CH 84

[Karina left the villa with heavy steps.

Behind her was a series of heartbreaking screams.

However, Karina, who had learned the truth through a series of investigations, was unable to arouse any sympathy for them.

They were more of the nightmare than Morris was, a veritable plague upon Clay. [1]

In order to live forever, and get their “god’s blessing”, they didn’t hesitate to use innocent lives as the price— photos of the ceremonies were enough to explain everything.

Recalling the ashy, human silhouettes that sat in the middle of the altar, Karina’s stomach rolled again and her face became paler.

She opened the door of a car parked on the side of the road, pantingly pulled herself in, and quickly started the car.

She was going to leave and go to the town to call the police—no, go outside and expose it to the media.

This place is too corrupt.

Karina finally glanced back at the villa.

The only thing that caught her eye was endlessly soaring fire, and the silhouette of the demon.

This nightmare is finally over. (K)

Morris stood in the villa, bathed in the blood of the enemy, and looked up at the moon above.

This nightmare will never end. (M)】

——From《Nightmare》

Morris looked at the idiots who had watched his death arrogantly with a cold smile.

“We’ll play “One, Two, Three Wooden Man”! It will last three minutes, and the last person to survive is the winner.” [2]

As soon as Morris’s words fell, the wall closest to the cultists collapsed.

A huge machine with countless rotating blades was behind the wall, constantly making “shink”ing sounds.

“No one is allowed to move, otherwise they will die—Jiejiejie!”

As the game began, the giant meat grinder-like machine began to approach the believers on the opposite side.

The believers followed Morris’s and did not dare to move, only to watch the machine get closer and closer.

Three minutes, they just needed to hold on for another three minutes.

Everyone thought this way, holding to the wishful thinking that they would be the one to survive

So no one dared to move.

Terror from Morris’s aura had penetrated their souls, all they could do was obey his every command.

Soon, the machine rolled over a lot of the furniture in the room, and everything that was caught in the blades was smashed to bits.

All this made the petrified believers even more horrified, and their bodies were shaking like sieves.

“What!!!”

“No! Ahhhhh-“

As the machine sped up faster and faster, several believers who were closer to it were sucked in and turned into ground meat.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, noo, save me!”

“No—no—ah!!!!”

Screams drowned out any semblance of sanity in this place.

Then someone finally started to move.

At the edge of the malestom, they pushed their companions into the blades, so as to slow down the machine’s progression and save themselves from doom.

Such a naked, unhidden human nature led the grinning Morris to laugh breathlessly. “Hahaha-that’s it! Push the person next to you, so you can run away and survive~…”

Morris, who was leaning over, looked up with a bloodthirsty light in his sapphire irises.

Survive until another judgement game begins, that is.

Jenny’s father hugged her mother nearby tightly and murmured, “It’s okay, we’ll all be okay.”

“Wuuuuuwwu-I’m afraid, our daughter isn’t healed, we can’t die wuuuwuu—” Mrs. Bliss had cried so much that her cheeks were tear-stained, mascara running down her face in a horrid manner.

The couple was so terrified that all they could do was big and comfort each other.

In front of them, a pair of formerly-loving brothers were fighting in a bid to push each other into the path of death.

Because the speed of the machine was getting faster and faster, and Morris didn’t allow anyone to escape, a few guys who tried to retreat ended up becoming fodder for the blades within the contraption.

Only by shoving others to a doomed conclusion could one save themselves from the same fate.

Finally, the two brothers’ outcome was decided.

One pushed the other into the swirling knives, blood splashing on the brother who committed the immoral deed.

“I won ha ha ha, I won–ah, ahhhhhhhh!!!”

Unfortunately, the mantis pushed the cicada, unprepared for the orioles behind him to do the same. [3]

At this moment, frantic behavior like this was common among the celebrities who had shed their noble demeanor.

The roar of the machine was already close at hand. Jenny’s father held his wife in his arms and kissed her cheek gently: “In the future, if you want to live well, Jenny will take care of you…

With that said, he was ready to let go of her hand and jump into the machine.

But the bawling mother instead took the lead at that moment and walked into the fray herself.

“No, you should be with her instea—aughhhhhhhhhh!!!

Crimson sprayed Annie’s father.

He stood stock still in sorrow, unable to process what had happened.

It’s all his fault.

If only he hadn’t brought his family into this damned sect, they would still be alive and happy…

The blades of the machine were growing closer, and Anne’s father took a few steps back, tears flowing uncontrollably.

“How touching-it’s a pity ~” The blond man swiped at his eyes and pretended to be sad, but his lips were set in a cold smile that couldn’t be hidden.

“It’s really regrettable that her death wasn’t caused by you. You violated the rules jiejiejiejie—”

“You guys, keep the rules in mind, you have to push them down before they do it to you. Jiejiejie”

The demon laughed. The malice contained in that wild giggling made every believer at the scene dread the future.

