"ROAR—"
A small roar. Sothing like a response.
A servant god — even while imprisoned — behaving before a mortal like an obedient schoolchild. In any other era, the world would have labeled such a scene a logically incoherent delusion. But in the [Void] era, it was simply real.
The Wrath of Abomination had a temper, not a shortage of brains. If it couldn't afford to pick a fight, it didn't. Simple enough.
Right now it was treating Cheng Shi as [Void]'s own avatar — [Deceit] in person, just wearing a different face to confuse it. So as long as it made no mistakes, it definitely wouldn't repeat its patron's fate.
It recalled its first contact with Cheng Shi. "Contact" was a loose word — at the ti, it had given essentially no thought to the mortal scrambling through a trial. It was only the appearance of two [Void] rulers that told it a particular player had been simultaneously noticed by both of them.
It could clearly rember [Deceit] personally pointing this person toward a path back then. It had felt no particular unease at the ti. But given Cheng Shi's current standing and the ways the gods themselves had begun to regard him with gravity...
Could it be that the inexplicable "seven o'clock direction" [Deceit] had pointed to back then — the one supposedly deviating from [Fate] — was hinting that the arrival of the seventh era was sohow connected to the man standing in front of it?
Thinking this, the Wrath of Abomination suppressed its flas even further.
Cheng Shi sensed the steady retreat of that overwhelming presence. He didn't know what the other was thinking — but this cooperative attitude was genuinely satisfying.
Truthfully, the reason he'd rushed over to find the Wrath of Abomination right now was simply to ride the montum from that last big performance.
The clown was privately well aware of his predicant: in one breath he'd deceived three mbers of the Fear Faction. For a while, asking any of them for help again would be difficult.
Especially the [Death] boss. Cheng Shi could already picture it — until the day Mi Laozhang was found and brought back, [Death] probably wouldn't see him at all.
Add to that [Deceit] having gone into hiding and [Fate] being hard to locate — and right now, the only true divine being left at Cheng Shi's back was one newly-crowned [Chaos].
The Wrath of Abomination was a [Chaos] Envoy, yes — but it was also [Order]'s prisoner. If it decided to refuse him by leaning on the cover of [Order]'s imprisonnt, Cheng Shi would need to invest considerably more effort.
He didn't want to waste ti, so he had chosen to co while his montum was at its peak — using the simplest possible thod of pressuring it into submission through raw intimidation.
Cheng Shi couldn't understand the Wrath of Abomination's roars, and had no need to. He studied the giant blazing sun caged before him, gave a nod, and said:
"Good — glad you do. In that trial of blood and fire half a year ago, the fire rain you poured down so carelessly inflicted irreparable damage on my fragile psyche. Since then, I relive that scene in my dreams, waking in the dead of night.
It has left
with brittle nerves, hair loss, ntal exhaustion, and difficulty concentrating..."
Cheng Shi was still rambling through the list of his sufferings. Inside the cage, the Wrath of Abomination had already understood what the other party was getting at. It curled in the corner and let out a muffled sound.
"Roar — roar roar—"
Even with extre suppression, a faint, uncontrollable fury laced the quiet tones.
It was called the Wrath of Abomination for a reason — it was an endless blaze of rage born from turning its back on order.
Cheng Shi's words broke off. He glanced over. Once again, he "understood" what it was saying.
"Compensation?
All right. Since you insist on making ands for your past transgressions, I can hardly be too harsh and refuse you a chance to turn over a new leaf.
It seems that [Order]'s imprisonnt has indeed washed away a fair amount of your [Chaos] will. But we both know you once belonged to [Order].
Whether this is genuine repentance taking hold, or whether in your attempt to evade punishnt you've once again revealed a trace of the order most fundantal to your nature — that question is important. It bears directly on the length of your sentence.
I'm soone who cannot bear to see others suffer. And I understand that [Order] shows no rcy to any who have transgressed. Given that you're willing to offer compensation — I'll provide so guidance.
Hand over the [Order] Container that's in your possession. That will be the equivalent of stripping away the [Order] that was once part of your will. Once [Order] sees that your repentance has genuinely produced a new seed of order within you — it will naturally release you.
This is a mutual benefit. What do you say?"
"Roar?"
The Wrath of Abomination was baffled. It had guessed Cheng Shi was here to take sothing — but it had never imagined the man was here for a Container. And an [Order] Container at that.
