Chapter 1311: Blood Dry and Fire Spent — The Gods' Final Act |
As a mortal, one might understand in the abstract that Fate — empowered by the Origin — was invincible.
But it was only a vague notion, like a frog at the bottom of a well gazing upward, knowing the sky was vast but unable to fathom just how boundless it truly was.
Not until that frog gained the strength to leap out of the well and stand upon the surface would it discover that the sky's immensity was far beyond anything it could have imagined.
This was exactly how Cheng Shi felt right now.
The power of War drove his boiling blood into every limb and every bone. World-ending fire coiled and burned around him. He had never felt such overwhelming, terrifying power. It seemed as though he carried an inexhaustible wellspring of divine force, and even his perception of the world had warped into the shape of flame.
He saw himself — a volcano in mid-eruption, crimson fire towering to the heavens. But the enemy... was a blazing sun that illuminated the entire universe, descending upon him!
It was the awe of the minuscule gazing up at the immeasurable. The dread of the created before the Creator. The wariness of the steady before the lethal.
But at a time like this, what use was caution?
Let it all go. Today there were only two endings!
And so Cheng Shi moved.
As the die — an apology for his prejudice against Fate, a memorial for Deceit's departure — slowly rolled to a stop on a one in the Void, "War," bolstered by the last trace of Fate's power, roared and charged toward those eyes as cold as an abyss of ice!
He did not intend to melt the glacier with passion, nor to call it back. He intended to boil away every last drop of cold, to kill the Outer God beneath the very starry sky where Fate had fallen!
Even if it was impossible!
But Fixed Destiny itself had already been broken — what else was impossible now?!
"How do we survive!"
A streak of flame blazed toward Fate's eyes. Searing white fire spread outward like a spider web, dragging those icy irises into a raging inferno.
Within the all-consuming sea of fire, a colossal figure slowly took shape. A fist forged of roars, of keening, of wailing — surged skyward and hammered into the spirals within those eyes.
Those mesmerizing, revolting spirals — despised by mortals and gods alike. "War" could not suppress his fury. One punch shattered them to nothing!
"With blood — and fire!!"
The spirals dissolved. The Stellar Eyes shattered with them.
But it was all an illusion. The Authority of Deceit still clung to the Outer God, and Fate's eyes simply reopened behind Cheng Shi, the fury surging within them no less than his own.
Fate was truly enraged. Watching a scheme cultivated over untold ages crumble in a single moment, He abandoned any lingering attachment to this world.
Let it burn. Let it all burn. A new Fixed Destiny would be reborn in another world, and this place deserved nothing but ruin!
The ever-dimming iridescent light flashed through His eyes. In an instant, the entire world sank into darkness at the Outer God's wrath!
The Void encroaching?
No!
The Abyss of Misfortune!
The Outer God Fate was still Fate, after all. Misfortune — the Authority of Fate most easily witnessed — was also the deadliest weapon in Fate's arsenal.
Fate had once threatened the universe with misfortune, compelling all the gods to unite and support the sky. That alone proved the universe could not withstand the misfortune of Fate.
And if the universe could not endure Fate's misfortune, how could it possibly withstand the misfortune unleashed by the power of the Origin?
The answer was: it could not. Not a chance.
The cataclysmic upheaval drew the gods once more — but this time, they were no longer spectators.
The gods realized the "negotiations" had collapsed. The Outer God was using misfortune to annihilate the world. Even though they knew a world deprived of Fixed Destiny would eventually be destroyed by the Creator anyway, at the very least — while survival was still possible — no god wished to die.
And so, in a single moment, the gods struck. They no longer held the universe aloft. At last, they turned their weapons upon the Outer God Fate!
They finally understood that compromise was futile. Only by eliminating the Outer God could the world buy a single breath of reprieve.
But it was too late.
Birth's light blanketed the mortal realm. Countless followers embraced creation on the spot, and amid the surging tide of procreation, the Divine Pillar condensed the power of faith and lashed out at the Outer God.
Yet fragile life could not shake a god enthroned above the world. The Divine Pillar — strung with the life markers of countless beings — snapped with a gut-wrenching "RRRIP—", breaking apart in Fate's spirals.
Prosperity was silenced. Death was imprisoned.
Life — was no more.
The Sea of Desire churned ceaselessly, but as the universe crumbled, its waters poured entirely into the madly spreading rifts between real and Void.
Decay wanted to resist, but its ashen body had no strength left to give.
Oblivion had long since been obliterated. Descent had drowned in its own depths.
Order still sang. At the very least, the Iron Law of Order's pages and its resounding voice could still be seen and heard by the world. The insignificant mortals, sensing the world's collapse, organized by the few remaining players, raised their voices in united prayer to Order.
This should have been Order's greatest source of strength. But alas, Order was not true Order. Before the chaos it had itself wrought, the Iron Law's struggle was nothing more than the curses and wails of the weak against the strong.
The era's tragedy proved that "the small" needed order to protect the foundations of their survival — while "the vast" did not, because Its will was "order."
Truth... had long since ceased to exist.
The moment it was discovered that the entire world was merely a petri dish for the Creator's experiment, the universe had lost its Truth.
As for War...
He was indeed still fighting.
The "gift" of the Void had split War in two: fire blazed as "Deceit," joining the inferno to burn everything to ash; blood flowed as "Fate," binding the Outer God in chains, straining to drag Him into purgatory.
Yet history had already shown the world that Civilization's story could only end one way — waiting for civilization's fire to be snuffed out by the howling wind.
Chaos had long since entered the game. Folly watched from the sidelines with cold, appraising eyes.
At the infinite edge of the Void, a pair of eyes coated in chaotic white miasma surveyed every corner of the universe, then let out a derisive snort:
"As expected, this world has no answer."
Floating beside Him was a small puppet. It shared its Benefactor's field of vision, face filled with shock. After a moment, it too snorted and asked:
"So, oh impotent god of Folly — all you're capable of is talking. Can you give this world an answer?"
The miasma-veiled eyes fell silent. Then, self-deprecatingly:
"I cannot. Neither can you.
You informed War of the Final Oracle. All that does is hasten the fall of the Void — it is not the answer to escaping it."
The puppet nodded, looking once more toward the center of the gods' battle, and sighed deeply:
"I cannot. Neither can he.
You are the true Wise Man. The foolish acts of Void truly have no answer."
The Void fell silent — and so Silence descended.
The appearance of the Leaking World Silent Puppet instantly drained all color from the universe and all sound from the world. Yet no one could have expected that in this moment — which gave even the Outer God pause — Silence, who had never spoken a word since Chaos descended upon the world, would open His mouth before those furious, frigid Stellar Eyes!
He asked in a mechanical voice: "Why... does it... end this way?"
Fate cast a cold glance at Him, evading the onslaught of blood and fire, and answered with merciless indifference:
"Fixed Destiny exploded from within its silence — and so the world perishes in silence!
The universe has descended into Chaos — why not simply return to it?!"
The next second, the world's collapse accelerated. Existence was about to cease existing.
