The situation took a turn for the worse, the entire atmosphere on the deck became heavy, and the man and Mo Yi engaged in a long standoff.
"The Seven Deadly Sins: Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Greed, Gluttony, Lust… you embody them all and possess your own intelligence, making you an independent entity. Right, my past life's obsession?" Mo Yi chuckled, looking at the hideous man.
"Why won't you yield to me?! You've lived a whole life, why continue living?" the man roared, his voice becoming chaotic, filled with various tones: arrogance, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, lust.
It was a shrill cry from a demon of hell, enough to haunt one's dreams and send shivers down their spine.
Mo Yi remained unaffected. Gazing at the man's face, he remarked, "Why should I yield to you? Everyone has their own place. Just like shoes can never go on your head, because that's the hat's position. If things are reversed, everything becomes chaotic, society loses order. Everyone should understand their role for society to function perfectly."
"Hahaha! Nonsense! Fallacy! You just don't want to give up your freedom and life! You've tasted the sweetness, and now you crave more!" The man growled in a low voice. "I refuse! I refuse!"
"Time is getting late." Mo Yi turned and glanced at the setting sun. He smiled, "Time for dinner."
A massive mahogany round table stood on the deck, surrounded by several chairs. Seven men, identical in face but varying in expression, sat around the table with a stoic man.
"I only found this in the kitchen. Perhaps it's a projection of my favorite matcha cake and black tea from my past life." Mo Yi sat opposite the man, holding a cup of black tea, a cheerful smile on his face.
The man didn't react. He and the other six Deadly Sins were bound to their chairs, unable to move.
"Actually, you're not entirely wrong," Mo Yi said while eating the matcha cake and sipping his tea. "If I were you, I would also try to kill the owner of this body and take their place. Everyone seeks freedom, don't they?"
The man silently watched Mo Yi.
Mo Yi stirred the liquid in his black tea, speaking to himself, "It's true that the Seven Deadly Sins are the root of human weakness, but as I said before, no one is perfect. If a person has no desires, what's the difference between them and a corpse?"
"How did you discover my peculiarity, just because of the ram's head?" The man finally spoke, his eyes devoid of any flicker.
"Of course not, the ram's head was just a thread. I simply followed the thread, carefully unraveling it, and by pretending in front of you, I could naturally catch your fox tail." Mo Yi smiled, his expression enigmatic.
"Oh?" The man asked, "What did you discover?"
Mo Yi gazed at the man's face and said slowly, "You are too arrogant. Even though you try to control it, it can't escape my eyes. Until now, you've finally exposed your desire to be superior, to possess everything. That's your biggest flaw."
The man paused, then fell silent.
"You inherently contain every one of my Seven Deadly Sins from my past life. I could even call you the Original Sin. Originally, your act was perfect, because you had your own seven emotions and six desires, and every action you took had its own method... but your originally balanced system was disrupted by the extra 'Pride.' The broken balance means exposed flaws and complete collapse." Mo Yi explained.
"Then do you know how to escape this illusion?" The man asked.
"There are two sets of Seven Deadly Sins here. I only need one set to balance my inner system. The solution is naturally to kill this extra you." Mo Yi said calmly.
"Then do it. See if the outcome is as you expect!" The man scoffed.
"Don't you want to enjoy the final dinner first?" Mo Yi asked.
The man suddenly froze, then looked at the surrounding positions. With Mo Yi at the center, he sat in the fourth position to Mo Yi's right, the same position as Judas in the famous painting, 'The Last Supper', the one who betrayed Jesus.
"I guess this is the meaning of this table. The Last Supper, to judge the true traitor." Mo Yi rested his chin on his clasped hands, his eyes filled with indifference.
"Traitor? ... Perhaps I am delusional, or a superfluous thing..." The man chuckled, but he wasn't resigned. Suddenly, he raised his head and let out a piercing sneer. "But what can you do?! Long before I plotted against you, I had already merged with your 'Pride'! Unless I willingly separate myself, Pride will never leave me! You kill me, and you kill your own Pride! You'll never balance the Seven Deadly Sins! You can't escape this illusion!"
The man had made a desperate gamble, revealing his biggest secret and trump card. Mo Yi's Pride had merged with the man. Even if Mo Yi killed the man, he wouldn't be able to balance the Seven Deadly Sins, because his own 'Pride' would disappear with the man. The situation had become a deadlock.
"Alright." Mo Yi stood up and picked up the bloody axe.
The man was stunned. The helplessness and fear he imagined in Mo Yi didn't appear. Instead, there were only indifferent and calm eyes.
"You! You! What are you doing?!" The man cried in terror. Mo Yi raised the axe, circling the mahogany table, getting closer and closer to the man. He seemed to smell the blood on the axe.
"Killing the extra Seven Deadly Sins to balance the system," Mo Yi said. He raised the axe and brought it down!
Blood splattered, and a head rolled off the deck.
Mo Yi raised the axe again! Brought it down again! Raised it again! Brought it down again! And again...
Six heads fell to the ground with a resounding thud. Six headless bodies lay on the deck, with six unblinking heads rolling beside them.
The man stared at Mo Yi in disbelief. He said hoarsely, "What are you doing?! You killed your own Seven Deadly Sins?!"
Mo Yi held the axe, smiling as he looked at him, "One sin remains, and the system will be balanced. Can you hand over that sin?"
The man froze, his face illuminated by the fading sunlight, revealing his disbelief and stupor.
"What I'm doing is killing the extra Seven Deadly Sins, leaving only one set. But there's no rule saying which set I should kill." Mo Yi smiled at the man's face, "I'm sure you don't want to die here and be buried with me. Do you? You have your own independent thinking, you could say you're already a 'person'. If you don't want to die here with me... hand over the last sin, Pride."
Time was truly running out.
Only a sliver of sunlight remained, casting a faint glow on the horizon. Night had quietly descended upon the world. The sky was devoid of the moon, only an endless expanse of silent darkness.
"Is that so..." The man spoke after a long pause, "So everything was part of your plan, even my seemingly invincible trump card."
"..." Mo Yi said nothing.
In a daze, another person appeared beside the man. This person looked exactly like Mo Yi, but with a look of utter terror, constantly muttering, "No! Don't kill me! No!"
"Pride..." Mo Yi looked at the man, a mirror image of himself, and laughed.
The axe rose, the axe fell.