Secret World: I Became a God Through Lies

Chapter 513 The Battle of Tokyo Tower: Sakura Umi Declares War

The tower's shadow is like a blade, cherry blossoms fall like snow;
One city is a chessboard, and ten thousand people are pieces.

Between horns and waka poems

Fate collides with fate.

—Record of the End Tower: Cherry Blossom Sea

The wind suddenly stopped in the ruins of Kyoto.

The gray clouds overhead seemed to have been paused; after a half-second of silence, a system notification echoed throughout the ruined city:
[Large-scale faction dungeon now open: Tokyo Tower Siege]

[Faction Assignment: Attacker (Deep Sea Nightmare) / Defender (Sakura no Umi Hana-in)]

[Duration of this session: 10 hours]

[Winning or losing objective:]
Attacker – Capture or destroy Tokyo Tower

The defending team must hold Tokyo Tower until the countdown ends.

Resurrection Rules:
Attacker's respawn point: Temporary camp outside Shibuya area
Defender's respawn point: Tokyo Tower Underground Fortress
Each death and resurrection will reduce the Cataclysm value by an additional 100 points.

As the notification sound faded, the stagnant wind returned to the broken corridor, causing the tattered flags to flutter and raising a cloud of dust.

The distant city silhouettes are shrouded in mist, and the colonnades and torii gates of Kyoto intertwine with modern ruins to create an eerie battlefield scene.

Xiao Jinyan grinned and shrugged at the gray sky: "Ten hours of back-and-forth, that's enough time for me to take two naps."

Xiao Lianyin rolled her eyes at him: "After you finish your nap, your Star Calamity will be gone too."

Si Ming did not respond.

He simply gazed at the distant horizon—the iron tower that would become the answer to all the killing and the question of where to belong, a phantom stretching between Kyoto and Tokyo.

He tapped his fingertips lightly on the iron railing twice, a faint smile playing behind his mask, as if he were greeting someone or placing a bet on someone.

A figure slowly approached from the direction of the iron tower in the distance.

The person's steps seemed ethereal, yet each step resonated deeply in people's hearts like a drumbeat.

His face was painted with a sickly white powder, his eyebrows and eyes were cold and stern, his clothes fluttered without wind, and he held a white paper fan lightly in his palm.

He paused between the pirate horde of deep-sea nightmares and the towering Tokyo Tower, leaned forward slightly, and bowed in greeting.

His voice was clear, as if it were being read from a scroll of waka poetry:

"The Sea of ​​Six Flowers, the Sea of ​​Cherry Blossoms, the Contemporary Head of the Hanakain House - Hanakain Hideyuki."

The Eye of Primordial Chaos, endorsed by the Onmyoji headquarters.

Therefore, we declare war on the nightmares of the deep sea.

As soon as he finished speaking, the paper fan snapped shut.

His voice suddenly deepened, carrying a chilling judgment:
“The Sea of ​​Cherry Blossoms already has a master; it is not for your use. If you are not satisfied, please settle this matter according to the rules of the end.”

Xu Long sat on the high platform, as if listening to a boring play, lazily tossing his wine cup to his attendant and letting out a contemptuous laugh:
"You acted quite convincingly. Singing, smiling, bowing... Try something different next time."

He stood up, his footsteps like iron, his voice shaking the heart: "Then—let's fight."

Xiuxing smiled slightly and looked up at the other side of the crowd.

That gaze swept over Siming for a moment, like a dragonfly skimming the water, yet it carried confirmation and lock-on.

He withdrew his gaze, his voice leisurely, yet sharp and piercing:

"Welcome, everyone... to your deaths."

The four words fell like a cold, decree.

The pirates in the square roared with anger, but in Xiuxing's calm tone, their clamor seemed insignificant.

He gently opened the paper fan again, then turned and left.

His white robes trailed on the ground, like a lone crane in the snow, untouched by any dust.

His figure faded into the distant cherry blossom mist, leaving behind only a cold laugh that seemed to have already sealed their fate.

At the top of Tokyo Tower, the wind cuts through the iron frame, carrying a low hum like metal rubbing against metal. The entire tower looks like an inverted longsword piercing through the dark clouds.

On the futon, Abe Haruhisa leaned against a giant white fox.

The fox's fur was as white as snow, and with each breath, the air seemed to freeze into frost.

He held a folding fan in one hand, gently swaying it, his gaze sweeping down over the entire ruined city.

In the shadows, a ninja lay prostrate on the ground, his voice low but trembling with awe:

"Your Highness, the head of the Kasakain family, Michi, has replied—it has been confirmed that the master of destiny, the Fate Master, will participate in this instance."

Haruhisa raised an eyebrow and smiled faintly.

The fan closed lightly, and the knuckles tapped the side of the knee with a rhythmic "tap tap," like striking an invisible chessboard.

"Fate and play, chess and pieces... today they are all here."

He looked up at the sky, his dark pupils seemingly piercing through the thick clouds, exchanging a silent greeting with the primordial eye hanging deep in the void.

"Then—let the city of slaughter begin."

"As ordered!"

On the other side, a tall military general knelt on one knee, his thick armor clanging as he rose and swung his long flag down.

The next instant, the entire city seemed to be set ablaze.

At street corners, in alleyways, and on the rooftops of ruins, cherry-colored runes emerge from the ground.

They are not uniform, but vary in size and shape. Some resemble gaping maws, some look like staring eyes, and some are like torii gates floating in mid-air, overlapping each other.

Pink petals fell from the sky, initially like a gentle rain, but then turned into sharp cracks the moment they hit the ground.

Cut the steel bars, shatter the glass, and the patterns etched by cherry blossoms appear in the air.

