The scene fell silent. All that remained was the sound of withered branches and rotting flesh slowly decaying.
Before long—perhaps because staring at Old Bones in mutual speechlessness was too boring—those stellar eyes spoke with fading interest:
"Relax. My answer isn't him. I'm rely waiting for my Envoy to resurrect."
The colossal skull's gaze sharpened, and He imdiately shook His head: "Void, has never, had, a Servant God, and you, have no, Envoy."
"Tch—
"Oh? Your opposite used to fancy himself master of nothingness, and now you're the Void's sovereign too?
"You think you understand Void better than I do?
"Old Bones, I think you're putting on airs in the wrong place."
The colossal skull ignored the Fun God's taunting. His gaze was grave: "I, bear, Death's, divine na, and wield, Death's, authority.
"Whenever a, god falls, half, of its, divinity, returns, to . Yet I, have never, received, even a, trace, of Deceit's, divinity. You, can never, deceive , on that, point.
"Therefore, this talk, of an Envoy, is pure, nonsense.
"I, may not, know, the details, of your, war, with Existence, but I, can state, with certainty, that in, that conflict—before, the Convention, was signed...
"No god, fell!"
"..."
Though Death's reasoning was airtight, the Fun God stubbornly retorted:
"Oh? Is that so?
"Even if I can't fool you, can't you fool yourself?
"Deny my Envoy, then devour my authority. Old Bones, oh Old Bones—I thought we were allies, yet here you are plotting to stab
in the back?
"Seems like you're not fearful enough."
The mont He heard the word "fearful," the Lord's gaze froze. By now, His dread of that particular word far exceeded His fear of that existence—especially when the word ca from Deceit's mouth, which made it infinitely more terrifying.
The colossal skull offered no reply. Seeing the lack of response, Deceit let out a bored huff of amusent.
"I think you and that mute have a real connection. Why not just fuse with each other right here and now?"
"..."
Respond and get mocked. Stay silent and get ridiculed. As long as you were in His presence, sarcasm was guaranteed.
This was precisely why the gods despised the Fun God.
The colossal skull sighed inwardly. He stared at those stellar eyes for a long while, watching the corners crinkle higher and higher, the next jab clearly on its way. He was forced to speak first, steering the conversation with painfully stiff abruptness.
"Why, did you, have , probe, War?"
"Good question." Those eyes blinked twice, then playfully countered, "Then let
ask you—why wouldn't you probe War?"
"?"
'Is that even a coherent question?'
'Why would I probe Him for no reason?'
'I'm not even curious. And even if I were, I could restrain myself. Unlike certain people—'
The colossal skull's gaze froze, then turned solemn. "You're, still, scheming, against, Corruption!"
The Fun God grinned:
"How is this scheming against Corruption?
"It's simply that the incident occurred in the Sea of Desire, so no matter how I investigate, there's no way around Him.
"Besides, He's not worth my attention anyway.
"What is worth paying attention to is what exactly happened when Order led War into the Sea of Desire.
"One of Them split into four. The other beca ek as a lamb. Honestly, Old Bones—aren't you the least bit curious about what unspeakable things They got up to in that sea?"
At this, a glimr flashed in the colossal skull's eyes.
The words were coarse, but the logic wasn't. Saying He wasn't curious would be a lie. Apart from the two gods directly involved, no one could not be curious about this.
But curiosity was one thing; sticking your nose in uninvited was another. Over the years, it wasn't as if no one had asked War about it, but War had never elaborated. He only ever repeated the sa refrain— "Dwelling on the past is pointless. Better to observe the order of the present." That curiously evasive attitude had even led several gods to suspect War had fractured like Order—splitting off a version that leaned toward His opposite, Silence: an "Autistic War."
But since no one had witnessed the incident firsthand, it all remained speculation.
Deceit had always believed there was entertainnt buried in that incident, and He had never given up investigating. But His interest had never been as intense as it was now—so the colossal skull was also curious: what had He recently discovered?
"Probing, War, is fine, but you, must not, be so, reckless, as to, probe, Corruption.
"Though, My words, may seem, to bolster, Descent's, prestige, I must, warn you, nonetheless.
"Conduct, yourself, accordingly.
"Without, your, protection, he, cannot, guard, anything, you have, bestowed."
At these words, the spirals in those stellar eyes began to whirl rapidly.
"Ha. I thought my ally was concerned about , but in the end, you're still fretting over my follower.
"Mm. Good thing I pulled the little bone pile into my ranks early on. Otherwise, when certain clowns defect, I'd really be in trouble, wouldn't I?"
"You—"
"Enough, Old Bones. Worry about yourself instead. At your age, things can't be easy. I hope you enjoy your chat with War.
"Oh, right—take your ti with it. After all, helping Him rediscover the bloodlust of War benefits you too. At least when He goes on His old god-slaying rampages, you can follow behind and pick up scraps for another scythe.
"Win-win, isn't it?"
Seeing the colossal skull sink into exasperated silence, those stellar eyes erupted in laughter.
"Old age really is dreadfully boring. You're terrible at conversation. Whatever—I'm leaving.
"Just rember: don't badmouth my follower behind my back. Otherwise I'll co back and gossip about you."
With that, Deceit—who monts ago couldn't break out of this prison—simply vanished before Death's eyes.
Death's gaze sharpened. 'Deceit could have left at any ti yet chose to stay. He clearly isn't afraid of Oblivion targeting a certain soone. Which ans Void has probably reunited as one once more.'
'But if He opposes the Origin's will so blatantly, how can He possibly stand alongside Fate—that steadfast champion of the Origin?'
'Is the bond of shared path really that profound?'
Surely not. A shared path was nothing more than a label for an era. If it could truly bind a god's allegiance, then the Mother of Prosperity would never have died by her own hand...
The colossal skull couldn't figure it out. He brooded in silence for a long while, then raised His scythe once more and brought it down on a particular corner of the Decay prison. Though the cage continued to ooze the stench of rot, the blow failed to break it open—and instead only caused Decay's divinity within it to dim further.
Seeing this, Death withdrew His scythe and let out a long sigh.
"So, Zhen's, poison, works, swiftly. He truly, has, benefited, from, that power.
"However..."
The colossal skull raised His scythe and studied it at length. The fused divinities flowing across its blade shimred like a rainbow—yet not a single thread of Deceit's divinity could be found among them.
This ant Yu Xi could not possibly have perished. Which in turn ant that the so-called Envoy Deceit spoke of had, in fact, never existed.
So was that employee of His... the future path Deceit intended to walk?
Fixed destiny... fixed destiny...
Was this the clown's fixed destiny, or Fate's fixed destiny?
Or was it Deceit's fixed destiny?
The colossal skull gazed toward a certain point in the Void, His eyes as fathomless as oblivion itself.
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