Endless Debt-Chapter 779 - 246 Sacrifice Test

The enchanting figure stood behind the chess table, her fire-like eyes wandering over the people, as if watching them, yet seemingly gazing into the distance... You could never be sure whether you were in her sight.

Bologue clutched the dice in his hand tightly; before him was a towering, intertwining meat grinder. It wouldn’t just grind flesh to bits, even steel thrown into it would likely be shredded into iron scraps in an instant.

The Dawn gradually lost its power, and the howling storm followed in its wake, lifting a deluge of sand and stones like countless showers of arrows, clattering against the carriage, twisting the vehicle’s sturdy steel into a grotesque mass.

The sound of collapse came instantly. In the moment of Bologue’s hesitation, a carriage had already been crushed, with some parts sucked into the storm while others sank into the water along with the tracks.

Asmodeus smiled without speaking, and Bologue had begun to despise her seductive appearance, wishing to smash her to pieces with a punch. Bologue felt that Asmodeus wouldn’t refuse his brutality; all these devils were like that— even if you smashed their faces or tore their bodies apart, they would not feel anger but would keep laughing.

"Roll the dice, Bologue."

The long-silent Ewen spoke up. He now appeared somewhat awful, as if he had aged many years in an instant, with the youthful vigor in his eyes no longer present, replaced by an unspeakable fatigue and melancholy.

"Apart from playing this game to the end, we have no other choice."

Ewen continued, his chest rising and falling as though he had come to some realization, urging Bologue.

"Don’t hesitate anymore."

Bologue remained silent for a moment, and before another carriage could be swallowed by the violent winds and waves, he cast the dice onto the chessboard.

The dice-rolling shifted; this time the game progressed very quickly. Ewen rolled the dice last, with the points overlapping, and a new round of Event Cards appeared out of thin air.

While drawing an Event Card, Bologue didn’t forget to pick up the snake corpses from the ground and throw them into the meat grinder. The flesh was sliced into pieces by blades, and the meat grinder, as if having life force, devoured the snake flesh unabashedly, sucking it dry. With the blood and flesh’s addition, the slowing pace of the Dawn surprisingly accelerated a bit.

Just as Asmodeus said, now it needed more sacrifices.

"Do you derive pleasure from this?" When it was Bologue’s turn to draw a card, he questioned Asmodeus, "Like watching ants drown, seeing these pitiful creatures struggle desperately, yet powerless in the throes of death— does this move you at all?"

The Event Cards floated in front of Asmodeus. She leaned lazily against the back of her seat, casually answering, "Who knows? I might just be passing the time."

Bologue turned over a card, hoping to draw a malignant Event Card, preferably one that summoned a horde of demons for him to slay, so the meat grinder would have enough sacrifices to keep the Dawn running wild.

Event Card: Moments of Calm.

For the first time, Bologue cursed his own luck, unable to tell if this was good fortune or misfortune.

This was another form of loss; after Cinderella’s departure, they were one person short to roll the dice and missed a chance to draw a card.

After Bologue came Palmer. Everyone nervously reached out their hands to draw a card, pinning their hopes on the next card to turn the tide of the situation. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Asmodeus squinted; she always looked like she hadn’t fully woken up, wearing a vague smile, "Compared to this... what are you waiting for, Ewen?"

The topic shifted to Ewen, who raised his head numbly, as if he could see through Asmodeus’ disguise, unaffected by her overwhelming charm.

"Hmm? Weren’t you here to seek me out?"

Seeing Ewen standing there sluggishly, Asmodeus opened her arms as if to embrace him, "I’m right here, what are you waiting for?"

Asmodeus gazed at Ewen with amusement. Ewen took a deep breath, avoiding eye contact with her, then reached out to pick up the card that should belong to him.

Recalling everything along the way, the stories he’d shared with Cinderella, Ewen chuckled to himself, feeling somewhat ridiculous. The secret he thought was hidden had long been exposed in the Devil’s eyes. He even thought, before everything began, he had already stepped into a trap.

Ewen mustered his courage and locked eyes with Asmodeus, seeing that familiar color once again in her eyes. Even after all these years, the color still dazzled as if gems were inlaid in her eye sockets.

Asmodeus extended her hand as if inviting Ewen to kiss her hand. She asked once more, "What are you waiting for, Ewen?"

All light, sounds, and warmth quickly retreated; the pitch-black world enveloped Ewen instantly. In the dark world, only Asmodeus beckoning him and another figure emerging from the darkness remained.

Ewen didn’t look back, but he knew who the other person was. Before everything began, his connection with that entity had already been formed.

A low whisper, as if muttering in dreams, escaped from Ewen’s lips, "Belphegor..."

Belphegor remained silent, gazing at Asmodeus. Ewen stood trapped between the two, then... made his choice.