Pleasure slammed the table heavily, gnashing his teeth as he spoke, clearly exceptionally furious.

But his anger now couldn't help but draw a sidelong glance from the Arbitrator, because although he seemed even more wrathful than before, his aura had stabilized considerably.

There was no longer that feeling of imminent loss of control from earlier.

"Oh?" Xie Antong (Sin) raised an eyebrow. "Are you implying, with those words, that you think I'm an imposter?"

[Otherwise?! Do you think that skill of yours that messes with people's heads can really make me completely disregard the facts?!]

[This little girl is my Apostle, inheriting my power. Regardless of whether you and Agony have an Apostle-Apostle relationship, how could Agony possibly descend upon her body!]

Xie Antong (Sin) remained silent indifferently, just continuing to watch the guy across from him with those profound eyes.

"Deceiving yourself isn't a good habit, you know."

"Are you saying all this because you want me to refute you and give you a reason you can accept for why I descended upon her?"

Having his little thoughts so blatantly exposed, Pleasure instantly couldn't help but feel a surge of irritation. Ripples even stirred on the surface of his energy-formed head. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"Heh. Tell me, if a person's speech is Agony, their energy is Agony, their aura is Agony... then they are Agony. Wouldn't you agree?"

That... sort of makes sense too...

Pleasure's gaze immediately began to grow unfocused, only for a sky-piercing killing intent to erupt an instant later!

Damn it! I fell for it again, didn't I?!

["Sin"! If you dare use that imitation of that guy, combined with your skill, to fool me one more time, I'll kill you right now, no matter what happens to this Game because of it!]

"You'd probably have a hard time killing him. After all, this body belongs to that girl. You'd likely just be killing Him."

"Don't be so violent. We have some history, after all."

"When I left back then, I told you I'd create a grand spectacle for you. Didn't I deliver on that?"

[What?!]

This time, Pleasure was thoroughly stunned.

That sentence... it truly was something Agony had said to him, specifically seeking him out before his death.

Could it be that He told this "Sin" that sentence so he could use it to trick me?!

Instantly, the killing intent in his eyes flickered, appearing and disappearing.

"Alright, fine. My current state is indeed rather bizarre. Logically, my consciousness shouldn't exist anymore."

"This guy is pretty remarkable, actually. He managed to accidentally summon me out several times. I didn't even know I was still present in this world myself."

As he spoke, Xie Antong's body—under the control of either "Sin" or Agony—glanced at the black box beside them.

With a gaze full of appreciation and pity, he looked at "Sin" lying there inside.

"This guy has been using the Jealousy Mask's ability to imitate you gods."

"But in reality, he can't possess you all, so imitating you isn't really necessary. His main goal was to find the sensation of imitating *me* through the process of imitating you all."

"And then, transform that into the mask he wore the last time I emerged."

"This Game also accidentally played right into it. That black box gave him way too much Agony Value. And just so happened, he really did manage to 'imitate' me out."

Listening to Xie Antong (Sin)'s words, Pleasure didn't understand much else, but he realized one thing for certain—the being before him really *was* Agony!

[What, what value?]

"Oh, a stat allocation system. It's nothing. I designed it casually for passing on power."

"Also, that guy understands you quite well. He knew that if you ever lost, you'd definitely turn your back and refuse to admit defeat. That's why he was thinking early on about how to bring me out."

"A truly interesting wager must have a winner and a loser. It's definitely not acceptable if you only feel pleasure when you win and pain when you lose."

"I warned you about that long ago."

Pleasure paid no heed to the other's teasing now. He just clenched his fists tightly, lowered his head, and spoke in a low voice:

[You were right. Are you happy about that?]

[I couldn't beat you back then. And now, you find a successor, and he can still weaken my energy to this extent... I've even been forced to accept Death's help...]

Pleasure looked up, a strange, somewhat twisted smile on his face as he gazed at Agony before him.

[Savoring your own victory and my current pain... your energy must be growing rapidly, right? What, does my decline signify your resurgence?]

Agony shook his head.

"It doesn't. I've said we two are not opposites. At least, not from my perspective."

"Furthermore, I have never increased myself by inflicting agony upon others. That's your method. And it's the wrong method."

His voice was faint, very calm, devoid of any hint of mockery or belittlement, yet it possessed the ability to easily ignite Pleasure.

[Don't you dare lecture me here! You don't have the right!]

Pleasure said wrathfully, looking at Agony before him with scorn.

[The wrong method? By sticking to your 'correct' method, how did you become the weakest god?]

Yes, purely judging by energy level, He was indeed the weakest one. It was just due to His various bizarre methods that no god truly considered Him the weakest.

"Yeah, what can I do about being weak? Weak is just weak. So I died."

Agony said with a tone of utter resignation, making Pleasure feel like he'd punched cotton, unable to even muster his anger properly.

Suddenly, Pleasure felt the purplish-black energy that had been enveloping and supporting him begin to vibrate violently, conveying a will to him.

Tch. Knew this guy wasn't that benevolent...

Behind him, the black box also began to tremble. Death was plastered against it, peering outward like a creep.

Even though He couldn't see anything, He could sense it—outside, that guy Agony had come!

This time, He absolutely cannot be allowed to leave so ambiguously!

...

[What is your purpose in coming here?]

Outside, urged by Death, Pleasure finally asked.

"Me? To prevent you from acting shamelessly and to protect this guy's life."

"Feels like my brother here isn't quite pulling his weight this time. Probably can't be of much help."

As he spoke, he even gave a smiling nod to the Arbitrator.

Arbitrator: "..."

Whether it was this human or this god, whoever showed up had to torment the poor, miserable Arbitrator a bit.

[You should know that's not what we're asking...]

"Heh. But no matter what you ask, my answer remains this one."