The cigarette butt was sizzling in the palm of her hand. Just now, Shiffrin tried her best but couldn't leave a mark on Ash's soul. Now, the Death Maniac easily burned Ash so much that he pursed his lips and trembled slightly.

"Does it hurt?"

“It doesn’t hurt!”

"Then scald it for another five minutes."

"Hey, hey--" Ash pulled his hand back and rubbed it, saying with pain in his balls, "Is that enough?"

"Are the Veela and the vampires only worth five minutes in your heart?" The Death Maniac threw away his cigarette butt and sneered, "So they are just toys for you to relieve your loneliness in your spare time, right?"

Ash's body froze. After a moment of hesitation, he held out his hands with a fearless attitude: "Two hands, five more minutes!"

"Only five minutes?"

"So... ten minutes?"

The Death Maniac flicked Ash's forehead with his finger, knocked a cigarette out of the cigarette box, and said coldly: "Who do you think I am, a priest who redeems the world? If you want to atone for your sins, you can go to Sonia and admit your punishment. I just don't like you and want to torture you."

Ash quickly lit her cigarette, and the tobacco made a clear crackling sound. He had always suspected that the dead man's cigarette might be some kind of treasure, otherwise there was no way to explain why the cigarette could burn through the soul. Ash tried to relieve the pain every time with various healing miracles, but the more he resisted, the more the pain became, and in the end he could only accept the punishment honestly.

"Each strand of tobacco is woven from the souls of ten thousand living beings. A cigarette has eight hundred strands of tobacco totaling eight million souls. With every puff, hundreds of thousands of souls are destroyed."

"What!?" Ash was stunned. He had also taken a few puffs of Death Maniac's cigarette before.

"But I'm not that perverted soul eater like You Mo." Death Maniac said leisurely, "Soul products have no appeal to me."

Ash breathed a sigh of relief: "So it's fake?"

The dead man glanced at him, a playful arc appeared on the corner of his mouth, he took a deep breath, blew a round of smoke rings towards his face, and showed a mischievous smile: "Guess?"

Since you didn't tell me, why are you suddenly talking about this?

Not sure if it was an illusion, but Ash seemed to be able to hear the wailing of souls from the burning tobacco. He quickly put the matter out of his mind and looked down at the remains of the Four Pillar Gods lying quietly on the ground.

A full-coverage helmet with four sharp corners that is extremely rough and hideous, a simple and strange mask with a black and white face, a very thin and fragile glass skull, and a strange human face that is stitched together from dozens of pieces of skin from creatures of different races, genders and ages.

Without any inspection, Ash could confirm that this was the skeleton of the Four Pillars, or even their bodies. He thought that the bodies of the Four Pillars must be extremely evil and radioactive, but in fact, they were surprisingly "clean". For example, a high-explosive bullet can turn a person's upper body into a bloody and chaotic pulp, but the anti-material sniper rifle that fired the high-explosive bullet is very exquisite... The remains of the Four Pillars gave Ash the feeling of an anti-material sniper rifle, a tool full of regular beauty.

They are the embodiment of concepts, and cannot be described by moral concepts fabricated by intelligent creatures such as good and evil. Violence, knowledge, life, and lust are concepts that should only exist in words, but Ash can clearly see how these concepts work from the remains of the Four Pillar Gods. It's like -

"Doesn't it look like a magic spirit?" Death Maniac asked, "Or should I say a god?"

Ash was stunned: "The Four Pillar Gods are gods?"

Death Maniac asked back: "Then do you think the golden fish and the white bull are gods?"

Ash shook his head thoughtfully, "They should be a... phenomenon?"

"The difference between the Four Pillars and the fish and cow is that they are phenomena with self-awareness. They are not gods, because gods are the embodiment of rules. That is to say, when gods appear, it means that the corresponding 'rules' are also fixed. It is said that before the birth of the fire god, the flame may freeze... Phenomena are not rules. Rules can form phenomena, but phenomena do not necessarily have rules. Like fish and cows, like the Four Pillars, there are no specific rules to explain their powers."

Death Maniac paused and shook his head again: "No, I shouldn't say that. In fact, there are many rules that can explain their powers, such as the blood soul to the tyrant, the prophecy of truth to the treacherous prime minister, the weak dead spirit to the kind father, the mind control to the prince... Some magic schools are developed by the magicians themselves, but some magic schools are born under the guidance of the Four Pillars. In the terrifying era when the Four Pillars descended on the earth, because the magicians were too close to the Four Pillars, they would instinctively explore their phenomena, create their rules, and in turn suppress their powers."

