Who could have imagined? A Void sovereign whose re expansion of Misfortune had once drawn every god to urgently shore up the universe — His self-destruction didn't even cause the Void to collapse.
That's right. Fate had self-destructed.
That flash of brilliance was like a fla flickering in an invisible hand — gone before it could illuminate the surrounding darkness, snuffed out in the palm.
His life had been rocky and rugged. His death was utterly silent.
Was Origin's power truly this terrifying?
Yes. Of course it was that terrifying!
The countless Wars erased in the Real Universe had already proven this.
But that was in the Real Universe—a place that instinctively amplified one's emotions and fears. This was a slice universe, a starry sky ruled by gods.
Witnessing Origin's power here, beneath this sky, was infinitely more harrowing.
Cheng Shi had gone completely catatonic. He was one straw away from true collapse.
Fate had been his lifeline. Half of every self-rescue plan he'd devised hinged on Fate. Yet who could have predicted that rely having the truth ripped bare by the Outer God Fate—being pinned under Origin's power in the Void—would drive this Void sovereign to choose self-destruction in utter despair?
Cheng Shi understood Fate's intent: He'd wanted to drag the universe down with Him, to deny the Outer God His prize.
But absurdly, His death hadn't affected the other Fate in the slightest. It only left behind infinite despair as an "inheritance" for His follower, the Fate Weaver.
He had simply abandoned the "fixed destiny" He'd clung to so dearly, choosing to embrace nothingness completely.
Was it tragic?
Tragic.
Was it laughable?
Laughable.
Everyone in the world struggled under Fate's crushing weight, fighting to move forward. Nobody expected that Fate Himself—the one doing the crushing—couldn't handle pressure at all.
The enormous burden transferred to Cheng Shi upon Fate's passing. This pressure—born of the Creator—was fear enough to shatter a person's will and snap a mortal's spine.
But Cheng Shi held.
He was gritting his teeth through it.
He knew that against this force, all resistance was futile. But he wanted to resist anyway—just as the true Deceit had never submitted to Origin's control, just as clowns across countless worlds dared to piece together that blood-red mockery right before Origin's face!
He had never given up. He'd said he would write his own ending with his own hands, and he'd been doing exactly that—even if every road in that ending was a dead end. He would find a way to die that satisfied him!
He would follow his own heart—not serve a foreign god's agenda!
Cheng Shi clenched his fists, locked every muscle to keep the fear from spreading through his flesh. He ground his teeth, glared at the Outer God, and sneered with a trembling, manic voice:
"Is this your vision for saving the world!?
Is this the effort you've made for the fallen Deceit!?
Is this what you call the 'fixed destiny' that'll pry open Origin's temple door!?
You use one world's destruction as a stepping stone to approach Him, and then you have the audacity to lecture
about not wasting other clowns' goodwill!
Ha—hahaha! Who's the real clown!?
Even clowns know to spread goodwill in monts of despair! But you—all you do is seize Origin's power from collapsing worlds, then freely vent your malice!
You gamble with other worlds as your chips—but did you ever ask this world's Fate if He was willing?
You didn't!
You don't care!
Oh—I get it now. Such behavior—riding roughshod over others' wills—isn't that exactly what Origin does?
No wonder you want to get close to Him. You're the sa breed!"
The clown went full throttle, holding nothing back. It looked for all the world like soone smashing a cracked pot.
But the words clearly enraged the Outer God Fate. His eyes went cold in an instant. Countless gales of nothingness surged toward the clown.
Cheng Shi instantly curled up tight and scread in panic: "I was wrong! I misspoke!"
The howling winds hitched.
And then, from within the gale, the clown's brazen laughter rang out once more:
"You aren't 'things' at all!"
"Such audacity!"
The winds converged to crush the clown where he stood. But Cheng Shi didn't flinch—not a trace of fear on his face.
He knew the other party's victory was within arm's reach. No amount of fury would be directed at him right now—not when he still needed to be alive. If he died, it would probably be after he'd beco the sacrifice, not before.
And so it was. No matter how fierce the gale howled, it was rely a tactic to intimidate. The Outer God Fate gave a cold snort, shaped the winds into a colossal hand, and seized the clown.
"You can't escape. This is your fate."
Cheng Shi's organs were crushed under unbearable pressure. He coughed blood, face contorted:
"Not necessarily!"
The instant those words fell—the straw arrived!
Not a straw that broke the clown—but the lifeline Order extended to the clown in his drowning despair!
Yes—Order!
With a thunderous toll of Order's divine resonance across the heavens, a scale forged of flowing light materialized in the Void. Perhaps it could not break through Origin's power barrier—but it could still convene a special Assembly of Gods Convention for any life belonging to this world!
The instant Justice—Order descended, He drew all the gods, along with the convention's subject—the clown—into a brilliant, star-filled sky.
And what also arrived in that sky was the authority belonging to this world's Deceit!
Origin's power might be omnipotent, but the Outer God Fate certainly didn't possess an infinite supply of it. Otherwise, He could have simply flipped the table long ago, making the entire universe, all gods, and all "fixed destinies" march in lockstep with His script.
Since He'd chosen deception as His thod, it ant He too had constraints while posing as Deceit. And those constraints were Cheng Shi's only opening!
Before Cheng Shi's audience with "Fate," all of this had been conjecture. But even as conjecture, he'd prepared contingencies and placed his bet. And when he witnessed the Outer God Fate—wielding Origin's power yet still maneuvering around the true Fate—he knew he'd bet correctly.
The Outer God was not omnipotent. At the very least, the Convention could still constrain Him—or more precisely, constrain the Deceit authority He carried!
When that authority returned to its original world, it was still protected by the Convention. The Outer God Fate could indeed act as proxy for the dead Deceit in all things—but only if He respected the Convention, its rules, and its judgnts.
And the Origin power in His hands couldn't support Him in circumventing the Convention to do as He pleased—otherwise He wouldn't have repeatedly exploited the Convention to remove gods who stood in the "fixed's" way!
So the Convention beca Cheng Shi's lifeline!
As for why Justice—Order had arrived at precisely the right mont—that, of course, involved an elent of gambling.
Everything traced back to Cheng Shi's contingency plan.
...
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