Chapter 584 - Dao Heart.
As this is the self purgatory that Hal's mind has cooked up, we will call the other Hal who has Dark scleras; Purgatory-Hal.
Purgatory-Hal pointed at the seat in front of him and called on the real Hal to take a seat,
"Hello Hal, why not join me for a game of chess?" he said and sure enough, right in the middle of the table was a chess set that had surely not been there a few seconds before.
Hal shrugged but his expression was serious.
This was already not the physical confrontation that would somehow force a contemplation as he had partly expected and he was not going to let down his guard.
As he took a seat, he sensed rather than saw the forty-something man and Sassy step closer and stop behind him to spectate the game.
The pieces on the chessboard were blue and black with the blue being on Hal's side.
It seemed like a regular chessboard but Hal knew there was bound to be a catch.
"White moves first" Purgatory-Hal said.
"There are no white pieces" Hal replied the obvious and Purgatory-Hal shrugged,
"Blue moves first then" he said in a tone that suggested that Hal should have understood that to have been what he meant.
Hal rolled his eyes at the tone and indeed moved first.
Moving the pawn right in front of his bishop forward in a basic move that opened up a path for his queen.
And thus the game of chess began between Hal and his Purgatory twin.
Hal was quite a skilled chess player and he had expected his purgatory twin to be just as skilled or even more skilled so as to pose a challenge for him but was quickly disappointed.
Hal played as seriously as he would with anyone and Purgatory-Hal played like someone with barely any knowledge of Chess.
"Checkmate" Hal said after just five moves and it was indisputably a checkmate to which his Purgatory-twin looked and smiled widely.
"Well, would you look at that, it truly is a checkmate" he said.
Hal was a little taken aback and while he would never say no to an easy win because of some misguided 'honor', he had a nagging feeling that this could not be it.
That this was not the end,
"Is that it? I won?" he asked and Purgatory-Hal grinned devilishly,
"Not quite" he said and snapped his fingers so loudly that Hal heard and saw a manifestation of the sound...
*Snap*
... With the snap, the board was rotated.
Hal would have probably pointed out how the finger-snap merely served a theatrical purpose since the only effect it had was to rotate the board but he was too busy frowning at the change the rotating board had caused,
In front of Hal were the defeated black pieces and in front of Purgatory-Hal were the victorious Blue pieces.
"As you can see, I win" Purgatory-Hal said and gestured at the rotated chessboard.
Hal snorted,
"This is a joke, right? You can't seriously think you win just by rotating the board." he said.
Purgatory-Hal shrugged,
"Why not? Is it the colors? Are they confusing? Well, I can fix that" he said and after another theatric snap, the color of the pieces switched.
Hal's were now blue and Purgatory-Hal's were now black.
The positions of the pieces though were still the same so the pieces in front of Hal were still defeated and the ones in front of Purgatory-Hal were still victorious.
"The fuck?!" Hal exclaimed mildly.
What annoyed him the most about the situation was that he could see and sense that his Purgatory-twin was enjoying every single moment of this.
"You can't be serious." Hal said with a smirk and a nonchalant gesture of his hand.
Surely, this was some sort of elaborate joke.
"Actually I am. I make the rules. If I decide that switching the board is enough to make me victorious, then that is exactly what it is." Purgatory-Hal said with a calm tone that made him seem reasonable despite the malevolent smile on his face.
"If that's the case, I can just switch it right back"
Hal shrugged and reached towards the chees board but Purgatory-Hal wagged his right index finger and it stopped Hal in place, unable to move his body and only regaining control when he attempted to pull his hand away from the board.
"Actually no. The switching rule only works for me. Besides, that game is past. And it's time to reset the pieces and start again" he said and with that, he snapped his fingers once again and the pieces reset.
Ready for Hal to once again make the first move.
Hal furrowed his brows and then leaned back from the table,
"What if I decide not to play?" he said.
Before Purgatory-Hal could speak though, the apparition of the owner of the tomb (the forty-something man) spoke up,
"You don't play, then you don't go past the doors. You will be ejected from my Array..." he began and looked ready to continue but was quickly interrupted by an authoritative voice,
"Shut the fuck up!" Purgatory-Hal said and the apparition's mouth was instantly shut and his eyes were widened in shock.
Even Hal was taken by surprise at the amount of authority his Purgatory-twin had within someone else's Array and there was a theory forming in his head. A Theory he kept to himself.
Purgatory-Hal sighed before he said.
"You see? You don't know who you truly are. That is why people like this idiot who is merely a glorified hologram, Nah, a hologram would be far more useful... Anyway, it's why this nobody can push you around."
"Hold up. No one pushes me around. I do my own thing. " Hal retorted.
Purgatory-Hal raised a brow,
"Oh really? Could you have shut him up as I did? Could you have stopped him from telling you what to do? I know you, Hal.
Yes, you are incredible but your growth is stunted. Stunted because of you and your inability to see what should be so clear"
Hal opened his mouth to speak but Purgatory-Hal interrupted,
"I know, your cultivation speed is insane. It's monstrous. It's worthy of respect but that is merely a fraction of what it takes to go from simply being a strong mortal cultivator to becoming a god.
You are focussing on merely a fraction of what is a gigantic whole" he said.
Hal sighed,
"You're referring to my Dao, aren't you?" he said and Purgatory-Hal rolled his eyes,
"Of course I am. What else will I be talking about? *Sigh* Anyway, it's time for you to make the first move." he said and gestured to the chessboard.
Hal was still leaning away and asked,
"I won't play. If I don't play, you can't cheat." he said.
Purgatory-Hal shook his head with a smile,
"But Hal, I'm not cheating. It will only be considered cheating when there are consequences. Can you punish me for what I have done? Can you stop me? If you can't punish me, if you can't stop me, then it is not cheating. It's merely a display of power.
It is just a show of how you and I are not in the same league.
It's a power game in which you have none..."
This was not an exaggeration.
Hal was indeed powerless. He was unable to use any of his abilities. Sitting opposite his Purgatory-twin, he was no more than an uncultivating mortal.
Purgatory-Hal continued,
"... As such, you are completely at my mercy. If I say you will play, then you will play. That said, I am nothing if not understanding and I will hate to be tagged a dictator... So I will allow you to choose.
If you do not wish to play, then you don't have to..."
"Seriously?" Hal asked with a raised brow and Purgatory-Hal nodded,
"Seriously.
However, you should know that you are slowly losing what makes you, you.
Your Dao heart which, if you did not know, is a connotation of who you are deep inside has never been strong because you have never discovered your Dao and if you don't play with me, it will shatter... Right, this instant.
The shattering of your Dao heart means you have lost to your inner demon, A.K.A me and that loss will leave you as no more than a shell of your former self and that is not the sort of situation you can ever recover from.
Also, if you play with me, with each loss, your Dao heart will crack, and eventually, it will shatter.
In other words... You can't win."
Then the Inner Demon grinned widely,
"It's literally a choice between a quick speedy ruin and a slow and torturous one.
Either way, I win...."