Secret World: I Became a God Through Lies

Chapter 507 Deep Sea Nightmare: The Ownership of the Sea
The ocean belongs to no one.
Unless you rule over all nightmares.

Beyond the stars, beneath the waves,
The highest banner is flying.

—The Deep Sea Nightmare Covenant

Liseria picked up her wine glass and swirled it gently. The red wine reflected the firelight, but her gaze was fixed on something much further away.

“I haven’t been in a hurry to go into the tower since the Alleston incident,” she said, her tone laced with a characteristic languor and amusement, but her expression had become more composed.

"I went back to Trian."

The Royal Library of the Trelian Empire.

It was a palace built of white marble, with luminous pearls embedded in the vaulted ceiling, and mountains of books in the depths of the long corridors, the air filled with the scent of time and ink.

There, Liseria found the manuscript left by her father, Henrian VII.

【Chronicles of the Tower of the End】.

She flipped through the faded parchment, the handwriting straight and steady, recording her father Henrian—a former alien host—the entire process of climbing the Tower of the End.

The manuscript is unadorned, simply a calm description of the cruelty of each level and the fall of each companion.

Eventually, he gave up.

He gave up the glory of the Star Calamity, gave up the opportunity to go further, and returned to Terian with his broken body, growing old as a mortal.

“He was my father, the guardian of the crown,” Liseria chuckled softly. “But the end he chose was the tomb of mortals, not the throne of gods.”

At that moment, she truly understood—

The Tower of the End is a shackle that cannot be broken by one person alone.

If she wants to get up there, she will need more help.

More family members.

“So I didn’t go into the tower right away.” She put down her wine glass, tapped her fingers lightly on the table, and a smile curved her lips.

"Later, on my brother Edel's recommendation, I boarded Allison's 'Doomsday Rose'."

She followed Alison across various seas and worlds, navigating storms and wars.

There was blood and sea salt there, and also what she wanted.

“I am gathering my unfortunate relatives,” she said softly, her eyes turning slightly cold.

"They are the sharpest weapons of my future, and also the trump cards that qualify me to climb to the end."

The tavern fire flickered, and her voice paused for a moment, as if waiting for others to process this "princess's return journey."

She herself simply picked up her glass, took a sip of red wine, and had a faint smile on her lips.

Liseria put down her cup, her eyes turning cold in the dim light: "Unfortunately, my journey hadn't even reached its end when a letter called me back."

That was Edel's plea for help.

The Sea of ​​Six Flowers is churning with storms.

The banner of the Deep Sea Nightmare Fleet, with its crest of a red dragon intertwined with nightmares, flutters in the sky above all shipping lanes.

“Edel is a stubborn fool,” Liseria said with a veiled smile.
"He was unwilling to submit to pirates, much less bow down to any flag. But he failed to see that the Deep Sea Nightmare had already gathered most of the forces of the Sea Gate World."

Xu Long.

Captain of the Red Dragon Pirate Crew, the highest-ranking World-type pirate.

That day, on the deck of the Blood Coral Islands, he publicly revealed his Supreme Card:
【Deep Sea Nightmare: Cthune】

The seawater turned black in an instant, and countless phantom tentacles appeared in the sky above the islands, with a nightmare atmosphere covering the sky and the sea.

That was the oppressive feeling of the supreme No.4; any resistance was meaningless at that moment.

"Pirates, kingdoms, and shipping guilds all bowed their heads that day."

Liseria said, a complex look flashing in her eyes, “Because it wasn’t just power, it was a declaration—from now on, the ocean belongs to the deep-sea nightmare.”

Worse still, Allison—the queen who drank and sailed the seas with her—had already cast her flag.

The sails of the "Doomsday Rose" are embroidered with the symbol of the deep-sea nightmare.

Trean hangs precariously on the Sixflower Sea.

“I had no choice.” Liseria sighed softly, then her smile sharpened again.

She returned to the country in person, donned the royal robes of Trelian, and represented the empire in negotiations with Xu Long.

What she wants is not independence, but autonomy.

Under the rule of the Deep Sea Nightmare, the Six Flowers Sea was preserved as an autonomous territory.

Thus, the Terian Empire, the overlord of the Six Flowers Sea, became a star under the banner of the Deepsea Nightmare.

Liseria looked up at Si Ming, her eyes burning with rage: "As for myself, I've changed my identity."

She gently adjusted her maid's dress at her chest, a sly smile on her face: "The princess's crown was removed, and what was draped over her shoulders was the cloak of the pirate crew Star Calamity. She followed Calvino's ship into the Tower of the End."

After Liseria finished speaking, she took a sip of her wine, her smile carrying a deeper meaning. No sooner had she finished speaking than Calvino took over the conversation.

"Her story, and ours, actually lead to the same conclusion, albeit by different paths."

He put down the violin case, his expression calm and composed: "The Dream Sea is one of the three dreams of the Nightmare World."

Since ancient times, the nightmare world has been composed of three forces—illusionary dreams, nightmares, and eternal dreams.

