Mr. Riddle paid the price of three missing life experiences to obtain three items that gained effects by consuming lifespan. Xia De guessed that the price was "paying lifespan," likely because he was just an ordinary person. If a witch or a Ring術士 were to gamble, it would very likely be paying spirit.
Therefore, while the all things are impermanent card could indeed play a huge role in the gamble, considering that each side of the gamble only had ten slots, using too many functional cards that required paying lifespan, as was the case now, was not the optimal solution to win the gamble.
It was just that Xia De and Mr. Riddle had no other choice.
"No, and even if I did, I couldn't give it to you."
Xia De said. Now, both sides were evenly matched, but if the last card was still all things are impermanent, it meant that the black-robed God of Gamblers' side had an extra combat power out of thin air. Mr. Riddle could only win by paying with his lifespan again.
"Then the last slot..."
"This is your gamble, Mr. Riddle, so you must end it with your own experience."
Xia De once again placed his hand on the other's shoulder.
"But the experience in Terror Castle cannot form a card. This card game is part of the Terror Castle adventure, and the gambling table has rules: the gamble itself cannot be used as an experience on the card table, so Terror Castle doesn't count either."
Mr. Riddle said, but Xia De shook his head:
"What I want to say is indeed related to your current experience, but it's not your adventure in Terror Castle, but this."
Mr. Riddle turned his head and saw Xia De pointing to himself:
"It's your encounter with me."
The middle-aged man's eyes widened slightly.
"At the final moment of life and death, you met me. You don't know who I am, whether I am human, a ghost from Terror Castle, or an emissary of God. You don't even know if I truly exist, or if I am just a dying hallucination. But with my help, you gambled with a god and have reached the end. Mr. Riddle, I think your encounter with me can probably be considered an important experience in your life, right?"
Xia De asked softly. Mr. Riddle nodded blankly:
"Yes, even if I forget what happened here after leaving Terror Castle, this experience will be permanently engraved in my soul, never fading until I descend into madness and death."
He stretched out his hand and placed it in the last slot on the table. After a long while, he removed his hand, and a brand new card indeed appeared.
On the card face, Mr. Riddle's upper body appeared from a perspective looking up from the table. The Mr. Riddle on the card face looked upwards, while the real Mr. Riddle looked downwards.
Xia De's face did not appear on the card face; only his hand was pressed on Mr. Riddle's shoulder. As for how he could be sure it was his hand, it was because that hand was covered with golden cracks like burning embers.
Hot-stamped letters, like flowing gold liquid, slowly appeared from the top of the card. The card's name was 【future man】.
"So you are..."
Mr. Riddle suddenly turned his head to look at Xia De, but ultimately did not speak the answer:
"This is truly good; you really exist."
A thousand words finally turned into this sentence. He sat up straight, preparing for the end of the gamble.
The card shimmered with Moonlight, and after a moment, Xia De's figure indeed appeared completely on the card. This was Xia De's current appearance, covered with cracks of "Divine Radiance."
This made the real Xia De at the table breathe a sigh of relief. He had originally been worried that a normal second-ring version of himself would appear. In that case, if this gamble didn't activate those lifespan-consuming items, Mr. Riddle's side would have lost.
The god's last card was still a witch, but one who had covered her face with a black veil, wore a black gauze dress, and had a somewhat terrifying aura.
Xia De's phantom stood with the demon, giant dragon, and sea monster. As twenty dazzling streams of light flowed along the table's grooves towards the center of the table, all movable phantoms on the table rushed towards the center of the gambling table.
This was the most real and terrifying battle to date. Although both sides had wins and losses in the previous nine fights, the phantoms summoned by the cards would not show actual wounds on their images due to injury.
And with all twenty cards now appearing, it seemed the gamble was truly complete at this moment. The two sides violently collided. The witch's flesh and blood remains, and the body fragments of the giant dragon, demon, and sea monster, even flew directly out of the gambling table with the flashing spiritual light and violent explosions.
Cracks appeared on the table due to the real effects of extraordinary power. The hot air and sharp wind pressure made it almost impossible for Mr. Riddle at the table to breathe. And once the person or monster corresponding to a card was injured, cracks would also appear on the card in the table slot.
Even now, both sides could attack the altar, temple, man-eating house, and the runic sword in the demon's hand, so all the cards had cracks of varying depths.
