Fate had arrived.
This Void sovereign, freed early with the help of Deceit's collection, had appeared before His follower just in ti—before the trial ended.
He rely blinked, and a howling gale of nothingness swept the bewildered Cheng Shi behind Him. He stood between His follower and Deceit, cold as the frozen abyss:
"This is your last chance. Go back to your world!"
"My dear sister, your coldness terrifies ."
The stars within Deceit's eyes glittered, the spirals whirling without a trace of fear. She studied Her freed sibling-god, Her tone dripping with mockery:
"A defeated dog refuses to admit defeat and cos barking at soone else's door again. What—is this an era where whoever shouts loudest wins?
If so, I have cause to suspect You of faith discrimination. Discriminating against...
Silence, who can't speak.
Hee~
Push Silence to my side like that, and aren't You worried we'll join forces against You?
What's that saying again?
'Fate was born to be defied!'
Hmm, I think that makes perfect sense."
Fate's voice grew icier: "Silence has long been in collusion with you. You two are thick as thieves—what performance is there left?"
Deceit's eyes spun wildly, delighted:
"Now that's sothing I won't stand for. Fine, slander —at least I can talk my way out of it.
But slapping that enormous label on Silence's head... can a mute speak?
And You say You're not discriminating?"
"...Deflecting again. What are you scheming!"
Fate suddenly erupted with boundless power. Savage divine force bypassed Cheng Shi, crushing every frozen fragnt of the Mockery and Jeering, dragging both gods and the lone mortal back into the raw Void.
The Void was His ho turf; the Mockery and Jeering was not.
Yet even so, He wasn't confident He could defeat Deceit—because He knew more than one god stood behind Deceit.
But at this mont, the world was calm. The universe was at peace. No god had turned a gaze in this direction. The dispute over Void's finale seed to have beco Void's internal affair, with only Void's two gods involved.
Deceit laughed as always:
"Obviously, I'm waiting for you to make the first move. What's wrong—scared from the last beating?
Then why won't you strike?
Aren't you the one who champions 'fight first, talk later'?
Afraid you'll get locked inside the Mockery and Jeering again, watching helplessly as I take your follower away, Fate?"
Could He endure that?
Not even a little.
Fate's explosive temper ignited at the slightest spark. Even knowing this was Deceit's provocation, He still moved.
Void would have its reckoning. Only one outco was possible.
He understood this truth, so the mont He struck, it was with everything—authority fully unleashed, all-out!
The gale of nothingness shaped itself into colossal hands, layer upon layer wrapping both gods. Then Misfortune and Change spread in tandem, forging chains that dragged the sealed battlefield into the infinite abyss of nothingness.
Cheng Shi's vision went dark. Those two identical pairs of eyes vanished, leaving only mockery and coldness echoing through the Void.
"Oh my, even at this point, you still rember to bury the battlefield so your follower doesn't get caught in the crossfire.
How considerate. Should I thank you for protecting 'the fixed' so nicely?"
"The fixed belongs neither to you nor to —he belongs only to this starry sky!" An icy roar reverberated through the hollow nothingness.
"Of course I know he belongs to this starry sky. But above this sky lies an even greater one!
Once I've locked you down and taken him away—the mont he appears beneath that greater sky, his identity takes on new aning.
Rest easy. I'll make your 'fixed destiny' into the true fixed."
"Over my existence, you'll never take him!"
"That's not your call to make."
BOOM—
A deafening blast tore through the Void. Every speck of darkness in sight collapsed.
The battlefield that had been hurled into the depths of nothingness was flung back by an invisible force. The chains of Misfortune and Change—interwoven—seed to develop their own will, and began to dismantle themselves.
They had sided with Deceit. They had betrayed the Fate who wielded them.
How was this possible!?
Before long, the chains of authority dissolved. The celestial eyes reerged. The gale-hands of nothingness were pried open one by one by titanic hands of swirling chaotic yellow fog, and then a Starlight Canon—packed with countless laws and truths in shimring text—slamd down from above, pinning those frigid eyes beneath the Void!
Deceit had won. And won with breathtaking ease.
The spirals in Her eyes still kept the sa rhythm from before the battle—never once changed. Only the stars within them seed dimr now. The once-twinkling constellations had quietly faded until not a single one still shone.
But amid the terrifying Void storm, no one could notice this detail. Watching Deceit prevail yet again, Cheng Shi was shocked into numbness.
He looked at his two benefactors—and saw the Starlight Canon choking Fate's "throat," rendering Him speechless. Deceit, anwhile, gazed back at Cheng Shi with amused theatricality and snorted:
"For the sake of the clown once having trusted his benefactor, I'll give you a choice.
One—the clown continues to believe in his benefactor, becos Yu Xi, the revered Void Servant God, and then leaves this world with his benefactor to save the Real Universe.
Two—the clown betrays his benefactor, chooses to stay and embrace fixed destiny, then dies alongside this world in Fate's misfortune.
Hee~
I know you're full of tricks. But besides these two, there is no third road.
This isn't a lie. Whether to embrace fear or reject it—now it's your turn to choose, clown."
"..."
Cheng Shi recovered slightly, laughing at himself.
"A choice?
Do I even have one?
You've sched and plotted for so long, and now you control everything. Even the only Fate who could resist you has been subdued. I'm a mortal who can't fight back—what difference does choosing or not choosing make?
Must the clown... always be toyed with like this?"
"The clown's only purpose is to be toyed with. That is his fate. Unless he ceases to be a clown and ceases to be deceived.
Enough small talk. Make your choice."
Cheng Shi shook his head: "I won't choose. Just kill ."
Deceit scoffed:
"I told you—no matter how many tricks the clown has, they're useless. You have only two roads.
Want to die nice and quiet right here?
Heh, even if that old bag of bones cos, he doesn't get a say either."
At this, Cheng Shi frowned slightly.
After seizing total control, Deceit hadn't chosen to forcibly take him, nor chosen to kill him. Instead, He threw out an inexplicable choice for him to pick from. What did it an?
This kind of humiliation served no purpose. What was He really doing?
Could it be that becoming a true sacrifice required the subject's voluntary consent?
If so—there was still a chance!
He might have leverage after all.
Cheng Shi's spirit surged. He lowered his head slightly, eyes flickering:
"Then what if I refuse to choose?"
"Good question. As punishnt for your repeated attempts to exploit loopholes, I will erase every mory of this world, leaving you with no spiritual anchor or emotional comfort.
You won't die, but you won't live, either. You'll be trapped in nothingness, facing an eternal choice—until you make your decision.
Of course, to ensure the sacrifice's integrity, I won't turn you into a puppet or a hollow shell of despair. I'll preserve your desires, hide your goodness, bury your evil—and once you've made your choice, I'll pour them all back into you.
But I should warn you: ti isn't infinite. The longer you wait to choose, the more worlds will be destroyed because of you.
It is you who abandoned the Real Universe's hope for life, choosing self-preservation. And so you must bear that guilt and sha.
In the spirit of what we once were—master and servant—this is the absolute limit of what I can do.
Hee~"
The instant those words ended, Cheng Shi made his choice.
"I choose one!"
...
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