The "Dream Sea" held by the Calvino siblings is an extension of one of the three dreams.

"The day Xu Long takes control of the Deep Sea Nightmare and raises the Supreme Card, we will have no other choice."

Calvino continued, his voice low, but without a trace of shame.

"The Dreamlike Dark Sea has been incorporated into the Deep Sea Nightmare. We, naturally, have become a part of it."

Lilia nodded, a hint of resentment in her eyes, but also a sense of helplessness. Si Ming listened quietly, his eyes narrowing slightly beneath the white clown mask.

He originally thought that Xu Long was just another pirate king, merely the holder of the highest authority in the world system.

But what he said next gave him a sudden shock.

“Xu Long’s goal is not simply expansion.” Calvino paused, his gaze drifting through the tavern window as if he could see the boundless Black Sea.

"He said he wanted to unite the seas and lead all the Star Scourges from all the sea lanes into the Tower of the End."

"He said he wanted to conquer the tower."

He said he wanted to make humanity—

Calvino's tone suddenly lowered slightly, carrying an inexplicable heaviness:
"Wake up again, and leave behind the endless nightmare."

"wake up?"

Si Ming's fingers paused slightly on the wine glass, his eyes instantly sharpening.

That's a term known only to a few people.

A ripple of emotion stirred within him:
Could it be that Xu Long... was also one of my former companions? A creator?
The tavern lights reflected on the mask, and the bizarre smile couldn't hide a moment of deep thought and chill.

Calvino gently swirled the wine in his glass, the amber liquid dancing on the glass like ocean waves recalling his words.

“After Xu Long raised the Supreme Card, he did not force us.”

Calvino's tone was calm, with a hint of reminiscence.

“He was very blunt—either stay and slumber in the old dreams, or wake up and follow him to the end.”

"My brother and I hesitated, but ultimately we chose the latter."

He slowly raised his eyes and looked at Si Ming, his gaze unusually serious.

"Because that road was one we were bound to take sooner or later anyway."

The siblings were promoted one after the other.

Calvino chose the Dark Star Devourer sequence.

That night, he stood beneath the starry sky of the Black Sea, watching countless stars fade away, and finally allowed the power devoured by the Dark Star to flow into his body.

His aura became cold and deep, as oppressive as the deepest abyss.

Lilia then embarked on the path of the Destroyer of Stars.

Under the crimson sky, she gazed at the collapsing Milky Way, the stars turning to ashes, and her eyes lit up as well.

From then on, her music and gaze could reflect the impending doom of the future.

Both of them are associated with the twelve stars.

"We have joined the Deepsea Nightmare and become a member of the vanguard."

Calvino paused, then gave a self-deprecating smile. "It's for Xu Long, and also for myself."

"So we followed the pirate fleet and sailed toward the Tower of the End."

He shook his head slightly, his tone tinged with helplessness: "To pave the way for the nightmares of the deep sea, and also to find an answer for ourselves."

At this point, he suddenly smiled, as if he had remembered something: "By the way, Siming, you should also be interested."

"Baroque, Allison, Ian, Rex... not long after you left, they all advanced to the twelfth star."

He put down his glass and tapped the table lightly with his finger: "They are ready to step into the Star Calamity at any moment. When the time is right, they will come up—and join us."

The atmosphere in the tavern quieted down slightly at that moment.

The wind howls outside the window, as if reminding us that more old friends are on their way.

Calvino gently set down his glass, turned his gaze to Si Ming, and spoke with unusual firmness:

"Our goal is the same—to conquer the Tower of the End."

His voice wasn't loud, but it was like a wave, drowning out the noisy laughter and clinking glasses in the tavern.

Without hesitation, Liseria picked up the cup, gently lifting the rim with her fingertips, a fierce light igniting in her eyes.

"In that case, let's have a drink. To survive, and to go further."

The wine rippled on the glass, reflecting the smile in her eyes that held a mixture of fire and sharpness.

Si Ming watched them quietly.

The tavern lights reflected on the mask, its bizarre curves making it difficult to decipher his thoughts.

He was silent for a moment, as if weighing something, before finally a faint smile appeared on his lips:
"it is good."

"Then let's go together."

The tavern lights flickered, and four wine glasses sat on the table, their dim light casting different shadows.

Liseria's sly smile, Calvino's composed expression, Lilia's quietly listening gaze, and the indifference and contemplation behind the mask of the Fate Master.

Friendship, politics, and power intertwine at this moment, like four undercurrents slowly converging into a greater storm deep within the labyrinth of the Tower of the End.

Just as the wine in the glass was gently swirling, Calvino suddenly added in a low voice, seemingly casually, yet enough to freeze the air instantly:
"The banner of the deep-sea nightmare—"

"It will soon drift into the Tower of the End."

The waves of the sea have been united under one flag.
The highest sails have already pointed to the tower.

In the labyrinth of the end,
Old friends and new allies
Together we will write a chapter of voyages.

—A Voyage Through the Deep Sea Nightmare

(End of this chapter)