At the same time, that false, exquisitely beautiful face dissipated.
Like a mask torn to shreds, that peerlessly lovely face cracked and peeled away under the Chessboard's power, revealing the true face beneath, formed from countless masses of writhing matter.
Ugly, twisted, nauseating-a "face" made of countless maggots compressed together.
"As I thought..."
"You couldn't possibly be that exquisitely beautiful being."
Zhou Heng looked at the true visage before him without any expression of disgust or surprise. He simply made a calm, elegant gesture of invitation.
"Abyss Mother..."
"Please!"
Bang!
Stripped of its exquisitely beautiful disguise, the "Abyss Mother" became utterly twisted and hideous.
The writhing matter surged restlessly over its body, like the Abyss's true body exposed to sunlight after being stripped of its outer covering. It was furious, it was savage, it was hysterical.
"Zhou Heng!!!"
"You actually dared challenge me to a game!"
"You're courting death!!!"
Faced with the "Abyss Mother's" hysterical howls, Zhou Heng's expression remained as tranquil as still water.
He looked at the board, empty of stones. The white stone at the center earlier had been the "key" that activated the Chessboard and had returned to its place once the game formally began. Then he took up a white stone again and once more placed it at the center.
"No..."
"You misunderstood something..."
"I wasn't challenging you alone..."
The instant the white stone landed, glimmers began appearing in the darkness around the "Abyss Mother."
Those glimmers coalesced, strand after strand, ray after ray, each swiftly taking shape and becoming a distinct figure.
"I was challenging all of you 'Abyss Lords'..."
"Challenging the 'Lord of Compassion'..."
The instant his words fell, the most majestic, most indifferent figure, bearing a look of boundless compassion, slowly took shape as well, seated upright at the other end of