This day would undoubtedly be recorded in the annals of the era.
In the boundless Void, five figures stood in silent stillness.
Cheng Shi stood at the fore, his deep gaze as fathomless as the Void itself, staring straight into the heart of nothingness.
He had thought for a long ti. Stayed silent for a long ti. Sighed for a long ti. At last, he spoke:
"Begin."
The first to his left was Li Jingming. The Dragon King nodded, withdrew his Container — shimring with deep-blue radiance, swirling with countless mories — and lifted his gaze to the sky. He addressed the Void:
"I, the practitioner of mory's Will, the agent of mory's Collection Hall, the recorder of this world — Li Jingming — petition under the witness of the Pact to succeed the departed god mory's Authority."
The Dragon King's voice was soft — barely audible to those nearby.
Yet his words carried an impossible weight, so heavy that the entire Void seed to shed its dark curtain, redecorating itself with brilliant constellations.
Justice had arrived!
That Scales of flowing light remained as resplendent as ever, as though the Universe's loneliness had nothing to do with Him.
The Pact operated as always, proceeding by the rules. But the number of gods who could attend and bear witness to this mont had dwindled considerably.
Birth's pillar descended, but gone was His usual impatience. He rely watched everything beneath the starry sky in silence, without a single word.
Folly was the sa as ever — throwing in a contemptuous snort now and then.
Beyond those two, nearly everyone else present was Cheng Shi's backing.
Death arrived as promised, standing tall behind Cheng Shi. Even though the surroundings held no danger, He displayed His Scythe — forged from countless blended divinities — openly before the assembled gods.
Silence ca too, keeping His distance, watching quietly.
Ti, as usual, had no ti...
The remaining two, Hong Lin and Zhen Xin, sat on chairs conjured from swirling yellow Chaos mist, the most enthusiastic spectators at the ceremony.
As for Servant Gods, even fewer had co. Apart from Herobos, who showed his face cautiously, nobody else dared approach.
They weren't foolish. They feared drawing attention.
Justice looked down upon Li Jingming. He seed to have long known this day would co. mory's choice conford to the rules; He naturally had no power to refuse.
A ray of holy light descended upon the Dragon King's head. In the next instant, countless mories that did not belong to him — mories of across the world — flickered through Li Jingming's eyes.
Existence was made whole once more. Now it was this traveling chronicler's turn to curate the Universe's treasures.
Li Jingming felt the indescribable Authority of mory coursing through him. He smiled faintly. The very first thing he did was file this mont into the Collection Hall.
'Changing of the Guard?'
'No — perhaps "Legitimization" would be more fitting.'
Next ca Qin Xin.
In truth, Qin Xin's status no longer needed any formal recognition. He already possessed War's Authority in full. But Cheng Shi wanted more — at the very least, War's voting rights had to be firmly in his own hands.
The successor of War produced the Container Cheng Shi had given him. His left eye erupted in fla; his right eye bled crimson. Authority surged across his entire body. He spoke with solemn gravity to Justice, high above the Void:
"I, Qin Xin — the sole Proxy of War in this era — petition the Pact for the right to succeed War's Divine Na!"
The instant those words reached Cheng Shi's ears, he felt a sudden dizziness of déjà vu.
The phrasing was identical — word for word — to what had been said during that False Curtain Call. Back then, Qin Xin had done the sa, shouting "succeed the Divine Na" before elevating himself to Envoy in the next heartbeat.
He had given everything to prevent the Outer God from taking him — even passing on War's fla.
And now, he was receiving War's fla once more...
'Surely this ti, the fla won't go out.'
Cheng Shi turned slightly to look at the Qin Xin behind him. Just then, a column of holy light poured down and ignited Qin Xin's hair and beard.
The iron-tower of a man erupted once more with searing sparks — like his indomitable life itself, illuminating, with every fiber of his being, the omnipresent darkness of the world.
War's warmth lingered; Order's hum returned.
The mont Li Wufang realized it was his turn, he retrieved his Container and was about to speak — but Justice, as if acting on pure inertia, simply poured a ray of holy light down on the Investigator's head before a single word was uttered.
This violation of the Pact's protocol stunned every god present. But monts later, Justice intoned His explanation:
"Things being as they are, we all understand. This charade of 'petitioning the Pact for witness' is nothing but empty words.