Morris certainly knew the couple.

They were Jenny’s parents, a couple he had once yearned for.

As a child, Morris even had the stupid notion of “how good would it be if he was their children.”

They stuck together for 20 years due to love and became a beautiful conversation piece in the town.

However, what most people didn’t know, was that they were privately the Holy Sect’s most pious members, and had contributed countless funds to the blood-stained cult.

This model couple had even trafficked some women and their children for their sacrifices.

Such disgusting devotion.

Smirk sitting on his heavily scarred face, Morris leered: “So, Mr. Bliss, your turn.”

“What?— Ahhhh!!!”

Jenny’s father, who was still immersed in the pain of bereavement, showed a terrified expression, and in the next moment was engulfed by the machine that just devoured his wife.

In just two and a half minutes, nearly ten lives had been lost. [4]

The white-haired Al clenched the cross necklace in his palm and stared blankly at the meat grinder.

He knew very well that this was just a dream.

These “dead” people were still alive and well in the real world; they were just in a nightmare where they felt the pain of death.

But it was different for him—he actually would die in this mindscape.

In order to avoid that, all he could do was use some props that weren’t from this world.

But that would also attract the BOSS’s interest, maybe even to the point of ignoring the cultists.

Facing such a dilemma, Al cursed fiercely in his heart.

This motherfucking world!

The ticking of the clock stopped—three minutes were up.

Looking at the blades that were almost touching their eyelashes, the remaining dozen believers suddenly spit out the breath they were holding in, running away from the destruction.

Morris glanced at the group and chuckled, “It seems that there are still a lot of people left. Great, let’s move on to the next game.”

“Let me think, what to play next? How about hide and seek?”

The charred man narrowed his eyes with a smile, which just made him look even more terrifying.

“Right, there are still some missing fish outside the meeting net~”

Fish not “qualified” to attend the meetings, but similarly full of sin.

***

A worn-out truck was traveling down the roads outside the town.

Sitting in the driver’s seat, Warren noticed the time and pressed on the accelerator.

It’s four o’clock.

Captain must be getting anxious at this point.

The sudden increase in speed caused some thumping in the back.

The dark-haired and green-eyed boy was knocked out of his coma, blood and cold sweat sitting on his forehead.

He squinted and tried to figure out where he was through darkness.

Through a gap in the door, he could view the green trees rapidly passing by outside.

Looks like we’re in the suburbs.

That amount of trees could only be found in the suburbs, not to mention the higher speed limit.

Aided by the faint light coming through the door, Zhou Yu could faintly discern the face of the person next to him.

It was a tied-up Johnny.

Johnny seemed to be in a worse state than he was at the moment, a large piece of skin was torn off, revealing the muscle underneath while rivulets of blood running down his forehead.

Thump—

As the speed increased again, another unconscious body rolled over, colliding with Johnny’s.

Zhou Yu’s gaze snapped to that one; it was Vincent, the bully.

Not far away was a third figure. Zhou Yu couldn’t tell who it was, but what he could tell was that they were in a very ominous situation.

I have to run.

Zhou Yu wiggled and twisted his bound hands and struggled to sit up.

If he remembered correctly, he still had a knife in his shirt pocket, if he could just reach it—

The teen didn’t realize that his emerald green eyes were gradually being tinted a dull blue.

They were now the same hue as Samael’s, the exact shade Zhou Yi had chosen when he drew the image of the god.

After some more waiting, the quickly moving truck finally reached its destination.

Warren looked at the villa not far away, again speeding up the truck and flooring the gas.

On this empty forest road, such speed was the fastest he could safely go.

Screeeech—

The truck sharply drifted and halted.

Warren opened the door of the vehicle and jumped out.

His tall body had to be crammed into such a narrow seat, he felt a little bit aggrieved about it.

Click—

Unlocking the rear doors, Warren got ready to start dragging the hostages inside the building and wait for his captain’s orders.

Silver light reflected off the window.

A swift figure rushed out of the dark as soon as an under prepared Warren opened the door.

The blade cut Warren on the cheek and he frowned in response.

How could a small world’s weapon hurt him?

Like the crow, it was all too weird.

The moment the kid almost got out, Warren snatched his slender ankle and threw him to the ground fiercely.

“Ungh!!”

The dark-haired child was violently flung to the grass, revealing his blue eyes.

It was—a look very similar to that of his drawing of Samael, violent and bloodthirsty.

Zhou Yu, who hadn’t noticed any abnormalities in himself, got up from the dirt and glared at the buff man vigilantly, ready to run away at any time.

Although he was unaware of the reason, the teen suddenly felt filled with other-worldly strength.

But he also knew that he couldn’t go toe-to-toe with the ineffable man before him.

All I can and need to do is react.

Wait…what?

Zhou Yu clenched the small knife in his hand and stared at a dark figure hovering behind Warren.

It was an ominously looming figure that wielded a scythe.