"You can understand that the Four Pillar Gods and the magician civilization are always in a tug-of-war. The Four Pillar Gods want to drag the magician civilization into the abyss of desire and usurp the virtual world from bottom to top - have you forgotten? Magicians are the sense of touch of the virtual world. If you control all magicians, you can control the virtual world." Seeing the confusion in Ash's eyes, the Death Maniac immediately added.

"There have indeed been many times in history when the Four Pillars have gained the upper hand, but once the magicians become the Four Pillars' touch, they will delve into their phenomena and create their rules. Once the rules are created, the Four Pillars lose this part of their power, so the magician civilization pulls the rope back and regains the upper hand."

"Although it is not considered the main plot, the tug-of-war between the Four Pillar Gods and the magician civilization does run through history so far."

Ash thought about it and was a little confused: "That's not right. The magician civilization has been progressing and constantly creating new rules. The power of the Four Pillar Gods should be compressed to a very small level. But I feel that although they dare not compete with the Lord God, they are not very weak."

Death Maniac glanced at him and said, "Although the Four Pillar Gods don't have much brains, when the magician civilization progresses, they also progress along with it."

"Take the Prince's power of indulgence for example. Are the entertainment programs you look forward to in Broken Lake Prison the same as the entertainment programs you have a large group of lovers looking forward to now? The same goes for the magician civilization. Which level do you think is higher, the extravagance tens of thousands of years ago or the indulgence and debauchery now?"

"The more the magician creates violent rules, the more brutal violence will be born; the more he pursues the truth, the more unknown he will discover; the more he pursues immortality, the more he will feel that he is still inadequate; the more he indulges himself, the more difficult it will be to satisfy."

"So the Four Pillar Gods are not considered gods. They are always in the darkness outside the edge of the magician civilization. Only the rules within the civilization can be considered gods. They are occasionally a beacon of progress, but more often they are bait for depravity. They are history, the present, and the future. They are an eternal phenomenon."

"Then how do you kill them?" Ash asked.

"Just go into the realm of God, catch them like they're fat, and then cut off their heads with a sword."

Ash was a little speechless: "Is it fun to tease me?"

"Do you have any objections?" Si Kuang looked at him coldly.

"No!"

Death Maniac kicked the helmet away from his feet, took a puff of cigarette and then slowly said: "The Four Pillar Gods are an eternal phenomenon, but the consciousness of the Four Pillar Gods is not eternal life. In fact, the Four Pillar Gods have been replaced for several generations. For the Lord God, entering the realm of God to kill those four disgusting beasts is troublesome, but not impossible. For me, it is even simpler. Basically, every time we arrive at a new world line, the first step is to kill the Four Pillar Gods--"

"Wait!" Ash suddenly reacted and stared at Death Maniac in a daze: "You entered the realm of God... You have descended into this world?"

The dead man looked at Ash who looked at a loss, and for some reason he felt a little irritated. He took a puff of his cigarette and said unhappily: "Didn't you kiss Sonia just now? How come you tasted cigarettes in her mouth?"

"so……?"

"You paid 3/4 of our souls. Although we cannot descend into the world yet, it is still easy to enter the realm of God through you." Death Maniac said calmly: "You are our sense of touch."

Ash let out a long breath and felt relieved: "So that's how it is..."

"Let's talk about the Four Pillars of Deity—"

"What about Rose?" Ash asked nervously, "You didn't hurt her, did you?"

"Rose?" Death Maniac raised his eyebrows: "You don't mean... the fifth pillar god? She hasn't woken up yet, so of course I didn't deal with her... But now normal people can't satisfy you, what garbage can did you crawl out of? Even the evil gods are within your hunting range?"

"Rose is not an evil god." Ash said seriously: "I am her only believer, she is my only faith."

"But she will become one sooner or later." Death Maniac sneered, "A fish seller will always smell fishy, ​​and a carnivore will have a mouth full of blood. This matter has nothing to do with her will. As long as she sits in the position of the Pillar God, in the darkness on the edge of the magician civilization, she will definitely become an evil god who seduces all living beings to fall... How can the direction deviate from the arrow, how can the sunlight deviate from the sun, how can the Pillar God go against the increase of entropy?"

