A farce that opened with mortals confronting a true god, and ended with a true god's self-destruction.
This absurd scene — had it taken place at the dawn of the era — would have left the universe reeling for an entire age afterward.
But now, the gods seed long since accustod to divine self-destructions. With the Convention's proxy functions and new divine beings ascending thrones, the universe... wasn't collapsing.
Even so, the gods remained extraordinarily sensitive to the revelation that [Order] was [Chaos]. What they focused on wasn't the Iron Law's identity — it was who had helped [Chaos] beco the Iron Law of [Order].
The answer was obvious. Aside from the god who enjoyed deceiving the universe for amusent, no other divine being could have done sothing like this.
But right now, the true instigator was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a mortal had been pushed out front to "take the bla." The gods looked at the clown standing in the void, their expressions each uniquely complicated.
Justice (Order) had not left. With such a grave problem surrounding [Order]'s identity, it — as a fragnt of [Order] — owed the assembled gods an accounting. Not all divine beings required one, however.
[Silence] departed in silence. No one knew what the god who had just attempted to silence the Convention itself was thinking. Cheng Shi only hoped it wasn't contemplating assimilating him.
[Death]'s boss also left.
A terrifying torrent of white bone swept through the void, punching a hole straight through it. Cheng Shi plastered a smile across his face and kept waving with both hands in the direction the boss had gone — but the great skull simply refused to acknowledge him. Out of sight, out of mind.
Of the remaining gods...
It was almost funny — calling them "the gods" implied a crowd, but there were hardly any left at all. Counting the ones already fallen, the ones who had already left, plus the absent [Existence] and the disappeared [Void] — the only ones who remained to spectate the "fun" were [Birth], [Decay], and [Folly].
[Birth]'s priority was participation. As long as the great work of creation remained undisturbed, it had never cared about anything other than its children.
[Decay] was down to its last breath, and by the look of things, that breath wouldn't last much longer either.
As for [Folly]...
Sa as always. After [Death] departed, it imdiately looked at the Flowing Light Scales and gave a scoff.
"Do you believe your foolish act has an answer?"
Justice (Order) was silent for a mont, then spoke in that resonant voice.
"Compared to a universe that loses [Order] entirely — a false [Order] may serve to give the world stable footing until true order can arrive..."
That line alone made it plain: Justice (Order) had already known [Chaos]'s identity long ago, and had simply chosen not to expose it.
It wasn't wrong. Whether on the continent of Hope or within this Faith Ga, [Order] was still the faith of countless adherents of order, the crystallization of their collective will. If faith collapsed and [Order] ceased to be, chaos might sweep the world far sooner than it otherwise would have.
Viewed from that angle, Justice (Order)'s choice hadn't been wrong. Though it also wasn't exactly a "choice" — it had been backed against a wall and forced to accept the situation.
[Deceit]'s sleight of hand had not only fooled [Chaos] completely — it had driven [Order] into a corner from which the only path forward was to acknowledge that [Order] still existed. They had had no other option.
Justice (Order) was embedded in the Convention. Fear (Order) was constrained by the Faith Ga. It wasn't obvious before, but looking back now — [Deceit]'s very first move at the dawn of this era had already been calculated all the way to today.
Its sche had stretched across the entire [Void] era, and it was only now — triggered by another scher — that it had fully detonated.
And the detonation's result: the [Order] throne was now vacant, and the [Chaos] throne had changed hands.
[Folly]'s eyes — clouded over with white chaos-haze — swept over the new [Chaos] without comnt, then fell on the confidence radiating from Cheng Shi. Another scoff.
"Do you believe your foolish act has an answer?"
Cheng Shi said nothing. He simply moved his mouth:
"Do you think your question is a foolish act?"
"..."
Sure enough — against [Folly], the only effective weapon was the Brother Mouth's more aggressive variety of verbal sparring.
[Folly] gave no response. It turned its gaze to Justice (Order) and said with mockery:
"Trapped in the middle of the sche, used as a tool to send away the [Chaos] throne — and before long you will use your own hands to send away the [Order] throne too. In my view, the god in this universe most aligned with [Deceit] is probably you. Justice. (Order)."
The Flowing Light Scales didn't deny it. On the contrary — to the surprise of everyone present — it actually responded in that resonant voice.
"In certain respects, my position and that being's do align. But the Convention shows no favoritism. [Order] has always been impartial."
"Hmph. Foolish act."
[Folly] departed — at such speed it seed determined to flee before the foolishness of the scene could contaminate it.