Even Xia De had never witnessed such a brutal, suicidal, meat-grinder-like battle.
He shifted his gaze to the back of Mr. Riddle's side of the table and found that the phantom representing himself did not join the battle but walked towards the three all things are impermanent cards.
He waved at the sacred silver Moon floating above 【All Phases Are Unpredictable · Silver Moon】. The gambling table item, which could originally only be touched by Mr. Riddle, actually flew towards Xia De's phantom.
"I lost ownership of the gambling table item! It became an equipment similar to a runic sword!"
Mr. Riddle was even more surprised than Xia De.
Xia De, holding the Silver Moon, walked towards the center of the gambling table where the battle was raging, but still did not join the fight. He suddenly raised his right hand behind the relatively massive body of the sea monster, bringing the silver Moon above his head.
The Silver Moon, which had originally only emitted a faint glow, suddenly brightened. Before Mr. Riddle could react to what was happening, Xia De suddenly had an extremely ominous feeling:
"Oh no! Get out of the way!"
The miniaturized real battle itself made Mr. Riddle feel dangerous. The moment Xia De gave the warning, he immediately ducked under the table. Of course, he didn't forget to keep his hand on the stool to prevent the gamble from being judged as paused.
Since there was no other place to hide in the room, Xia De also squatted down. Neither of them looked up, but their eyes observed the next second, the silver Moonlight sweeping across from the center of the table like a solar flare.
Even Xia De felt the stinging sensation in his eyes subside only after several seconds.
Mr. Riddle groaned, covering his eyes. He only released his hands after a full minute, but Xia De still saw his eyes red and swollen with tears.
After helping Mr. Riddle with some treatment, and with no other movement from above, the battle seemed to have ended. Xia De and Mr. Riddle cautiously poked their heads out from under the table:
"Is this... over?"
The table had returned to calm. All the phantoms were gone; only the light streams flowing along the grooves were still faintly glowing.
Mr. Riddle carefully sat back on the stone chair, and Xia De also stood up, brushing off the dust from his body.
Among the twenty cards on both sides, three all things are impermanent cards were automatically ejected from their slots and scattered on the table. Among the other seventeen, 【future man】 remained intact, while all other cards shattered into pieces.
It seemed that the burst of Moonlight from Xia De's phantom just now indiscriminately damaged all targets on the table except itself.
"Excuse me, God, did I win?"
Mr. Riddle asked cautiously. Xia De waved his hand, and the three cards automatically flew into his hand.
"Yes."
This was the black-robed god on the opposite side of the table, speaking for the first time since Xia De had seen him. He used the same language as Mr. Riddle, and his voice was a man's voice. Because he only spoke a two-syllable word, no more information could be judged from the voice.
"You said that if I win the gamble, I can make a wish?"
"Yes."
The voice still came from beneath the black robe.
"I want to leave here! Leave here with all my memories!"
"Choose one: leave here, or retain memories."
This was not the voice from beneath the black robe, but the answer given in unison by the corpses leaning against the wall, all in various states of decay.
When Xia De first arrived here, they had also used this method to convey the vague rules of the 【Life Gamble】.
"Alright then, I choose to leave here."
Mr. Riddle said with some frustration, turning to look at Xia De:
"Sir, I am truly happy, truly happy to have met you here."
He formally extended his hand to Xia De, and Xia De also gripped his hand with relief. Although somewhat inexplicable, the card game was finally over:
"Mr. Riddle, it is also my honor to have met you across a thousand years and completed this gamble together. I greatly admire you, your wisdom, and your experience."
He didn't say much, not even introducing his name.
"Compared to wisdom, I actually think courage is more important."
The ancient Prophet said softly. He looked at Xia De earnestly, as if wanting to engrave his appearance into his own soul:
"I don't know your purpose for being here, nor do I know what the future holds. But I will try my best to remember everything here and, if possible, try my best to research the all things are impermanent card. I hope this will be of some help to you, as my humble thanks."
"Don't worry, from my perspective, you really did it."
Xia De said. Mr. Riddle was momentarily stunned, then a smile appeared on his face:
"See, I knew it, I could definitely do it. You informed me, I reminded you; this is also a kind of 'Ring.' This is the blessing of my Lord, Mr. Huan!"
