Secret World: I Became a God Through Lies

Chapter 390 Trial of the Stars
"When the stars speak, the world is judged."

When judgment falls from the stars, all we can do is pray.

Let us pray that fate has not completely forgotten us.

—Excerpt from *The Forbidden Book of Stars: Chapter of the Stars: Whispers of Doomsday*

Si Ming abruptly stopped, his gaze sharp as a blade piercing through the thick darkness.

A strange, indescribable tremor echoed in the air, faint yet persistent, as if stars were slowly colliding at the end of the endless void, softly chanting ancient verses that were mesmerizing.

Those low murmurs were like the whispers in the mind of an insomniac at midnight, impossible to shake off, silently eroding his reason.

He slowly raised his head, his gaze piercing through the gloomy, dimly lit corridor. The dome was no longer a cold, monotonous concrete wall, but a strange and vast sea of ​​stars.

The starry sky was deep and boundless, with countless stars twinkling like cold eyes. Each star seemed to possess its own will, silently scrutinizing the three people in the corridor with an air of looking down upon all living beings.

Siming's heart raced slightly, a hidden fear rising within him—the instinctive tremor of a soul facing the unknown.

He felt the pressure coming from all directions gradually intensify, as if he were inside the belly of some invisible behemoth, and their existence had been completely detected by this strange star.

Selene and Lynn beside her had equally solemn expressions; they too had sensed that unspeakable fear.

The silence among the three was broken by Lynn's low, uncertain voice:
"What is this?"

“We’re being watched.” Celian’s tone was calm and cold, but her clenched fists betrayed her extremely tense nerves.

As soon as she finished speaking, the office doors on both sides of the corridor opened slowly with a heavy metallic scraping sound, as if opening the gates of hell that had been dormant for a long time.

The faceless employees, who had been mechanically worshipping, suddenly stopped moving, their bodies beginning to twist and expand at an alarming speed, like monsters breaking free from human skin.

In an instant, the narrow corridor was filled with countless enormous and eerie star nightmares.

Their bodies were formed from ethereal and brilliant stardust, each fragment gleaming with a faint, cold light.
Countless delicate tentacles floated slowly like drifting dust, eerie yet elegant, exuding a chaotic and oppressive aura that was impossible to look directly at.

Si Ming felt an indescribable chill rise from behind him, as if a deep abyss was quietly approaching. He subconsciously took a half step back, his eyes fixed on the approaching nightmares.

They seemed to be waiting for something, or perhaps silently questioning their very existence.

Just then, that eerie and grand voice echoed once more in the void—

That was the ancient whisper of the stars at the edge of the universe, cold and proud.
Like some great being above mortals, it is proclaiming an inviolable judgment from a position of looking down.

"The stars whisper, judgment is coming."

Si Ming's heart sank. He suddenly realized that these monsters before him were nothing more than servants of the stars, messengers of judgment.
But a deeper fear lurks in the darkness higher up.

He took a deep breath, his gaze gradually becoming resolute and calm under the dark and eerie starry sky—even if judgment were to come, even if the stars were to whisper, they would never bow to fate.

In that instant, Si Ming's gaze seemed to pierce through the cold, watching stars deep within the universe, reaching the most hidden abyss at the end of darkness.

The stars slowly approached, countless celestial bodies swirling and intertwining in the silent darkness of the void.
Gradually coalescing into a vast and magnificent human figure, it slowly but irresistibly descended from the center of the starry sea.

It was a majestic and mysterious deity, whose body was hidden in an ever-changing cloak of nebulae. Every star was born and died at his feet, as eternal and unpredictable as the breath of all things.

He had no distinct features, only a face as deep and empty as the abyss of the universe.

Two faint and desolate starlight replaced eyes, gazing down upon the God of Fate and the crowd with an air of looking down upon all things.

“Star Speaker…” Si Ming murmured the forbidden name, and a sudden feeling of oppression, as if an invisible hand were choking him, rose in his heart, making even breathing extremely difficult.

"What...what is this thing?" Lin Yuxi's voice trembled.

Her pupils contracted sharply in terror, her face was as pale as if covered in frost, and her whole body trembled uncontrollably.