But where would it get an [Order] Container?
When the Civilization era ended, the servant gods under [Order]'s protection received no pardon at the era's close. They were swept away by the tide of the age just like everyone else and reborn with the next era's beginning. This had stripped [Order] of all its forr prestige — and given the Blazing Sun's kind reason enough to stop believing in [Order], defecting to [Chaos] instead.
And if they had chosen to defect — why on earth would they have kept [Order]'s Container?
The Wrath of Abomination didn't lack the will to give it — it simply had none to give.
What it desperately wanted to offer was a [Chaos] Container — to board Cheng Shi's express train. But the [Chaos] throne had already changed hands via a Final Oracle, making the Container no longer necessary.
The Wrath of Abomination panicked. It roared urgently:
"Roar! Roar roar—"
The tone was clearly different from before — no longer the sound of compliance, but sothing more like objection.
Cheng Shi frowned, his expression cooling slightly.
"What's this? Refusing? Think I'm bluffing?
You don't actually believe that just because the [Order] throne is vacant now, [Order] will simply never exist again, do you?
Even mortals don't think only of the imdiate mont. All the more so for a divine being like you.
A new [Order] will appear sooner or later. When it does — can you guess who will be sitting on that throne?
And then — can you guess who will decide whether you're released?"
As he spoke, Cheng Shi let his gaze drift — seemingly casual — toward Li Wufang.
Li Wufang at this point had completely lost the thread. He couldn't understand a word the Wrath of Abomination was saying, and watching his chief have what looked like a back-and-forth conversation with this [Chaos] Envoy, he felt a deep and genuine envy.
This was communication between divine beings — a language that had no need to account for whether re mortals could follow along.
The Wrath of Abomination was also confused. It didn't disbelieve him. It simply didn't have one. Didn't have one — so how was it supposed to give one?
I want to give it. I genuinely want to give it. I just don't have it!
And then it caught that aningful look Cheng Shi directed at the [Order] follower beside him — and its panic spiked. Even the densest observer could see that this [Order] follower was almost certainly the person Cheng Shi intended to put on the [Order] throne, which ant this person might very well beco the future "warden."
If it offended this future [Order] right now, it didn't even dare think how long its sentence might extend.
"!!!"
The Wrath of Abomination's flas leapt in agitation. It desperately wanted to charge up to the cage door, grab Cheng Shi's hand with fla, and explain — but its reaction was being read as increasing defiance, exactly like that version of Cheng Shi who had inherited [War]'s authority and fought desperately against an outer god's intrusion.
"...?"
What was happening — had pushing a little too hard triggered so deep fighting spirit?
Cheng Shi's expression darkened slightly and he took two steps back. Li Wufang also retreated, feeling the temperature climbing all around them, and said with alarm:
"Chief — did the negotiation break down?"
"..."
Cheng Shi's face twitched. He said nothing.
There hadn't been any negotiation to break down. He'd been talking to himself the whole ti — the other party had just reacted differently than expected. How could this count as a breakdown?
This was standard clown performance. An enthusiastic audience response just ant the show hadn't collapsed.
But you could hardly tell the Investigator: "I brought you here specifically to perform a clown show for the Wrath of Abomination. Look at how actively it's responding..." — that would be way too embarrassing.
For a mont, Cheng Shi's expression went sowhat stiff.
Fortunately — even in this awkward situation, the clown's observational instincts remained sharp as ever. Just as the Investigator was about to conclude the Wrath of Abomination had refused, Cheng Shi noticed sothing: while the ambient temperature was rising, the actual flas inside the cage were still being suppressed with everything it had. Not a single lick of fire had spilled outward. Despite all the noise and spectacle — neither of them had taken any damage whatsoever.
That unusual detail made Cheng Shi pause. He furrowed his brow, thought for a mont — and suddenly realized the other party hadn't refused him at all. Instead...
"?"
Cheng Shi asked, with a trace of uncertainty:
"You... don't actually have an [Order] Container, do you?"
"ROAR ROAR ROAR!"
In that mont, the Wrath of Abomination inside the cage resembled nothing so much as a baboon whose performance had finally been recognized — so overco with relief it shed a cascading rain of fire.
"..."
Seeing this, Cheng Shi's expression fell.
Well. This ti he really had turned into the clown.
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