"We'll talk about it sooner or later." Ash said firmly.

"If it really happens sooner or later, it will be fine." The death madman raised his chin, with a hint of malice in his eyes: "I really want to see your regretful look... The more you love them now, the more you will hate them in the future... I really want to see the end you deserve."

"How can I hate them?"

"You dare to ask this question because you are in the passionate period of love, and there is huge external pressure forcing you to unite." Death Maniac said: "Rather than saying that you are compromising with each other, it is better to say that you have no conflict of interest at all. Even Sonia is just possessive... It's just a young love on campus, always on the road, always looking ahead."

"But you will settle down sooner or later. Girls won't be in love forever, and neither will you. That's when the torture begins." She sneered, "When the novelty wears off, the relationship will become dull, and then you'll get tired of each other, and finally hate each other. You'll only stay together because of interests and inertia... What, do you dare to say that you can always treat her the same way?"

"Even if you dare to promise, who dares to say that they will never change? Lisdiya can cling to you like a silly girl now, will she still be so naive in a few years? Youlan Weisser only hopes that you can embrace happiness now, and when you are really immersed in the honey pot of happiness, she will really not plan for herself? Weixi... When possessing you can realize "love" and "ideals" at the same time, I am not surprised at what she will do."

"I won't mention Sonia. The only reason she's willing to put up with it is because your adventure isn't over yet."

"The most wonderful thing is not that they have changed, but that you will find that you have changed too."

The death maniac said almost like a curse: "When you find that you are no longer in love, everything in the past will become unbearable to look back on, and everything you think is important now will become ridiculous...even your rhetorical question now will have a very comedic effect."

"I really want to see how embarrassed you will be then... but unfortunately I can't see it."

Ash didn't say anything until Death Maniac finished speaking, then he said, "I've actually thought about what you said, but I'm not too worried because I already have a preliminary solution."

"What plan? A miracle?"

"No, for example, when you talk about the issue of novelty, I agree with you. Even if you like someone, you might get bored if you stay together every day." Ash said, "But I have four operators, and I'll just have them for now. There are 15 combinations of single, double, triple, and quadruple operators. If I use one combination every day, I can rotate it every half a month. This way, not only will everyone have their own private space, but every day will be slightly different..."

The dead man stared blankly at Ash talking, and finally sighed helplessly and waved at him: "Stretch out your palm."

"If you think it's not possible, we can discuss it!"

"I don't want to discuss it. I just want to torture you. Just looking at you makes me sick."

When Ash was grabbed by the death maniac's hand, he stopped smiling and said seriously, "I know we can't always be the same, but I don't think we will end up like you said. Don't forget, before we became lovers, we were already teammates who had overcome all difficulties together. If one day we really quit being in love, it means we should look for a more suitable relationship."

"The only thing I can promise is that I will never give up on Sonia, and I believe she will never let me go either."

"So leave Sonia to me!" Ash grabbed the death maniac's hand and said seriously: "I will definitely make her happy, m...!"

The dead man's cigarette twitched slightly: "Do you want to call me mom?"

"Ah, aunt? No, it's sister, sister, sister——"

Ash covered his palms and dug his toes into the ground in pain, looking at the dead man with a depressed face. The dead man smoked slowly to calm down, and suddenly squeezed out a few words: "I don't bother to care about you guys so much."

"Thank you." Ash was quite happy to get the recognition from the Death Maniac, but he soon became depressed: "Although there are only two months left, I still have the confidence to make Sonia happy for two months..."

Death Maniac asked calmly, "Do you know why I want to kill the Four Pillar Gods?"

"Killing them can buy more time for this world?" Ash guessed: "If the vacation is extended, I might really have to take them to challenge the stars..."

"I just said that the Four Pillars exist in the past, present, and future. Even if the Flowing Gold River is cut off, the virtual world collapses, and the world is destroyed, they will still exist, but the form of existence will change. For magicians who want to cross the world line, there is no better medium than the Four Pillars to serve as a beacon."

"The Four Pillar Gods have another characteristic. Before the Four Pillar Gods die and are reborn, their powers are in a state where anyone can take over, but only the Four Pillar God Touch can steal their powers. If Touch steals enough, he can even become a new Four Pillar God."

"That is to say."

Death Maniac said word by word: "We are now the Four Pillar Gods."