“It’s over… This is something that humans simply cannot fight against…” another survivor muttered to himself, the last glimmer of light in his eyes gradually fading, replaced by a sense of utter despair and blankness.

As more survivors around them collapsed like dominoes, others followed suit.

Terrified cries and hoarse pleas for help intertwined, as if they had fallen into an endless abyss of darkness from which they could never escape.

The Star Speaker slowly raised an illusory arm, and countless fragments of stars shimmering with gray light rapidly coalesced in His palm, instantly forming several strange and twisted gray star servants.

These servants floated in the void like ghosts born from nightmares, their gray tentacles drifting slowly like smoke, approaching Si Ming and the others with an elegant yet eerie manner.

The air began to echo with the deep, drawn-out whispers of the stars, subtle yet clear.

It was as if they were reciting ancient scriptures, or perhaps proclaiming an inescapable fate:
"Mortals will eventually succumb to the judgment of the stars, reason will vanish like dust, and only death can end eternal madness..."

Lin Yuxi finally broke down completely. She clutched her head and screamed uncontrollably, "Please, don't come any closer! Let us go!"

Si Ming clenched his teeth, his gaze like a desperate blade in the dead of night, his fingertips trembling slightly.

He could clearly feel his rationality being slowly eroded and his inner resistance gradually weakening, but the light in his eyes never went out.

He understood that they were standing at the critical juncture of fate and destruction; if they took one step forward, they might fall into an abyss from which there was no end.
But if one takes a step back, one can only be reduced to a lowly servant under the stars forever.

Si Ming felt a heavy weight on his heart, as if a giant boulder was pressing down on him, yet he was more resolute than ever before.

He gazed at the deity descended from the stars before him, and silently made up his mind:

"Fate may be the cruelest joke, but even if it is a joke, we must struggle to fight it to the end."

He slowly clenched his fist, a faint cracking sound coming from his knuckles.

The endless stars behind him continued to whisper, and he was ready, even if the price was his reason and his life, he would never bow his head.

Si Ming suddenly felt as if his heart was being gripped tightly by an invisible hand, the violent pounding almost tearing his chest apart. The eerie whispers of the stars surged like a tide deep within his consciousness, relentlessly battering the banks of his reason, as if they would utterly destroy his last vestiges of clarity and resistance in the next second.

He gritted his teeth, straining with all his willpower to fight against madness, barely managing to banish those whispers from the edge of his consciousness.
But he clearly felt that the boundaries of reason were rapidly collapsing, and the remaining defenses were in grave danger.

The Star Speaker, with an indifferent expression, slowly raised His arm, which seemed to stretch into the endless void. His long, pale fingers made a gentle sweeping motion across the nothingness.
The movement was so gentle it was almost elegant, yet it exuded a terrifying, suffocating power.

In an instant, a deep, ancient whisper of stars resounded through the corridor, like an ancient deity proclaiming a judgment of destiny.

The void then tore open, and torrents of starlight poured down, converging into several enormous meteorites burning with pale flames.
Accompanied by a soul-shaking tremor, it crashed down with unstoppable force towards the location of the Fate Master.

Siming's pupils suddenly contracted, and he shouted sharply, "Everyone, hide behind me!"

Lynn made a quick decision and summoned the headless gray knight.

The knight's towering phantom instantly stood upright, raising his greatsword in an attempt to forcefully block the destructive impact of the stars.

Selene moved swiftly, quickly protecting Lin Yuxi and the survivors, using her sharp claws to desperately fend off the slowly approaching tentacles of the Star Language servants.

"Illusory Corridor!" Si Ming shouted, and the cards spun and rose between his fingers like silver meteors, transforming into dazzling light.

One after another, illusory figures burst forth from Siming's body, each one identical to him.
Its body radiated a dreamlike glow, spreading rapidly before everyone like the reflection of stars, forming an illusory yet resilient barrier.

The meteorite, carrying irresistible pressure and destructive power, violently struck the illusory clones, and a deafening explosion resounded throughout the entire space.

In an instant, the illusory avatars of the Fate Master shattered and vanished, turning into scattered fragments of starlight that disappeared in all directions.
However, it also successfully absorbed all the deadly energy, protecting the true master of destiny and everyone else behind it.

As the violent shockwave subsided, Siming's face turned deathly pale, a smear of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, and his body trembled slightly, clearly at his last gasp.

