Chapter 600: Confused Heart (VIII)

The darkness that had shrouded everything receded. Rhode and the Sadist reappeared in the sacred hall again. She gritted her teeth and laid on the ground with tears welling in her eyes, gazing at Rhode in desperation. However, Rhode simply disregarded her and pressed down the creases on his clothes before walking toward the throne.

"Mr. Rhode. Ah... Mr. Rhode...!"

The Masochist bound by the steel chain attached to the throne stuck out her chest and turned to Rhode. Then, she stooped down like an obedient dog and rubbed her head against Rhode's leg. "Ah... Mr. Rhode, I'm so touched that you've chosen me. I'm yours. My everything belongs to you. My body, my soul, my skin, and every single strand of my hair belong to you. No matter how you treat me and no matter what you make me, I will do it with all my heart. As long as you allow me to stay by your side, I don't need anything else, not even my dignity. You can treat me as a bitch, a pet, or anything else. As long as you like it, I don't mind being a tool to sate your lust!"

"Are you willing to do everything for me?"

Rhode lowered his head and caressed Lize's cheek. Lize shivered in excitement.

"Yes, Master. I'm your most humble servant. I will do anything that you ask me to!"

"Good. Now, I have something that I need your help for, Lize."

"No problem, Master. What do you need me to do?!"

"It's simple."

Rhode's voice and merciless dagger pierced into her chest. The Masochist widened her mouth and the flickering dagger stuck in her chest emanated faint radiance. Scarlet blood flowed out of her wound, tainting her body and ground. She shuddered and opened her mouth to yell, but sucked in a deep breath of air instead due to the immense pain.

"Your suggestion is pretty attractive, but I'm sorry. I prefer the usual Lize, and not a pet who has lost its self-conscious and only knows how to beg for pity. If you're my enemy, I'd be glad to see you behaving like this. However, as my companion, I don't wish to wipe out your conscious."

Rhode stroked her cheek. It would be a lie if he apparently wasn't moved by her words. Just imagine how arousing it would be for a close, beautiful young lady who had abandoned her pride and displayed a defenseless manner before one. It was especially so when she was ready and compliant and one could do anything to her without any follow-up responsibilities. This was exactly a man's dream.

But Rhode had no intentions of doing so.

Because he understood Lize's feelings and he had no need to deal with her using such a cruel method. Besides, he didn't wish for such a Lize.

Although this personality appeared harmless, Rhode had to kill her because these two personalities weren't naturally created in Lize's mental world. Instead, they were extreme personalities formed and misguided by the Mind Devil. If Rhode kept this personality alive, Lize would slowly draw close to it and grow into that personality. However, Rhode didn't wish to see this happen.

That was why this had become the only choice for Rhode.

"Wake up, Lize. The dream is over."

Rhode drew out his dagger.

Blood spurted out from her chest and splashed into the air. The Masochist fell on her back and gaped, but she didn't make a sound. Shortly after, specks of light dust emerged from her body and fluttered into the sky while parts of her transformed into a pile of sand completely.

"What a... heartless human, Master..."

Celestina crawled to her feet and her wounds were slowly recovering. She ground her teeth and gazed forward. After Rhode murdered the Masochist, the Sadist on the other side crumbled and shattered into light dust simultaneously. Celestina lifted her proud chin and let out a snort.

"Humans have strong desires and these are the sins for us, Demons, to lure them into the trap. Desires that are too strong will only lead to destruction and this is the same for both Humans and Demons. However, Humans are incapable of self-control. They know that it is a glass of poisonous wine, but those idiots still fly into the flames bravely like moths. They abandon their rationality, all for the sake of their instinctive enjoyment. How foolish."

Celestina turned to Rhode.

"Frankly speaking, I thought that you wouldn't make this decision. But it seems that you still pass as my master."

I see.

Rhode twitched his brows to Celestina's remarks. He was still wondering why she stayed behind despite her grave injuries. It was actually because she was observing his choice. Indeed. Lize with the masochist personality was indeed attractive and it was extremely difficult for a normal man to reject her advances. But even so, Rhode had chosen to annihilate her.

"Since I've seen the interesting ending, I shall return for a rest. I hope you will remember this, Master. Human sins and desires are extremely amusing, yet dangerous..."

Celestina gazed at Rhode with a complex glint flashing in her eyes before transforming back into a hovering summoning card. Then, the card flew to Rhode's hand in a beam of light and he captured it subconsciously.

But strangely, the card didn't land in Rhode's palm. Instead, it seemed to have maintained its summoned status and spinned non-stop. The pitch-black card emanated specks of magical radiance and the residual light spots in the positions where the two Lize personalities had died floated toward it. When the light spots arrived, the pitch-black card suddenly released dark ripples. The light spots responded and slowly gained shape. Shortly after, they transformed into equally pitch-black cards with scarlet pattern by their borders and appeared before Rhode.

Celestina's voice sounded once again in Rhode's ear.

"Take this as a reward for satisfying me, Master. Be grateful in accepting it."

"Leader!"

At this moment, Anne's loud voice sounded behind him. He turned back and saw Anne darting toward him with her raised shield.

"What happened? That huge monster suddenly shattered. What about Lize? How is Lize doing?"

"Lize is... Be careful!"