The Hundred Demon Barrier is activated. But that's not all—the Onmyoji belonging to the Kasakain family are layering their own mysterious barriers on top of each other:

Someone set up a "mirror barrier," and in an instant, three phantoms appeared at the street corner, making it difficult to distinguish between the real and the fake.

Someone set up a "soul-binding barrier," and anyone who stepped into it felt their limbs become heavy, as if they were being strangled by invisible chains.

There is also a "formless barrier" that causes the outlines of tall buildings to constantly distort in the mist, making the streets seem to be rewritten, and those who enter it do not even know their direction.

The barriers were layered upon layered, like a huge and deformed cherry blossom blooming in the sky above the city, covering every inch of the street.

The sea of ​​cherry blossoms transforms into a nightmare under the cover of night, a blend of tenderness and terror.

Haruhisa's profile was sharply outlined by the wind. He exhaled softly, his voice low and deep, as if dispersing an invisible melody into the air:

A silent hymn drifts to every corner of the city.

The entire ruined city then began to dance to his music.

A sudden gust of wind arose in the distance, swirling up cherry blossom petals everywhere.

Xu Long stood atop the broken building, looking up at the Tokyo Tower, which was swallowed up by a pink barrier.

The tower's shadow blurred amidst the cherry blossoms and the illusion, as if dragged into a sea of ​​blood by a giant beast.

He smirked, pointed his finger forward, and his voice, like thunder, reverberated throughout the ruined city:
"—Conquer it!"

"Roar--!"

The response was a deafening roar.

The pirate legion of the Deep Sea Nightmare roared into action, with hundreds of figures cascading down the broken overpass and streets like a tidal wave.

Some people wore sharkskin capes with metallic dorsal fins that fluttered in the wind;

Some people carried giant anchors on their shoulders, and sparks flew as they stepped on the ground.

Some people were covered in a jellyfish-like biofilm, with their tentacles appearing and disappearing, leaving afterimages in the shadows of the ruins;
The Imperial Guards marched in formation, their steps precise, pushing forward the front amidst the clash of gunfire and steel.

Calvino turned around, his gaze falling on Si Ming, whose back was adorned with a violin case and firearms. He smiled slightly and nodded.

Liu Xi suddenly stopped at the front of the group and drew both swords at once.

In an instant, one side of the sword spewed out frost, while the other side was engulfed in blazing flames.

The sword tip touched the ground, and traces of intertwined ice and fire meandered and spread along the ruins, as if heaven and earth had been split into two realms.

Si Ming turned his head and glanced lightly at his teammates beside him: "Keep up, don't fall behind."

Xiao Lianyin whispered a reminder: "Remember, you are the team leader, not the house at the gambling table."

“I am both.” Si Ming smiled, his tone frivolous, but he couldn’t hide the sharpness in his eyes.

They moved against the wind, stepping into the raging tide.

Amidst roars and flames, join the torrent rushing towards the iron tower.

Under the cover of night, the ruins of Kyoto are filled with broken torii gates and collapsed concrete buildings on both sides of the street. The remnants of neon lights flicker on and off, like dying eyes blinking in the shadows.

The air was filled with a damp, cool mist, mixed with a faint fragrance of petals. When the wind blew, layers of pink cherry blossom mist swept over.

Si Ming led Calvino, Lilia, Xiao Jinyan, Xiao Lianyin, and Xin Nai, the six of them walking slowly down the street.

The sound of footsteps echoed in the empty street, sounding particularly abrupt.

Xiao Jinyan shrank back and muttered under his breath, "It really feels like playing a horror game..."

Si Ming turned his head, his voice behind the mask calm: "That time, weren't we just struggling to survive in a horror story?"

Lilia chuckled softly, and with a wave of her hand, the mysterious card appeared, its silver light like a butterfly. She softly chanted a secret incantation, and several tiny spirits flickered in the air.

The spirits, like tiny, transparent sprites, landed on everyone's shoulders, whispering faintly in their ears.

“Alright,” Lilia withdrew her fingertips. “I have summoned the Whispering Spirits. They can build encrypted communication between us, allowing us to respond to each other no matter how far apart we are.”

Calvino nodded, his back calm: "Very good. We don't need to rush to catch up with the main force."

He looked up at the distant iron tower swallowed by the cherry blossom mist, his voice low and deep: "This is a long war, to survive to the end..."

Si Ming took over, a slight smile playing on his lips: "...that's how you live your best life."

Nobuna snorted coldly, her hand pressing tightly on the hilt of her long sword, her eyes icy: "But it seems that the other side doesn't intend for us to live a good life."

Before he finished speaking, the fog at the street corner suddenly churned violently.

A flurry of petals swirled in the wind, coalescing into a blurry human figure.

The person slowly emerged from the fog, dressed in a brightly colored geisha costume, with black hair trailing on the ground, and a blank face devoid of features, leaving only a dark void.

Meanwhile, from the shadows of the surrounding high-rises and ruins, came the sounds of flapping wings and soft cries.

The crows landed on the eaves, their eyes red, their sharp beaks scraping together with a piercing sound.

The long-armed monster stretched its figure in the mist, its arms dragging on the ground like iron chains;
More shikigami and yokai gradually appeared, their figures appearing and disappearing in the mist and afterglow, surrounding the six people in layers.

The air was so oppressive that even breathing seemed to freeze.

Si Ming slowly raised his hand, and the Book of Lies at his fingertips gently turned a page.

The streets were silent, the wind carrying petals like drumbeats.

At the touch of a hair.

The flag flutters in the wind, the slaughter takes place in the city;
Where cherry blossoms fall, lies the path of blood-written inscriptions.

Dragon and fox, sea and cherry blossom,

Tonight, all will enter the tower.

—From "The Night Before the Cherry Blossom Sea"

(End of this chapter)