"...Before a being who is willing to make an effort to carry on Order's legacy, if You still refuse to invest Your last shred of hope — then I will have no choice but to assu the worst about the one who once brought order to the universe. Perhaps You've already gone the way of my Benefactor, Deceit — beco a Fear Faction mber who deliberately distances himself from Him!
It was You — deliberately — who made the universe lose its order!
But if You are of the Fear Faction, then You should trust
even more, shouldn't You?"
"..."
The words fell, and silence consud the hall.
Kataro's brain looped through the logic several tis and still couldn't figure out how the situation had turned into a Chaos Envoy making a watertight argunt in front of Order — win or lose, heads or tails.
'Is this the sophistry inherited from the Benefactor?'
'Lord Cheng Shi has truly mastered this "authority"!'
Kataro was endlessly impressed by Cheng Shi's rhetorical prowess, but Pride of Order offered no such praise.
A god was not a person.
Even imprisoned in a cage, He still possessed wisdom and vision far above mortal life.
No matter how arrogant He was, Pride of Order was no fool. He regarded the silver-tongued Clown before Him for a mont of silence, then spoke for the first ti in a calm, even tone.
"Your tactics of cognitive confusion don't resemble Chaos at all — they're a spitting image of your Benefactor, Deceit.
Ultimately, a Clown blinded by greed simply wants divine blessings from . But why should I grant you anything?
It was your two Benefactors who bound
here. I have no reason whatsoever to oblige a Clown whose mouth contains not a single word of truth — a jumping jester who would invert black and white and disorder all order."
Hearing this, Cheng Shi felt no sha or anger. Instead, he was delighted.
Because buried in that changed tone, he detected a "willing to talk about it" attitude. So he cut straight to the point.
"Because I can spread order on Your behalf."
"A servant of Deceit is the least trustworthy of all!
How do I know you won't use my power to continue tarnishing Order's na on behalf of your Benefactor, Chaos?!"
'Hiss—'
'There really is a chance?'
He was already seriously considering the potential consequences of this deal. If He had absolutely no interest in the trade, He would have continued the endless "void sentencing" from before, rather than probing in this tone.
So Cheng Shi pondered for a mont and produced what he considered a satisfying answer.
"Very well. Since we've brought up 'tarnishing'...
Lord Codex, let's consider this from another angle. First — Order in the present world is dead. Do You acknowledge that?"
"..."
No matter how much Pride of Order refused to admit it, this was an irrefutable fact. That Order who had once commanded and enlightened billions of followers had long since shattered and been dragged from His own divine throne.
"Good — silence ans agreent again.
In that case, You should also acknowledge that the Order of this world is currently being impersonated by my Lord, Chaos. So let
ask You: even if I used Your divine blessings to commit so dirty deed and tarnish the current 'Order'...
would I be tarnishing Order, or tarnishing Chaos?
For You, it should be the latter, shouldn't it?
And if what I'm tarnishing is the Chaos that has usurped Your position, then doesn't that an I'm desecrating my own faith as the price for endorsing Your will of Order?
So why wouldn't You trust ?"
"..."
Silence fell once more.
The codex turned its pages without a sound. Kataro's jaw was on the floor.
This level of sophistry was sothing Kataro could never learn in a lifeti — not because he couldn't think of it, but because even if he could, he'd never have the audacity to argue it so shalessly before a true god.
Lord Cheng Shi's selection by the Benefactor was absolutely, undeniably a matter of natural-born talent.
In that mont, Kataro bowed to Cheng Shi's talent with every fiber of his being.
This ti, Pride of Order remained silent for a very long while — so long that Cheng Shi nearly thought his sophistry had overshot and backfired. Just as he was about to speak up and reel the situation back in, the captive codex actually responded — with an answer to his earlier question.
The codex's pages began flipping rapidly, and from between different law-text pages, several characters devoid of any Order essence were flung out. These gray-white characters arranged and rearranged themselves before the codex, assembling, separating, and fusing — and before long, they opened a "gate" to the past for Cheng Shi and Kataro.
Both held their breath and watched. In the next instant, Cheng Shi realized this was a bargaining chip Pride of Order was laying down for the negotiation. And the contents of that chip were...
Why Order transcended all!
The vision, suppressed by the dual restraints of Chaos and Deceit, was not grand in scale, but it was enough for Cheng Shi to discern its contents.
He saw the curtain fall on an era. He saw the universe terminated once more. He saw a new era dawn. He saw... Origin cast a beam of holy light upon this newborn age.
He spoke:
"Order is the prelude to Civilization. When life sheds its chaotic overgrowth, when descent is freed from endless desire — Civilization shall awaken and walk the righteous path."
This sudden voice of Origin sent Cheng Shi's face sheet-white with shock. Kataro was so terrified he collapsed prostrate on the ground.
Fortunately, this was rely Pride of Order's recreation of His own descent — not like Birth, who had yanked people's consciousness bodily into the past. So despite the terror, Cheng Shi held firm.
What he saw next was this: at the dawn of that era — at a historical starting point where, by his understanding, no new god should have been sanctioned — Order had descended into the universe ahead of the other two true gods of Civilization.
He carried Origin's expectations for Order and brought a new order to the universe. In that mont, Civilization sprouted — and began the longest journey in all of existence.
The vision slowly faded. The temple returned to stillness. Cheng Shi's heart roiled with aftershocks that took a long ti to settle.
He blinked, looked at the codex, and asked with a mix of dawning understanding and lingering bewildernt:
"So in the world of the gods, 'premature births' are stronger than 'full-term deliveries.'
I'm not wrong about that, am I?"
"..."
"..."
The codex's flipping pages froze stiff. Still prostrate on the floor, Kataro's expression locked up — before he reverently raised two thumbs toward Lord Cheng Shi.
'No wonder the Benefactor adores you. Let's hope this particular description doesn't earn the wrath of that supre existence and bring down so blasphemy charge — or everything Kataro has worked for will be destroyed by that mouth of yours!'
'Lord Cheng Shi — please, rein it in!'
...
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