Vampire's Slice of Life

Lith could understand it well and truthfully answered once again.

The devil smiled and continued on with the game.

It then made them understand how line 8 pieces cannot capture their own pawns and similarly how line one couldn't capture the white ones.

This meant that the devils were fated to capture pawns from one of the two camps and couldn't attack both. This was how the heavens kept things balanced once again.

Everything made perfect sense and there were no faults in the devil's analogy.

However, Lith had a bad foreboding about this.

The devil flashed its signature gentle smile and since the game was reaching its climax, it moved its pawn to one last step and changed it to a queen.

Even if Lith had tried to avoid the pawn reaching the last line, somehow, it still slipped past his defences.

It was not a problem, he still had the upper hand. The devil's intention wasn't of winning but conveying a message, so the pawn naturally slipped easily.

After the pawn was changed to queen, the devil explained further that they couldn't consume the pawns of their side, but they could at least change them.

This change increased the number of line 8 pieces, however, it wasn't a bad thing.

This newly added queen put pressure on Lith's defences and this helped the devil capture more of Lith's pawns.

The devil stated that the transformed pawns helped keep the line 1 pieces busy, meaning, they helped keep the devils of the other camp busy and a swift capture of the pawns from their side.

Eventually, despite the capture of pawns from the other sides, losing their own pawns was inevitable as pieces of line 1 and 8 ruled the chessboard.

After the pawns were gone, line 1 and 8 pieces were bound to fight each other. This would be a cutthroat competition and most would perish.

As the game came to an end, only the two kings would be left on the chessboard.

The devil had ensured to create a situation where only its own and Lith's kings were left, every other piece was sacrificed.

The game resulted in a draw and the devil did not lose an already losing game.

With the draw, it emphasized one last thing.

The Frost Devil stared at the two kings on the chessboard and said, "In the end… the human may or may not perish but the devil would always be there. However…"

The devil's voice turned softer, but more serious.

"…is it truly eternal?"

Lith raised his eyebrows in surprise while Dennis blinked in befuddlement, not expecting the devil to ask such a profound question.

"One day, the cycle is bound to end. Then how come there's still two pieces left? Is this true eternal life or is this a statemate?"

The devil's questions caused a stir in Lith and Denis's auras, their foundation suddenly being threatened by mere words.

Cultivators pursued the martial peak for various reasons and what lay at the end was always a mystery.

However, there was one thing that everyone knew of: the martial peak contained immortality—true eternal life.

One wouldn't be bound by the passage of time anymore and would genuinely live forever, not simply live a long life.

One was free from the shackles of death, free from the passage of time, free from mortality, and free to do whatever they wanted.

However, as the devil brought up, the game always progressed towards its end.

Just like it, everything had an end.

If there was an end, did the martial peak truly mean eternal life?

This very foundation that was contained in everyone, this idea of immortality at the martial peak, at this point of time, was being questioned.

The devil had made a sound argument and caused a major stir in Lith and Dennis's heart.

Hyunsuk and Shi were still young and did not have as high of a comprehension ability as these two, therefore were unaffected.

It took quite some time for Lith and Dennis to calm their raging hearts and forget about this.

The Frost Devil, noticing that Lith had calmed down, smiled gently.

He tapped on the chessboard and asked, "What would happen if the chessboard was gone? If there is no playing field then…"

Lith and Dennis both felt a chill down their spines.

Their bodies trembled involuntarily and at this very moment, the gentle looking devil in front suddenly seemed like a mighty being that wanted to push them to the pits of despair.

Since birth till now, whatever was taught to these two geniuses was questioned.

Not only that, their very life was brought into the equation.

The Frost Devil continued to smile gently at them, however the two could see its figure turn into a giant shadow.

The shadow had a creepy red smile to it and laughed like a maniac.

Lith and Dennis's consciousness started fading and everything in their vision blackened.

They were about to lose themselves completely when…

Snap!

Their consciousness returned and they saw the same gentle devil.

The Frost Devil smiled warmly and looked right into Lith's purple eyes.

"It's still too early. When the time comes, I hope you'll know what to do."

The devil got up and walked back to its ice throne.

It leaned to the side and rested its face on its fist.

The Frost Devil smiled again and crossed its legs.

"Don't disappoint me…"

"…Chosen One."

Lith felt another chill down his spine. His hair stood on their ends and he looked at the figure with a shocked gaze.

Before he could ask the figure anything, the Frost Devil turned into ash and scattered.

The cold room had its temperature rise and the ice around melted completely within a few minutes.

Once the ice throne was gone, Lith saw a casket. From it, a faint aura of a human leaked out.

All thoughts within Lith's mind vanished and worry filled his heart.

He dashed to the casket and immediately opened it up.

Dennis and the rest arrived at the scene as well and once the casket was opened…

"Miwa!" Lith and Dennis both exclaimed, their bodies tensed up from fear, afraid that Miwa may not be alright.

Lith immediately pulled Miwa out of the casket and checked her vitals.

He finally heaved a sigh of relief after knowing she wasn't dead.

"She's fine," Lith said to Dennis.

Dennis heaved a sigh of relief as well.

Doing a thorough check, Lith realized Miwa was not unconscious and simply sleeping.

He sent some of his spiritual power into her body, shocking her, and saw her eyes flutter.

A minute later, Miwa finally opened her hazy eyes.

Lith flashed a warm smile and said, "Good morning."

…..

A/N: Testing format. Testing italics. Testing bold. Testing bold italics. Testing italics format gdocs. Testing bold format gdocs. Testing bold italics format gdocs.