pleasure's on the other side was conversely decreasing.

Xie Antong was Pleasure's Apostle. For a god to transfer some strength to its own Apostle was naturally not a problem.

But along with the energy infusion, it was also infusing spirit and thoughts, akin to a direct form of brainwashing.

This intense mental consumption was Pleasure's final killing move—slowing the sand flow on its own side to make the opponent's chips deplete rapidly.

This operation basically had nothing to do with the gamble anymore. Just as Death had said, the true unfairness came from who the participants of the Game were.

However, Pleasure wasn't feeling good either right now—purely heartbroken!

If it weren't for absolute necessity, if it weren't for Death's promise to it, it would never be willing to use this kind of tactic.

Although this method of direct, forceful killing was simple and straightforward, what it consumed was its own energy. For a god, that was consuming its own life!

If too much energy was consumed, it risked falling into slumber, or even disintegrating directly like Knowledge had.

In other words, this external move might seem invincible, but in reality, it was already gambling with its life.

All the pleasure power it had gained during this period because of the incidents caused by "Sin" was now being completely lost in this move.

Feeling the depletion of its energy, its face became abnormally twisted and ferocious. Less than a minute had passed, and the opponent's second hourglass was already beginning to bottom out.

But the rate of depletion... was actually starting to slow down.

[Good... you've truly given me a bit of a surprise.]

Staring at the Xie Antong (Sin) opposite, it hadn't expected "Sin" to actually have a way to resist its energy onslaught.

This proved the power the other party was currently mobilizing was akin to that of a "god."

Drip, drip...

Within the black box, from the position of "Sin's" severed arm, blood was dripping down, drop by drop, shattering on the ground.

Due to the absolute silence, the sound of these drops of blood became abnormally distinct.

And on that face of "Jealousy," colors were constantly shifting—dark purple, brilliant gold, pure white, seven-colored...

That unstable fluctuation even attracted the attention of Death across from him.

[Hmm?]

Drip, drip...

Xie Antong clutched the dripping, severed hand in her grasp, pressing it against her own face, feeling its texture as if that could give her a sense of security.

The eyes belonging to her own consciousness were flickering unsteadily now, doing her utmost to repel that power which would drive everyone in the world mad with envy.

Holding "Sin's" blood-stained severed hand, although it was somewhat bizarre and hard to accept, she knew this hand couldn't possibly be useless.

So without any need for communication, she still maintained their interlocked fingers, the two hands pressed tightly together, the posture unchanged.

Meanwhile, the other half of her face was completely covered in bulging veins, eyes wide with rage, the expression looking exceptionally terrifying.

"Heh, a surprise? It really is a surprise. By the way, why do you look like that?"

"So serious, Wrath. This isn't like you at all, not the least bit pleasurable."

"Oh, right, you've already given most of your power to her. It's hard to say which of you two is truly Pleasure anymore."

Pleasure's expression grew increasingly ferocious. The massive outflow of energy had long since twisted its features, stripping away its usual elegance and complacency.

The words from Xie Antong (Sin) now, carrying the effect of the Ignorance Aura, directly pierced into the depths of its soul, making it increasingly irritable.

Only now did it realize these words themselves might also be a form of psychological suggestion against it—a hidden bomb that could explode at any unknown moment!

[Most? It's only a small part! Save your breath with these words of yours. You can't hold on for five more minutes!]

Bang!

The second hourglass was depleted. Before Xie Antong (Sin)'s eyes, only the final hourglass remained!

Pleasure's hand slammed heavily onto the gambling table. Now that it was its own power continuously decreasing, it didn't find this amusing in the slightest.

[I know what you're relying on! It's just that He will always help you in the end!]

[I don't know what agreement you reached with 'Agony,' but now, I'm giving you one last chance. Your own power can never withstand all this.]

[Let 'Agony' come out! Didn't you succeed last time?! Call Him out!]

Pleasure's voice had reached the level of a furious roar, reverberating through the space, shaking the spectator stands, shaking the adjacent black box.

And with this roar, the sand in that final hourglass cascaded down even faster, draining by half in the blink of an eye.

Large fissures appeared everywhere in the space. The Arbitrator, standing in the distance, suddenly looked up, horrified as he sensed the chaotic energy before him.

This...

Pleasure... was actually starting to show signs of losing control?!