Rhode's response turned into a warning. Anne rolled to the side swiftly and plunged her shield into the ground. At this moment, two dark tentacles struck the shield and the collision released glaring sparks. Rhode dodged to the side abruptly and brandished his daggers without hesitation. The dazzling blade rays instantly interwove into a net of light and shredded the ambushing shadow into bits.

"You're finally here. I thought you would be hiding forever."

Rhode lifted his head and gazed at the sky in the distance. A pitch-dark round sphere hovered in midair and countless dark tentacles fluttered around it. Above the sphere was a pair of red eyes, which made the monster looked exceptionally strange. However, Rhode disregarded it and shifted his vision downward. He spotted his target. Beneath the pair of red eyes, the true Lize was there. The Mind Devil was devouring its prey slowly. If Rhode failed, Lize's will would be affected deeper and deeper under the Mind Devil's influence. In the end, her mind, will, and spirit would be devoured completely. When that happened, the Mind Devil would leave Lize's body and seek for a new prey. Then, Lize would be dead.

Hiss!

It was apparent from the fluttering tentacles that the Mind Devil was exceptionally furious. But it couldn't be blamed. Its delicious meal had indeed been disrupted by Rhode and Anne.

Shing!

The Mind Devil hissed and struck several black tentacles forward. However, they were no threat to Rhode and Anne at all. Without Lize's mental strength, the Mind Devil was nothing more than a basic level 30 BOSS and for Rhode who had reached level 40 and with a swordsmanship standard that had entered the Legendary Stage, it was nothing hard for him.

"Anne!"

"Got it! Leader!"

Anne raised her shield and threw it forward instantly, which deflected and tore apart the black tentacles. The Mind Devil instantly realized the source of danger and retreated desperately. However, Anne's spinning shield was much quicker than it.

Clang!

The shield crashed into the Mind Devil's body and it trembled violently. The powerful impact flung Lize out of its body and she fell toward the ground. The Mind Devil saw its escaping prey and it extended its black tentacles to recapture her.

However, dazzling spiritual blade rays erupted in an instant and ripped apart the black tentacles nearing Lize. Facing this ambush, the furious Mind Devil released a dozen more tentacles toward the other direction.

A meteor-like radiance shot out from the shadows and streaked across the darkness.

Rhode emerged in the blink of an eye. He grabbed Lize's wrist and dragged her out of the Mind Devil's control. Then, he gazed at the Mind Devil with a smirk.

"You've had a hard time. But my apologies. This is the end for you."

The Mind Devil didn't launch another attack on Rhode. Instead, it exploded into a burst of blood-curdling screeches because Rhode's dagger had penetrated one of its red eyes.

Kacha.

Along with a crisp crack, the sacred hall shook violently. Rhode looked up and the ceiling had revealed ghastly lines of cracks. However, the fragments flew upward instead of falling to the surface. It wasn't the azure sky that Rhode saw through the cracks of the ceiling. Instead, it was dazzling white. The glaring radiance spilled through the cracks and shone on the sacred hall, tearing the walls and ground like an incoming typhoon. The Mind Devil shuddered and collapsed under the bright radiance. The radiance shone increasingly brighter and pure whiteness shrouded the entire place. Then, Rhode felt a cold breeze blowing against him.

The dazzling radiance blinded his eyes and when he opened his eyes again, the view of Emerald Valley appeared before him. However, Emerald Valley was no longer as dark and murky as before. The limpid, downward-flowing river refreshed his mind, the exuberant shrubs swayed to the wind, and the warm sun comforted him.

"Eh? This is..."

Anne widened her eyes in astonishment and touched herself. There were no signs of injuries and the shield in her hand was behind her as though both of them had just experienced a long dream. However, this was actually the truth. The mental world and reality was different. They might have spent a few hours in Lize's mental world, but in reality, that was nothing more than 10 seconds.

But Anne wasn't too mindful of such details because someone was more important than the situation.

"Lize!"

Lize was lying unconscious on the prairie. Anne yelled out and bolted forward. She shook Lize's body to wake her up.

"Lize! How do you feel? Wake up, Lize!"

"Argh..."

Lize groaned softly. She opened her eyes and looked into the sky above vacantly as though she was lost in thought. Shortly after, she regained her focus and she was startled by Anne.

"Anne?"

"Lize!"

Anne pounced forward and hugged Lize tightly.

"You scared Anne... Lize, you're finally awake!"

"Anne..."

Lize was at a loss and her expression stiffened shortly after. It was impossible for Lize to remember everything that had happened as she was being manipulated the whole time. It felt more like an indistinct dream to her. But the vague impression she had about this dream was enough to make her realize what she had done. She extended her trembling arm and hugged Anne dearly.

"Lize?"

Anne gazed curiously. Lize hugged the young lady before her closely and shut her eyes. Tears escaped the corner of her eye.

"Sorry... Anne... Sorry, Anne... Forgive me...!"

"L-Lize?"

Anne was at her wits' end.

"What's wrong? You didn't do anything that needs Anne's forgiveness. It's all that monster's fault and the monster had been gotten rid of by Leader. Don't worry, Lize."

"Anne...!"

Lize couldn't hold it in anymore. She buried her head in Anne's chest and burst into tears.