After all that had just unfolded, however, Cheng Shi now had a clearer picture. Every divine being present — including Justice (Order) — certainly held no mories of the false Curtain Call.
That ant the variation script the Fun God had written was now known to only a handful of people. The author himself was one. The lead actor — the clown — was another. And the rest... were likely all beyond the boundaries of this starry sky.
[Birth] departed next. [Decay] seed on the verge of retreating as well — but just before it left, Cheng Shi called out to it and asked with sincere reverence:
"Great [Decay] — when will you..."
"Die?"
"???"
Cheng Shi was at a complete loss. Yes, that was what he ant — but the Brother Mouth! I did not want to die before [Decay]!
The still-lingering [Decay] exhaled, its fra — crisscrossed with cracks — rigidly turning to look at Cheng Shi.
Even knowing the Fear Faction would never let him die here, Cheng Shi tensed in that mont. Fortunately, the sharp-thinking clown caught himself imdiately and pivoted.
"You once sheltered . I would like to... see you off when the ti cos. I also wish to personally witness the devotion of this universe's last trace of [Decay]'s will.
May you achieve what you seek. May the grace you've long desired finally co."
[Decay] wasn't naive. To be precise — none of the gods were naive. Even if [Void] had once kept Fixed Destiny very well hidden, by this point in the ga's developnt, who still couldn't read the situation? Fixed Destiny was the answer of the age that [Void] was championing.
When even Justice (Order) had begun making concessions on its behalf, the other gods ought to have woken up by now — ought to have understood that drawing close to [Void], as [Death] and [Silence] and [Existence] had done, would yield the greatest return in this era.
And yet they simply didn't want to fall in line with [Void]. Their will had never changed. Faith-born devotion kept each of them walking their own unwavering path.
This streak of "defiance" — was, in its own way, exactly like [Deceit].
[Decay] sensed that its own rot might never find an answer. But that was all right. The next era could always start again.
It firmly believed [Origin] would eventually show it rcy — even if that required countless ages. It could wait. It would continue to decay.
The cracked skeleton of a giant gave Cheng Shi a slow nod. Perhaps that was its final expression before it walked toward "oblivion." It neither agreed nor refused — it only said, with a faint exhaustion:
"I understand."
Then it vanished from sight.
Watching [Decay]'s retreating form, Cheng Shi felt a complex mixture of emotions — as if what was departing was not just one god's loneliness, but the twilight of an entire divine era.
New gods had begun ascending thrones. That ant a new "order" was coming.
Cheng Shi exchanged a glance with Zhen Xin across the distance. Both curled their lips at the sa mont. Then they turned to the Flowing Light Scales, which had not yet departed, and "reverently prayed":
"Great Justice (Order) — the universe cannot lose [Order]. For the sake of keeping the world beneath [Order]'s radiant shelter, I recomnd this devout follower of [Order] to take on the [Order] seat and carry [Order]'s will forward. Under his leadership, I believe the world will take on an entirely different shape."
The radiance around the Flowing Light Scales shimred. Its gaze passed over all three mortals and the one remaining god. After a long silence, it spoke in resonance:
"Rules cannot be broken. The Convention contains no such precedent. He ets no condition to inherit a divine throne. Mortal — your recomndation carries no weight."
Justice (Order)'s refusal ca as no surprise to Cheng Shi. After all, they didn't yet hold the token that would allow a [Order] throne succession — the [Order] Container.
But conveniently — he knew exactly where to find it.
Cheng Shi smiled faintly and bowed.
"Very well. Then I'll return to discuss the aning of recomndations once I've obtained [Order]'s token. But for now, I also had one more... hey hey hey, don't leave!"
Yes — the Flowing Light Scales had left. Departed with such decisiveness, it was exactly as Cheng Shi had imagined: it probably had no interest in remaining in the company of a clown who constantly disrupted [Order].
Seeing that, Cheng Shi had no recourse. All he could do was look forward to their next eting, when he would reach for the [Order] throne once more.
He looked at his companions, his gaze sweeping the three of them, and said after a brief pause:
"Zhen Xin and I are heading sowhere first. We'll be in touch with you all shortly. Long Jing — you owe
a thorough explanation of exactly what went on inside the Collection Hall."
Li Jingming smiled quietly and nodded. "Co find
in the Collection Hall anyti."
Anyti?
What — has the [mory] Collection Hall beco your own private house?
Cheng Shi's expression turned odd, as if sothing had struck him. Zhen Xin also gave Long Jing a aningful glance, then snapped her fingers and took Cheng Shi with her as she vanished beneath the starry sky.
Now that she had ascended the throne, she ought to go see her own temple.
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