Everyone's seriousness allowed Aventurine to get into character as well.
He began to simply introduce himself and his gambling luck.
"I came from the desert of Sigonia. For sixty copper coins, people branded me, shackled me, and buried me in the yellow sand.
But the sun couldn't kill me; the quicksand instead pushed me into the embrace of the IPC. Remember, I didn't win by chance once: I have never lost."
Aventurine's tone was somewhat low as he recalled his past experiences.
However, listening to Aventurine's low tone, Pei Guang fell somewhat silent.
Trash-talking before a battle was routine, but hearing this "enemy" reveal almost genuine emotions, Pei Guang had no desire to talk trash.
Instead, he asked a question.
"It hurt a lot when you were injured, didn't it?"
This question was no less shocking than asking Acheron if her exposed navel got cold, or asking a cold-blooded killer if their unblinking eyes got dry.
Yet, this casual inquiry silenced Aventurine, who had originally wanted to say something else.
In this moment, he thought of his mother, thought of his sister. The past that he had ostensibly "forgotten" resurfaced before his eyes.
"It hurt, didn't it? Kakavasha..."
"Be more careful next time."
He remembered his mother and his sister. Those were the few days in his memory where he lived with them.
Ever since he was left alone, he had encountered care and trust from... colleagues. They believed he would be successful and cared about whether his mission was completed.
Some would mock the brand that represented his slavery, while others would praise the brand due to his status and position.
But there was only Pei Guang who asked him this: Did it hurt?
It was strange. Usually, when people talked trash, he would want to kill them, but now he looked at Pei Guang in silence.
This silence suppressed everything he wanted to say, but he knew the show had to go on. Only in this way could he achieve his goal.
Whether this goal was death, or...
Taking a deep breath, Aventurine spoke again: "Friends, the game has already begun. You cannot refuse..."
Pei Guang: "We didn't intend to refuse either. But since you mentioned betting, let's have a grand gamble!"
Aventurine: "Oh? You want to say that you will win? That you will stop my actions?"
Pei Guang: "Yes, I bet that you will win."
Aventurine: "?"
Wait, why wasn't Pei Guang playing by the rules? Why bet that he would win?
When Pei Guang said this, March 7th looked at Pei Guang seriously and earnestly: "Ah Guang, why do you think he will win?"
Pei Guang: "He is using the power of an Emanator. And among us, is anyone an Emanator? I feel Dan Heng still has hope, but even if we Trailblazers add up, we can't reach the power of an Emanator, right? So he will definitely win."
March 7th was happy because she knew they were guaranteed to win since Pei Guang had placed his bet.
However, before the big battle, March 7th didn't mind applying some debuffs to the opponent: "Ah Guang, you know me. I'm not one right now. If this young lady were an Emanator, would I have been caught? The invincible Aventurine... I can't beat him at all."
Stelle also looked at Pei Guang: "You know me. If I were an Emanator, he would be lying on the ground right now. But I'm not, so I can't beat the invincible Aventurine either."
Welt pushed up his glasses: "You know me. If I were an Emanator, the one fighting him now would be Arahato, not us. To us, he is invincible."
Himeko followed the rhythm: "You know me. If I were an Emanator, he wouldn't be able to refuse my coffee. But now, facing the invincible Aventurine, I can only risk my life."
Firefly: "You know me. If I were an Emanator, I would set ablaze more than just the seas. But even if this enemy is invincible to me, I will still set them ablaze."
Hearing everyone's uniform statements, Acheron looked at Pei Guang silently. Acheron silently took out the peach Pei Guang had given her earlier.
She had finished the big peach from before, and now there were still a few small peaches left to eat.
She used her actions to tell everyone: "I know nothing, I only know how to eat peaches."
Aventurine: "So every single one of you is hiding secret techniques, huh?"
Aventurine was numb.
He had prepared a grand performance, so why weren't these actors playing by the book?
But thinking about it carefully, not playing by the book was actually correct. Looking at the whole universe... besides Aeons, who the hell could run around the world holding a Stellaron?
If Pei Guang hadn't personally taken out the Stellaron, wouldn't he have dared to believe that there were actually two Stellarons on the Astral Express? And one of them was completely controllable?
Betting against someone like Pei Guang, he actually hoped he would cheat, because only those who would lose, those who thought they would lose, would cheat.
Pei Guang didn't need to cheat at all: he obviously wouldn't lose!
If he wouldn't lose, why say that he, Aventurine, would win?
What did that mean? Jinxing himself?
Aventurine had no energy left to complain, but...
Looking at the cheerful group, Aventurine also smiled: "You guys actually make me feel a bit amused. If there's a chance, I'd be happy to stand by your side and face a common enemy. But before that, you need to defeat me, or rather... kill me.
The dice have been cast. Everyone, are you ready to reveal your cards?"
Aventurine threw his dice. Before throwing the dice, he had wanted to taunt them a bit, but looking at the amber light on the flaming lance and feeling the lance tip that seemed to possess the Amber Lord's own power, he couldn't say any trash talk.
The War-Flaming lance itself wasn't anything particularly rare. To the people in the Strategic Investment Department, it was just a weapon made by the Architects from inferior stones.
But the touch of amber on the lance tip was different. That was the pure power of the Amber Lord.
Unlike the fragments that fell from the Amber Lord, the touch of amber on the lance tip had the same "vitality" as the Amber Lord. Even if he wanted to talk trash, he couldn't utter any disrespectful words.
Besides, regarding trash talk, he felt he couldn't out-talk Pei Guang.
If he talked trash and Pei Guang said something that broke his defense again, he would truly lose everything.
Three dice were thrown. After bouncing on the ground a few times, all the spade faces pointed upwards.
Accompanying the thrown dice, Aventurine also entered a combat state and began to recite his battle lines.
"I place the bet, I take the gamble, I claim the win. I let fate spin the wheel and bet it all, walking through the valley of death to find life. Everything is dedicated to the Amber Lord."
Accompanying Aventurine's entrance lines, his body glowed as he slowly descended from the air to the ground. At this moment, all his exposed skin emitted a dazzling light, and the Aventurine stone in his hand burst forth with even more blinding radiance.
Watching Aventurine's incredibly handsome entrance animation, Pei Guang narrowed his eyes slightly.
As a player, how could he not know how to act cool?
"I acknowledge, I allow, I bear the burden. I am the angel who embodies natural disaster to spread mercy. '~' Activate!"
Clearly, the last sentence didn't rhyme at all, but for some reason, hearing this "Activate", everyone seemed to hear a "Ding", but accompanying this "Ding" was a muffled sound.
The first hallucinatory "Ding" gave everyone a very bad feeling, while the second muffled sound, like a fart, gave people a sense of relief.
It was unknown which wicked person added the sound effect, making everyone shudder.
Obviously, this wasn't a player's ability, because a player would only hear a "Ding" when opening a trainer made by someone else. Those who really knew how to play always used CE or the console themselves, which was silent.
But even so, everyone at the scene looked at Pei Guang in silence, especially Aventurine, who had just finished transforming.
He looked at Pei Guang silently, having lost count of how many times he had fallen silent.
But his intuition told him that it was better to do nothing for now. Even if the fight was about to start... he should wait for the opponent to make the first move.
Pei Guang felt everyone's gaze and chuckled: "Improvised lyrics, didn't rhyme at the end. Don't mind the details, just spouting nonsense."