He struggled to lift his head, gazing at the Star Speaker who remained unmoved before him, a sense of unprecedented despair and bewilderment welling up within him.

He was acutely aware that the illusory corridor he had painstakingly constructed was crumbling step by step, while the judgment of the stars was only just beginning to truly descend.

Before the vast expanse of stars, the resistance of mortals seemed so weak, like bubbles in the ocean that could be swallowed up at any moment, but the God of Fate did not give up.

He took a deep breath of the cold air, clutching his remaining faith, and whispered to himself on the edge of his soul:

"Perhaps humanity's destiny is defined in the constant process of collapse and reconstruction."

The lingering echoes of the falling stars still faintly reverberated in the void, and the edges of the illusory corridor slowly cracked like pages of paper left to rot in the wind.
The spiderweb-like cracks spread silently, hinting that the web of fate was about to be ruthlessly torn apart.

Si Ming took a deep breath of the cold air, his chest heaving violently, blood slowly flowing down the corner of his lips, yet he still stood tall and proud, his gaze clear and sharp, facing the cold and cruel judgment of the stars.

The Star Speaker stepped slowly and gracefully out of the void, the boundless stars behind him billowing like a magnificent cloak of a god, endlessly turning.

The phantom on His face was unfathomable, swallowing all light like a black hole. The cold starlight looked down on the God of Fate, as indifferent as if observing ants in the dust.

"Judgment has come, and you mortals are insignificant."

The Star Speaker's deep voice resonated like stars billions of light-years away, echoing deep within Si Ming's mind: "The Eye of the Stars has already watched; the end of destiny is at this moment."

Before He finished speaking, countless gray star crawlers, star nightmares, and whispering stars surged towards Si Ming and the others like a silent tide.

Tentacles flew, stardust swirled, and they madly and elegantly intertwined to form a vortex of death, slowly pressing down on everyone's last line of defense.

Selian stood protectively in front of Lin Yuxi and the survivors, her pale face unusually solemn and resolute.
Lynn gritted his teeth, the card in his hand trembling slightly, but he still stood firm without flinching, trying his best to maintain that broken but steadfast defense.

Si Ming slowly raised his head, his eyes sharp as a blade piercing through the endless darkness.

He reached up and wiped the blood from the corner of his lips, but a cold and resolute smile appeared on his lips:

"Judgment...you dare to presume?"

The moment he finished speaking, the cards flew out from between his fingers again—the spades sliced ​​through the void like merciless blades, and the hearts exploded like blazing flames, briefly keeping the Star Servants outside.

His eyes blazed with an unprecedented resolve and madness, and the corridor of illusion opened once more.
Numerous illusory clones split off from his body, like reflections of stars, protecting everyone behind him.

Those illusory clones stood before him like ghosts, forming an invisible yet incredibly resilient barrier that stubbornly resisted the whispers of the stars and the oppressive aura of the Star Speaker.

Si Ming stared at the Star Speaker, his voice low and cold, carrying the stubborn and fearless spirit of a young man: "I choose destiny, not submission!"

The Star Speaker paused slightly, his deep, ethereal face silently gazing at Siming.

It seems to be a re-examination of the fact that this insignificant mortal possesses such a tenacious will and belief.

The next moment, He slowly raised a hand, and the stars in the void slowly gathered again. The terrifying and dazzling light, like the sword of divine judgment, coldly pierced into the depths of Si Ming's eyes.

“In that case,” the Star Speaker declared in a low voice, “let us face this final judgment.”

A nameless determination welled up in Si Ming's heart. He knew that this was a battle with no turning back, a desperate gamble to face the abyss of fate.

Even in dire straits, even with the stars above him, he still has to fight with all his might to carve out his own future on the edge of madness and chaos.

Because the meaning of life lies in constantly facing the inescapable fate, even if the price is eternal darkness.

"Under the judgment of the stars, all living beings are but ants."

In the judgment of fate, reason is as fragile as a cicada's wing.

Only by abandoning all illusions and facing the line between falsehood and reality,
Only then can one gain a brief respite, one that belongs to oneself.

—Excerpt from *Starry Sky Judgment: Final Chapter - The Gate of Illusion*

(End of this chapter)