The Twisted, Don't Turn Around, I'm Suffering

The 【Day of the Twisted】 hung in the sky.

It began to tremble.

It vaguely sensed a change in the ants beneath its gaze. A significant amount of its own power, the power of 【The Twisted】, was being forcibly expelled.

The Twisted Creatures in the town were regaining their human consciousness, bit by bit.

It was a Relic of 【The Twisted】, and the seal was a consumable of 【Suffering】. In truth, they were about evenly matched.

For countless cycles, its assault on the Suffering Seal had been the only constant.

Now, it had been slapped across the face.

It was stunned.

Wait, bro, was the power left behind by Suffering this strong before?

Aren't you supposed to be a seal? How can you fight back?

It focused its gaze on the cruise ship that had abruptly appeared in the town.

Its line of sight met Wu Wang's, who was looking up at the sky.

Of course, Wu Wang himself had no way of knowing the inner workings of the 【Day of the Twisted】's mind.

But he had the Abyss God's help.

【A minuscule power left behind by a weak existence is feeling puzzled. It does not understand why the faith-based seal of another weak existence has grown slightly stronger. This is nothing more than a pathetic squabble between a bunch of rabble.】

Wu Wang was baffled.

This was the first time he had heard such aggressive language from the Red Vertical Pupil.

In its words, it referred to 【The Twisted】 and 【Suffering】 as “weak existences” and “a bunch of rabble.” It called the events unfolding between them and the 【Spirit Venerable of the Sea of Desire】 a “pathetic squabble.”

Interesting. Just what level was the Abyss God on?

There was too little information to get to the truth right now.

But Wu Wang now realized that the 【Day of the Twisted】 possessed a certain level of consciousness.

He smiled up at the sky.

"The Twisted, don't turn around, I'm Suffering."

As his voice fell, a powerful force of 【Desire】 erupted from the cruise ship. William had once used this very vessel to sacrifice countless people, and the accumulated power had all been poured into the Mary.

The ship was now far more powerful than the 【Day of the Twisted】 and the 【Suffering Seal】. However, because it had been forcibly inserted into this instance, the Mary was unable to smoothly influence the town's interior.

That was why Wu Wang had invited all the townsfolk onto the ship.

Here, he was the one who called the shots.

Stare—

Sensing a threat from the void, the 【Day of the Twisted】 began to activate its residual power, trying to accelerate the arrival of this cycle's Day of Extinction.

In response, Wu Wang just shrugged. He did nothing to stop it.

The town itself wasn't important. It was just a collection of buildings.

The townsfolk were what held value.

As they began to convert to 【Desire】 one by one, the mutated friends and family they prayed for started to return to normal.

Whenever a Twisted Creature in town regained its human consciousness, the nun would activate her 【Miracle of Suffering】 and forcibly summon it to the Mary.

It shouldn't be forgotten that here, she was the most powerful Believer of Suffering. The entire seal was built upon the foundation of her initial 【Miracle of Suffering】.

In other words, the power left behind by Suffering was basically all concentrated on the nun.

As she experienced the despair and suffering of the endless loop, her powerlessness to save the town time and again would continuously infuse the seal, ensuring the 【Day of the Twisted】 could never escape.

The nun was the best warden.

But now, the warden wanted to tear down the prison.

She was preparing to drag the prisoner out and execute him.

Crack—

The blood-red sky began to wail in pain. To anyone watching from a distance, something else would have been visible.

The sky itself was cracking.

【Miracle of Suffering】 after 【Miracle of Suffering】 bloomed.

【The Twisted】 roared again and again.

And from the middle of it all, 【Desire】 fanned the flames.

It was not completely siding with 【Suffering】.

Within the illusory Aiguyi Town, only Wu Wang and Mary could perceive what the 【Spirit Venerable of the Sea of Desire】 was doing. She meticulously rigged the fight.

Whichever side was being suppressed, She would aid the weaker one, ensuring the residual powers of 【Suffering】 and 【The Twisted】 wore each other down to mutual destruction.

The collision of the three powers was more than the false Aiguyi Town could bear. The town began to head toward true destruction.

This wasn't another Day of Extinction. The very essence sustaining this world was starting to collapse.

Wu Wang turned to the blood-soaked nun nearby.

"Mary, can you contact the big boss?"

"Of course, sir," Mary replied without hesitation. "My power comes from Her, so I naturally have the right to offer my thoughts."

She added, "Lately, I have been explaining your concept of free will to Her."

"I can feel that She is very interested!"

Wu Wang fell silent.

Do you hear yourself?

Holy crap! You're trying to teach your own god about free will? Are you insane?

How did She not obliterate you on the spot?

Be it 【Suffering】 or the 【Spirit Venerable of the Sea of Desire】, did all these Venerables have some kind of strange quirk?

Oh, now I get it. I finally understand why the 【Spirit Venerable of the Sea of Desire】 is paying so much attention to me.

So it was you, you little traitor, buzzing in Her ear like a mosquito, saying, "Look at him! Look at him!"

Wu Wang sighed.

"The big boss's mind is firm. You don't need to tell Her those things anymore."

"For now, just pass on a message for me. Ask Her if she can stop this cage from collapsing completely. And tell her to leave just enough of 【Suffering】's power in the nun's body to sustain her."

Mary's expression looked a little unnatural. She seemed to have some objections to him forbidding her from spreading the idea of free will.

But she didn't say much more. She merely closed her eyes and reported Wu Wang's thoughts to the 【Spirit Venerable of the Sea of Desire】.

A moment later, Mary spoke.

"She asks why. She needs a reason."

"If this cage is destroyed, the nun will die, right?" Wu Wang mused. "I don't want her to die yet."

"Ask Her which is more fun. Killing a Believer of Suffering, or having one completely convert to 【Desire】?"

"How about we keep a Believer of Suffering working for 【Desire】 forever?"

Another wave of communication ensued.

Finally, Mary smiled.

"She has agreed."

"However, She is very displeased with you telling Her what to do, so She has given you two choices."

"What?" Wu Wang raised an eyebrow.

"Either bring Her more fun in the future, or the next time you meet, She will fill your head with the waters of the Sea of Desire, turning you into an idiot who only knows how to obey the instinctual desires of a creature."

Wu Wang was silent.

What a blatant threat. Was this even a choice?

Of course he'd put it on a tab. He'd deal with future matters in the future. "More fun" could just be something he owed.

"I choose the former," Wu Wang said with an unconcerned shrug.

He then looked at the nun. By now, she had shaved off almost all her flesh and blood, revealing ghastly white bones like a skeleton. Yet she still gritted her teeth to draw out more 【Miracles of Suffering】.

She had completely torn away all pretense with the 【Day of the Twisted】. This was no longer a peaceful seal but a violent clash. Only one side could be victorious.

Or they would perish together.

He smiled. "Then I'll have to trouble the big boss. Let's eliminate 【The Twisted】. I haven't gotten any benefits from the nun yet, and she's lived for hundreds of years!"

"She must know the locations of countless 【Relics】 like the back of her hand, right? Your bro is about to find another way, hauling bags big and small full of Relics to extort those organizations."

"A battle of contention? No, no, no. There's no contention."

"I'll take them all!"

BOOM!

The moment his voice fell, everyone looked up in terror.

They were horrified to find that the red sun had turned as black as ink.

Finally, it cracked and shattered.

The Groundhog Day was gone forever.

After countless extinctions, the time in the false town began to move forward in a true sense for the first time.

Now, Wu Wang had another problem to consider.

How was he going to get back and find the other players? And just where was this sacred land they had gone to?