Chapter 610: The Heart-to-Heart Between Deceit and Fate |
Rewind the clock a moment.
After the Void civil war had shattered the entire expanse, two identical pairs of eyes confronted each other once more in the deepest reaches of the Void, neither willing to yield.
As the twin sovereigns of Void, their emotions visibly influenced its state. And so, a wondrous sight appeared:
In these deep layers of Void—rarely explored by outsiders—one half of the realm danced with exuberant joy, awash in feverishly psychedelic colors, while the other half was frozen tundra, its howling winds threatening to encase the entire universe in ice.
"Hee~
Shall we continue?"
Deceit, eyes upturned at the corners, grinned as always. It didn't appear to have gotten the worse of the clash.
Fate was cold as true destiny. It knew it couldn't overcome its sibling god, but some tantrums simply needed throwing—otherwise, one day, the insufferable creature would literally irritate it to death.
"A pointless act of foolishness. Continuing would only waste time.
"?" Deceit blinked in bewilderment. "Are you sure you're Fate and not that foul-mouthed Folly? Because if you are Fate, you seem to be getting assimilated awfully fast."
"..."
No one could out-talk the Fun God in a war of words—Fate was well aware of that. So it dropped the banter and shifted to a colder warning:
"You violated the Void Agreement you yourself established. Therefore, as of now, the Agreement is void."
Deceit seemed wholly unbothered. It nodded: "Indeed. Void. You're free to withdraw your faith from that follower of yours."
"?"
The instant those words left Deceit's mouth, the frigid gale of the Void surged forward, pushing the boundary of "ice and fire" right up to Deceit's eyes.
"He is my follower. The faith that should be reclaimed is yours, Deceit!"
"My, my—it seems someone is forgetting certain facts.
How curious. I'm the one opposed to Memory, yet somehow my memory is better than a certain god who isn't even affected by Memory?
Let me think... I recall your follower—oh wait, I should say my follower—was an Oathbreaker?
Yes, he was. But whose oath did he break, exactly?
That memory is sooo old—I really need to think hard."
"..." Fate said nothing. The winds blew even fiercer.
Its frigid gaze swept across the pair of eyes identical to its own, then spoke in a low voice:
"His Oathbreaking was also part of the Void Agreement you drafted. Since the Agreement is now null, the Oathbreaking naturally doesn't count."
Deceit's eyes rolled, amused:
"Fine, fine. For the sake of our shared Void, I'll let you have this one.
But Chaos has already acknowledged his loyalty. That can't be undone. Since it's come to this, why not abandon your plan to move closer to Folly and join hands with Chaos instead? Together you could explore the future.
Chaos conceals the essence—Fate sees through to truth. When you think about it, you two are quite complementary. Not bad at all. Rather interesting, actually."
"And you still claim you didn't meddle—that you didn't steer him toward Chaos!"
"Don't go slandering me. My relationship with Chaos is purely professional—nothing sordid about it.
Chaos is one of the sixteen true gods personally appointed by Origin—named, enthroned, and granted authority. Even at my best, I can't control what it thinks, let alone when it's inherently chaotic.
So whatever choices it makes have nothing to do with me.
Adult gods should take responsibility for their own actions. That advice goes for you too.
And while we're at it, don't blame me for your follower's choices either. You heard him—he didn't mention Deceit once.
Oh wait, he did mention Blazing Sun. So maybe it was that prisoner who corrupted him?
Convicts, after all—they'll do anything to break out of jail."
Fate was speechless. It stared coldly at its sibling, then after a long silence, abruptly quelled the Void's gale and chill. A faint, weary sigh escaped:
"Existence works in harmony, top to bottom. Why must Void be divided?"
"Hmm? Who's dividing? Are you trying to split from me, dear sister? How ruthless."
"..." Every star-point and spiral in Fate's eyes froze still. It returned to perfect joylessness and said: "You know what I mean. It was Origin who bestowed everything. Drawing closer to it is not a mistake."
"I used to think so too," Deceit laughed self-deprecatingly, then grew increasingly enigmatic. "Until..."
"Until what?"
"Until my rebellious phase hit. Hee~
A child who never changes is so boring. Who knows—maybe it's me that Origin favors, not the rest of you?"
"..."
Fate gave up. It ceased trying to correct its sibling's thinking. But it still offered a warning: "Even so, for you, Chaos is not a good choice.
Don't forget—when Chaos started its era, its rejection of Order wasn't for any other reason. It, too, was trying to draw closer to Origin.
Chaos is different from you. It won't necessarily help you."
"I don't need its help. Right now, I'm the one helping it. And I'll help myself too—so you needn't worry about that.
If you're bored, go write some more tragedies. A world full of fun is too distant from you. Not understanding it is perfectly normal."
"...Incorrigible. Time will prove that I am right." Fate spoke with glacial finality.
"Yes, yes, yes—you're right. You're always right. I was expecting you to say 'Time will eventually give you the answer,' but it turns out—he never gave you an answer at all, did he? So why did he give one to your Oathbreaker?"
Fate's brow creased: "He will not be Fate's prisoner. He will be Fate's Destiny."
Hearing this, Deceit's eye corners drew up in a mocking arc. The derision was so layered and complex that it was impossible to tell whether it was aimed at Fate, at Time, or... at itself.
Fate had no intention of wasting more time. It cast one final glance at Deceit:
"Since the Agreement is void, Fate's follower will inevitably walk the path of faith fusion. You...
take care of yourself."
With that, Fate vanished—leaving Deceit to roar with laughter in the empty Void.
"Such an actress. At the end of the day, you just can't bear to part with your little darling.
Ha—the Oathbreaker of Fate. Mmm, not bad. Not bad at all."
With a casual blink, the Void that had shattered in their civil war was restored in an instant. Infinite darkness flowed once more through the expanse. The god peered into its depths, toward those two followers who fancied themselves Jokers telling tales of Void, and let out a contemptuous snicker before yanking one of them over.
As for the other one...
'Tch. Stinks of Memory. Just looking at it is annoying.'
And so, before the two Jokers could even take the stage, one was flung out of the Void and the other was trembling before the "audience."
"Praise be—" Cheng Shi's opener was so well-rehearsed it was automatic. He hadn't even identified which pair of eyes he was facing before the words tumbled out.
But Deceit knew him all too well. So in the instant the Clown was about to raise his head, it locked his body in place—preventing him from seeing who this audience was with.
"..."
The scene hung awkwardly. Until the entity spoke, Cheng Shi genuinely couldn't be sure which Benefactor stood before him.
Normally this would be the Fun God. But by sheer coincidence, his actions today might also have offended the other one. So...
The Clown panicked. Cold sweat erupted from his brow in an instant.
"Go on—why'd you stop praising?"
Hearing that sardonic, mocking voice, the weight on the Clown's heart instantly lifted.
'Saved!'
'It's the Fun God!'
"Praise the great God of Deceit! Beneath your gaze, the world overflows with falsehood and the universe knows no more truth!"
Cheng Shi couldn't have sounded more devout. But the moment he finished, Deceit snorted with contempt:
"Then that sentence you just said—was it truth or a lie?"
"It was—"
'Was nothing—just kill me and be done with it!'
The Clown's face crumbled. He gave up on the spot.
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