Even if I refused to certify him now, at the next Assembly of Gods Convention — who would object?
You? Or you?"
The Flowing Light Scales looked toward Birth, then toward Folly, and released a long sigh:
"That being the case, let us be done with it quickly.
Manufacturing pageantry for the ascension of new gods serves the Universe no benefit.
At the very least, here, you cannot stretch the span of an era."
Never had Justice spoken so many words unrelated to the Pact. He had even streamlined the procedure, bypassing essential steps to bestow legitimacy upon the new Order.
Had the recipient been any other god, it would have been one thing. But the deity Li Wufang was inheriting was Order itself.
It looked as though Justice had suddenly ceased being just, tilting in Order's favor for personal gain.
But Cheng Shi didn't see it that way. He knew Justice had once refused Li Wufang's succession. Before they'd obtained the Container, Justice had given them no opportunity whatsoever.
If He were going to show favoritism, that would have been the ti. Now, with Li Wufang's ascension practically set in stone, what was the point of "speeding things up"?
'Icing on the cake never trumps sending charcoal in the snow. Would a deity really not understand sothing so simple?'
More importantly, Justice's final words struck Cheng Shi as deeply peculiar. "Here" — where did He an?
The Void?
Or reality?
'Does He... know sothing?'
Cheng Shi wasn't the only one who caught the nuance. The other gods sensed it too. They all turned to look at Justice — only to see the Flowing Light Scales do sothing exceedingly rare: they tilted. The balance that should have been perfectly level... had tipped.
Seeing this, Folly scoffed:
"So in the end, you've embraced the foolish act.
Justice — do you think your foolish act has an answer?"
"..."
Only two beings in the Universe dared mock Justice to His face before the assembled gods. Now that one had made His move, the other naturally wouldn't stay silent.
Cheng Shi hadn't forgotten the role he was playing. He was not a mortal — he was Deceit disguised as one.
So in the next instant, he let out a scoff of his own, mimicking Folly's contempt:
"Whether the old fossil's foolish act has an answer, I couldn't say.
But yours, foul-mouth — looks like it's about to run out of answers.
Still want your Authority?
Because if you don't, don't bla
for picking it up where you dropped it."
"..."
"..."
"..."
A hush fell over the assembly.
'Too convincing — it's simply too convincing!'
If they hadn't known Deceit had departed, even Death — seated on high — would have sworn what just happened was Deceit in the flesh.
His follower and He might as well have been cast from the sa mold. Not a single crack or flaw to be found.
Even Hong Lin was confused. She thought Cheng Shi really wasn't here. She elbowed Zhen Xin beside her and whispered:
"What's going on — He's acting as him?"
Zhen Xin held back a laugh and nodded. "Mm. He's acting as Him. Pretty convincing."
"?"
Hong Lin's expression turned odd. 'Well of course — Deceit playing a mortal? How could it not be convincing?'
'But where did that unreliable Cheng Shi run off to this ti? And why is Deceit posing as the Fate Weaver again?'
Murmurs rippled through the assembly. Folly sneered repeatedly.
He shot a sidelong glance at "Deceit" and left without another word, tossing one last remark over His shoulder:
"Picking it up won't help. Picking it up is still a foolish act.
He was fool enough. And you... surpass Him by far."
Cheng Shi shook his head with a wry smile, unbothered. In this mont, though he was no god, he carried himself with the weight of one.
The chessboard of the Universe had, at last, passed into his hands.
'So this is what it feels like to hold the pieces?'
'Heh. Not bad at all.'
Cheng Shi smiled, then looked up at the Flowing Light Scales.
"Justice — abbreviated once, abbreviated twice, what's the difference? There's one more behind . If you'd rather not waste ti, let's begin.
Otherwise, the next ti we et, it'll be awkward for both of us."
"..."
Before his words had even settled, a beam of holy light poured down upon Nangong's head. She hadn't even drawn the Container, yet she inherited everything Decay had left behind.
And in that very mont, the sole "outsider" still in attendance — Birth — finally grasped the full picture:
Justice had yielded to Void.
This only hardened His conviction further. In this era of Void, the Universe would inevitably draw closer to Void.
...
Reviews
All reviews (0)