As soon as Isolde finished speaking, six wineglasses appeared in the center of the long table.
Two stood before each player, one black and one white.
The white glasses held clear water. The black ones were filled with thick red wine.
[Generating Banquet Rule.]
[Three guests may choose their own fate.]
[Choose the White Glass, Personal Sacrifice. Forfeit all items and equipment. Skills and base attributes will be reset to zero. Only your life and permission to leave will remain.]
[Choose the Black Glass, Claim the Sacrifice. If at least one companion chooses the White Glass, holders of the Black Glass will suffer no penalty and will receive all items, equipment, skills, and base attributes forfeited by holders of the White Glass.]
[If multiple guests choose the Black Glass, they will divide everything forfeited by holders of the White Glass.]
[If all three guests choose the White Glass, the Judgment will end and all three may leave Sylvain Castle.]
[If all three guests choose the Black Glass, the Worst Ending will be triggered.]
[Time Remaining, 120 seconds.]
Isolde watched the fear spread across their faces.
The hatred churning inside her gradually cooled.
Of course she remembered every detail of what they had done to her in her previous life.
But at this point in time, they hadn’t committed those acts yet. No matter how brutally she tortured them now, she could never make them feel genuine remorse for crimes they had yet to commit.
She would only become a slave to her own emotions.
Isolde had no interest in that.
Still, it didn’t matter.
Even if they somehow chose to survive together, she wouldn’t mind throwing them out of Sylvain Castle.
She could leave them to those arrogant player parties and let them experience the same torment she had endured in her previous life.
That might be even more satisfying.
The banquet hall was deathly silent.
Grant studied the rules, searching for any detail he could exploit.
The White Glass would keep him alive, but the price was far too high.
It would reduce them to the state they had been in when they first entered the game.
Actually, it would leave them even worse off.
They were already injured, and their potions were nearly gone.
If they lost everything, they might survive long enough to leave the castle, only to be crushed by the next danger they encountered.
The Black Glass was different.
As long as someone chose white, anyone who chose black would escape punishment and claim that person’s items and skills.
Mina looked at the other two.
“We should choose white.”
Grant turned toward her.
Rowan said nothing.
Mina looked as though she had finally been driven to the edge. Tears streamed down her face as she spoke.
“We can farm more items. We can rebuild our attributes. Even if we lose our skills, we can choose new classes.”
“We came here together. We should leave together too, okay?”
All three choosing the White Glass was their best option.
They would share the same loss, so no one could blame anyone else or abandon the group without consequences.
Grant clenched his jaw.
A vein pulsed at his temple as he looked from the white glass to the black one.
“I’m fine with that.”
Rowan gave a cold laugh and looked at Mina.
“Don’t think I don’t know what you two are planning.”
“You’ve already agreed to choose black, haven’t you? You want me to choose white so you can take everything.”
“When Valen grabbed me, I saw exactly what you did. Your first instinct was to heal Grant. You never even tried to save me.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” Mina said urgently. “Grant is our frontliner. If he went down, we all would’ve died.”
“You always have an excuse.”
Rowan curled his lip.
“Funny how you’re never the one who pays for it.”
Grant slammed his hand against the table.
“Enough!”
His voice was heavy with anger.
“What good does arguing do now? We all choose white, and no one tries anything. First we get out alive. We can deal with everything else later.”
He almost sounded sincere.
Grant even moved his hand toward the white glass, as if to prove he had truly made up his mind.
From the head of the table, Isolde quietly watched them.
She found the whole performance amusing.
Whenever they talked about loyalty, they almost sounded human.
But when everything was on the line, that human disguise always peeled away.
Rowan studied Grant suspiciously.
“You’re really willing to give up everything?”
Grant fell silent for a second before gritting his teeth.
“Even if I’m not, I have to. None of it matters if we’re dead.”
Rowan’s expression shifted several times.
He looked ready to say something, but ultimately remained silent.
At last, he slowly exhaled.
“Fine.”
He looked at the other two, exhausted resignation appearing in his eyes.
“We all choose white. Anyone who chooses black is a goddamn animal.”
Mina nodded immediately as tears rolled down her cheeks.
“I won’t betray you.”
She looked at both men as though placing her last hope in them.
“We’ve already made it this far. Let’s not die by each other’s hands.”
Grant placed his hand palm-down in the center of the table.
“We choose white.”
Mina hesitated before placing her hand over his.
“We choose white.”
Rowan stared at them for several seconds, then slowly added his hand to the pile.
“We choose white.”
Their three hands rested together.
Filthy, battered, and covered in blood.
For one brief moment, they almost looked like companions who would live and die together.
Honestly, it was a decent performance.
The emotion was convincing. The words sounded sincere. Their eyes were even wet.
If Isolde hadn’t witnessed so many ugly faces in her previous life, she might have believed them.
[Time Remaining, 10 seconds.]
All three looked at the glasses before them and reached for white.
Mina’s fingers began to tremble.
She looked at the White Glass, then stole a glance at the Black Glass.
If she alone chose white while the other two chose black, they would strip her of everything.
She couldn’t take that risk.
She wanted them all to survive, but she couldn’t place her life in their hands.
At almost the same moment, the same thought occurred to Grant.
He had taken most of the damage and fought harder than either of them.
Why should he lose everything now?
If one of them had to pay the price, it shouldn’t be him.
Rowan needed even less convincing.
Nothing infuriated him more than watching someone else gain an advantage, especially one sitting right in front of him.
[Time Remaining, 5 seconds.]
Mina’s lips turned pale.
“Everyone chooses white, understood? We all choose white.”
“Of course,” Grant said hoarsely.
Rowan smiled.
“We’re teammates, aren’t we?”
With three seconds remaining, they looked up at one another.
At that moment, each of them saw the same thought reflected in the others’ eyes.
Why should I have to start over?
Why can’t you be the one to make the sacrifice?
In the final second, all three hands changed direction.
They seized the Black Glasses at the same time.
[Guest Grant Vale selected, Black Glass.]
[Guest Rowan Keene selected, Black Glass.]
[Guest Mina Vale selected, Black Glass.]
The banquet hall fell silent.
All three expressions froze.
Mina’s pupils contracted sharply, as though someone had driven a knife through her chest.
“You…”
Grant’s eyes widened.
“You said you’d choose white!”
Rowan stared at them for a moment before bursting into wild laughter.
“Hahahaha! Animals. We’re all animals!”
The three Black Glasses lit up at once.
The thick red wine began to boil as though something at the bottom of each glass were screaming.
[All three guests selected the Black Glass.]
[Judgment, All guests refused to make the sacrifice.]
[Worst Ending triggered.]
[Three Black Glasses, Souls Forfeited.]