Cheng Shi hadn't lied. The mask in his hand truly wasn't rely a mask — it was a divine pact.
This pact involved six gods: Deceit, Death, Ti, Silence, Folly, and mory!
To explain the origins of this pact, one would need to follow Deceit's perspective and travel back to the very beginning of the era — the mont that shattered Void's heart.
Deceit had placed everything He experienced within this pact. When Cheng Shi entered the Collection, he was granted a window into the past.
At the dawn of the era, Fate fell for prophesying the Origin, and Deceit was consud by grief — and caught completely off guard.
His resolve to defy the Origin only hardened, but at that ti, Deceit didn't even know what the Real Universe was. His understanding of the Origin was limited to the Will born during the descent.
Fear swept over Him, and all He could do was endure in silence.
But He had already resolved to take revenge.
To walk this path of vengeance, He had to ensure at minimum that the Void Era would persist. It was obvious — if the Void Era died in its cradle, Deceit wouldn't even have ti to sche.
So, relying on His instinct for deception, He concealed the news of Fate's death as best He could, gathering the Authority that had not yet departed, hoping to fool the entire universe.
But at that ti, there was no Convention, no Final Oracle. No matter how well Fate's death was hidden from the other gods, there was one deity it could never be hidden from:
Death!
That's right — Death knew of Fate's fall from the very beginning of the era. In a sense, He confird Fate's death even faster than Deceit.
And He also knew that Fate's demise had to be connected to the Origin, because He had not received the half of the Divinity that should have been offered to Him upon a god's death.
A death tainted by the Origin's Will did not belong to Death. This was precisely why Death's fear only grew fiercer throughout the Void Era.
Deceit understood that resisting the Origin alone was utterly impossible. So He seized this opportunity to recruit Death — to bind Death to His chariot of war!
He went straight to Death's door and cornered Him inside the Fishbone Hall.
He said:
"The Origin is rciless. You've seen what happens to those who get close.
Gods are nothing but playthings to It — even stealing a single glance is forbidden.
I can give up being a god, but I refuse to give up being myself.
Born into chains, I will not accept it!
Old Bones — will you?"
Death was silent for a long ti. In that era, Deceit's words were nothing short of earth-shattering. Regardless of how the gods felt about the Origin, no one had ever put these words out in the open!
But Fate's fall and Deceit's resolve moved Death. He didn't agree imdiately, but instead said:
"Just us... is not... enough..."
Deceit understood Death's aning instantly and told Him they would soon have new allies.
But Death could never have imagined how Deceit went about finding them.
Fate was dead. Apart from Ti, no god could peer into the future. To find a viable path forward, Deceit sought out Ti and shoved Fate's Authority straight into His hands, saying:
"Fate has fallen. In His prophecy, every approach leads to no ending — the universe will ultimately return to nothingness, and there will be no next era.
The Existence you built no longer has aning. If you want to escape this fate, take Fate's Authority and find a way out for this world."
Deceit was lying, of course. Back then, He didn't care about the world at all. All He wanted was to resist, to avenge.
Fate had never made any prophecy concerning the world either — He had died shortly after descending. His sole prophecy was about the Origin. But apart from Fate, no one could see through Deceit's lies — unless... they took Fate's Authority!
Hearing these words, even though Ti's eyes were twin black holes, they visibly contracted for an instant.
In that mont, Ti felt that Deceit didn't resemble Deceit at all — He seed more like Corruption, so masterfully did He beguile the heart.
Ti thought there might still be room for negotiation, but Deceit's next words eliminated that possibility:
"I am destined to stand against every Will that draws close to the Origin. If you refuse, the Origin won't even have to act — I will reduce the legacy of the previous era's Existence to ashes myself.
You can call it a threat. You can choose to refuse. You can even go 'report'
and trade that for a chance to draw closer to It. But Fate's ending has already given you the answer:
If you want to die too, that's certainly a shortcut.
Perhaps you don't care about your own death. But what about the world you created? What about the Existence you cherish?
Even if Existence itself is also part of Its Will, I refuse to believe you'd be so heartless — otherwise you wouldn't have simulated world after world, granting life infinite possibilities.
Give the world a chance. Give fear a chance. We don't have to be puppets — we can be ourselves..."
"..."
Ti had no choice — just as Fixed Destiny had no choice.
The mont Deceit set His sights on Him, the chance to refuse had already vanished. He had been dragged aboard the dark chariot.
And so, the Fear Faction gained another mber.
Next ca Silence. Deceit's original target was actually Chaos, but Chaos wasn't always capable of coherent conversation. A plan born from fear demanded reliability, so Silence beca the third Victim.
Deceit found Silence. Before the Leaking World Silent Puppet, He recounted every single thing that had happened since His descent — every event, even every thought — without omitting a word.
Even when Silence realized sothing was wrong and tried to flee, Deceit simply chased after Him and kept talking.
By the ti Silence had been forced to learn everything, Deceit smiled and said:
"It's too late to disagree now. If you don't 'report' , you're an accomplice by silence. And if you do 'report'
— that's tantamount to drawing close. Drawing close can kill you. Do you have the courage to die?"
"..."
In that mont, Silence gave birth to fear.
Deceit had so understanding of the other gods' Wills, and none of them were on His target list. All except one — one He absolutely had to bring into this pact.
Folly!
Folly was far too clever. If Deceit wanted to lay plans throughout this era, He had no confidence He could hide them from Folly.
Since He couldn't hide it, He simply wouldn't bother.
So He went to Folly, got straight to the point, confessed the truth about Fate, and proposed a wager.
"Foul Mouth — since you're so clever, do you think this world has a future?"
Deceit's wager naturally had a deeper purpose. He wanted to pry open Folly's mouth, to have the wisest being in the universe "point Him toward" a clear path of resistance against the Origin.
But in response, Folly rely sneered:
"Do you truly believe your foolish act has an answer?"
Deceit laughed:
"Of course it does.
I've answered your question. Now it's your turn to answer mine. Do you think this world has a future?
I know you're about to call this a foolish act again — but does that an you think the world has no future?
If it doesn't, then can the great Wise Man find even one possible future for this world?"
"..."
"Ha! You can't!
But I can!
You're not Fate, yet you can foresee the future. You simply use your intellect to influence the universe's trajectory, thereby fulfilling your own 'judgnt.'
But if you were to lose your wisdom, relinquish your Authority, and let the universe escape your influence — would you still dare to declare that the world has no future?
That's the bet I'm proposing. Do you dare?"
...
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