The Righteous Player(s)

d.
Benjamin and Gerald were not enemies at all.

—At least not from the very beginning.

So when Annan was in the tea room, Benjamin heard Melvin mentioning the history of “Gerald,” and his expression turned strange.
There was no slightest anger or hatred, just a wry smile to organize his language.

“The other evidence is the statue of the ‘giant snake. ’”

Annan said, looking back at the group of statues behind him.

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He whispered, “You said yourself… ‘If you want to change the predictions you get from perceiving the future, you have to introduce a lot of variables.’

“Human minds are variables.”

Everyone’s eyes shifted along with Annan’s movement.

In the middle of all the statues, there was a giant snake with its head up, gazing at the sky.

“The giant snake means ‘rebirth. ’” Unexpectedly, it was Michelangelo himself who spoke.

Michelangelo stepped forward.
He emerged from Ghirlandaio like a water wave.
The transparent, brilliant golden soul was floating steadily in the air.

The original “Ghirlandaio” turned into an exquisite statue in an instant.

Michelangelo looked back at the giant snake with a complicated expression.
The snake seemed to be gazing intently at what he loved, and it seemed to be looking at the past.

“But I still don’t quite understand it,” Annan suddenly spoke under everyone’s gaze.
He asked softly, “Your original plan was to kill Melvin first, form a four-person team and cause a conflict on the three remaining people.
You will then wait for the second death and third death to appear.

“By then, you will take the second shot and kill the last person outside the four-person team.
Since we have an agreement, we can’t hinder each other at all.

“In this way, our number will be reduced to half.
The murderer has no doubt survive because the murderer has not yet appeared.

“After that, you kill the second person.
Then, you will trigger a curse and die through the predetermined curse.
In this way, the murderer who killed Master Michelangelo becomes yourself.
Thus, you meet the two conditions of victory at the same time.
Firstly, the murderer survives when there are only four left.
Second, the original murderer is dead at the same time.

“In this way, you have completed a ritual of ‘feign death’ like a giant snake who sheds its skin.
That’s what I thought from the beginning.”

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Annan looked at Michelangelo and slowly said, “But I denied this idea after a while.

“Because if you need an event like ‘I killed myself.’ Then you could have killed two people at the beginning and ended the ritual.
The predetermined curse would have killed you.
You still fulfill the condition of you being your own murderer.
“

“Huh, that can’t work because this only satisfies one condition.”

Michelangelo turned around and smiled gently, “Because you don’t know one thing.

“Howling White Tower is a Twin Tower.
Everything is the same on both sides of the hall because…

“There are two wizard towers.”

If you only get one tower, you can’t count as a tower master at all.

“What I am after is not just to extend my life.”

Michelangelo sighed, “What I want is to ‘die once and rebirth twice.’

“If the ritual succeeds, then I will die by my hands and be resurrected by my hands.
From then on, I will live in the gap between life and death.
Only in this way can I achieve ‘truth.’

“In this world, the number of Truth Fragments has been fixed.
If you can’t get Truth Fragment, no matter how long you live, you can only get Gold Rank at best, no matter how great your talents are.
You can only be imprisoned in these islands surrounded by the thick mist, living in the boundary cracks.

“What I pursue is not only that.
This is not a feign death ritual but a ritual of going beyond the ‘truth’ level.
It’s the dream of mine trying to get rid of the shackles of this world since I have already reached the limit of humanity.

“Yes.
I want to be the new god.”

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