Secret World: I Became a God Through Lies

Chapter 556 Fate Collapses
"When fate rolls the dice, even the gods must bow their heads."

—The Godslayer's Journal: The Chapter of Uria

The wind is still blowing.

Rose petals were rolled up and hit the broken stone slabs, splattering fine bloodstains.

The gray and red blended together, making it seem as if even the sky was bleeding.

Si Ming knelt in the center of the sea of ​​flowers, his hands supporting him on the ground, blood dripping from between his fingers.

His breathing was erratic, and his shoulders trembled slightly with each breath.

The trench coat had several holes burned in it, and playing cards were scattered all over the floor.

He was still smiling, a smile that carried mockery, stubbornness, and a composure as if he were about to die.

Miyoko's footsteps sounded softly.

She walked from the end of the blood-stained flowers, her white clothes stained with dark red mist, her skirt trailing on the ground, exuding an elegant cruelty.

With each step she took, the petals would automatically part to pave a path for her.

"Are you still holding on?" Her voice was as gentle as a spring breeze, yet colder than a knife.

"Truly a gambler of fate."

Si Ming raised his head, a faint gray light in his eyes.

He forced a smile and chuckled softly, "I don't recall... ever admitting defeat at the gambling table."

Miyoko sighed softly, seemingly amused by his stubbornness.

She raised her right hand, her fingertips flashing red light, and her tone became gentle, yet carried an undeniable air of authority.

"System, display the status of the disaster area barrier."

The air vibrates.

A ring of light appeared in the void above her head, followed by a slowly emerging emerald green energy bar.

The ten squares were complete, gleaming with a cold light.

The sea of ​​roses immediately fell silent.

Miyoko turned her head away, her eyes filled with naked sarcasm and pride.

"See that?" She pointed to the health bar.
The red petals stained her fingertips, making them stand out starkly.

"This is the Disaster Domain, a protective mechanism that only high-level Star Disasters can comprehend."

She tilted her head slightly, her tone as gentle as if she were explaining the rules to a novice player:

"All your little tricks, the illusory chessboard, illusions, explosions, fire lotuses... and the pocket watch you just used to scare people, all of them combined, not even a single scratch was removed."

Si Ming smiled, a hint of sarcasm escaping from the corner of his mouth as blood trickled down his spine: "So this is it... Pretty fancy."

"Fancy?" Miyoko chuckled, her fingers tracing the health bar, light flowing beneath her palm.

"This is called order. The world as seen by us high-level players."

She leaned down, her lips close to his ear, her voice incredibly gentle:

"See that? Human effort is truly romantic."

At that moment, Si Ming's smile froze for a second.
But the next second he forcefully pushed her back down.

He looked up, a gray light still flickering in his eyes.

"The word 'romantic' sounds disgusting coming from your mouth."

Miyoko's smile deepened.

She took a step back, raised her hand, and turned her palm over.

The tendrils slid down her arm and quickly extended into shape in the air.

Each vine is covered with barbs, and a bright flower blooms at its tip.

She slightly raised her hand, and the vines gathered into five fingers, transforming into rose-colored claws.

She raised her hand, her smile so gentle it seemed she was about to kiss him.

"In the next life—"

She spoke softly, her voice scattering into fragments in the wind.

"Stop trying to seize the supreme destiny that is not yours, Mr. Gambler."

Petals fluttered up.

Rose claws, carrying both poison and fragrance, sliced ​​through the air.

Just as it was about to rest on his chest, Si Ming suddenly smiled.

He lowered his head, and blood dripped from the corner of his mouth onto the ground.
His voice was hoarse, yet clear.

"A gambler? Ha, I'm not the only one in this instance."

He looked up, and a glimmer of gray light flashed in his eyes for a moment.

The smile at the corners of her mouth was deeper, yet also gentler.

"...Natasha, how much worse off do you want me to be?"

He silently repeated the name in his heart.
His gaze remained fixed on Miyoko, like a dying gambler.
Still waiting for the last card to be revealed.

A breeze blows, and the petals flutter up.

Blood, laughter, red flowers, dust.

Si Ming knelt in the sea of ​​flowers.
He smiled as if welcoming a miracle he had long anticipated.

silence.

The sea of ​​flowers seemed to freeze for a moment.

The next second, bang!
The gunshot rang out from the sky.

Without warning, without a flash of light,
It was as if someone had torn a rift in the world at that moment.

The bullet pierced the dome, leaving a trail of silvery flame.

It fell from the sky, tearing through the air.
It left a long arc of light.

It goes straight to the heart of the disaster area.

The sea of ​​flowers trembled, and rose petals were swirled up into a vortex.

Miyoko's smile finally froze.

She raised her hand to block, and the rose vines instantly wove into a shield.
But the moment the bullet pierces the air, all sound is sucked away.

A burst of red light erupted.

A third of the flower field beneath her feet withered at the same time, and the red vines instantly turned to ash.

The energy bar above her head, symbolizing the disaster zone, flashed three times before disappearing.

"Impossible... my disaster zone!"

For the first time, she lost her smile.

The air twisted in her fury.

The crimson dome of the disaster zone began to crack, and fragmented light fell from the top.

She looked up at the sky, but could see no direction.

"Who?" she growled.

"Who's disturbing my dinner!?"

At the edge of the square, Si Ming knelt in the blood.

The wind swept through his blood-stained hair, his gray eyes still gleaming.

He looked up and smiled, "What's wrong, goddess? It didn't feel good to get your head blown off for the first time, did it?"

"Shut up." Miyoko suddenly raised her hand.

A vast sea of ​​vines unfolded behind her.

The vines coiled around itself, forming layers of shields.
Red mist surged around her, transforming into a shield-shaped wall of flowers.

"It's no use." Si Ming tilted his head, blood flowing from the corner of his mouth.

"She's in sniping mode. You can't see her. And you've already been targeted as her prey."

Miyoko's pupils contracted, and she turned to look around.

The wind stopped.

Then, a second shot rang out.

This time, not even the air vibrated.

Only the sound of petals being pierced—as light as falling snow.

Miyoko's right shoulder exploded, and blood splattered out along with flower petals.

She looked down and saw that her right arm had been pierced through.
The vines that had transformed into poisonous spears crumbled into fragments in mid-air.

The sea of ​​flowers beneath her feet shook completely.

Light flickered above her head, like the aurora borealis being torn apart; the shield's color rapidly dimmed, and cracks spread from her chest outwards.

At that moment, the dome of the disaster area seemed to become shattered glass, and large swaths of red light fell, scattering like petals.

Midoriko staggered backward, clearly hearing the sound of her shield shattering, like fate breaking into countless tiny fragments beside her ear. Her expression finally changed.

The red light in her eyes was replaced by astonishment, and she murmured, "The second shot... double the damage? No, absolutely not!"

Panting, Si Ming laughed even harder: "I advise you... not to count. The next one will hurt even more."

She finally stopped laughing.

The flower field erupted in chaos, the disaster area resembling a pierced heart.
The pulse becomes unbalanced, and the petals burn in reverse.

Midoriko's eyes went completely mad as the power of the Star Calamity erupted, turning rose petals into countless poisonous flames.

"Mother Goddess, Lord Miranda!" she cried out.

The sound tore through the air, filled with despair and hatred.

The sea of ​​flowers beneath her feet churned once more, all the withered petals burning into a gray, poisonous mist that formed a pair of unfolding "flower wings" behind her.

She lunged at Si Ming.

It moved as fast as a blood-red meteor.

Rose's claws traced a path in the air, only an inch away from him.

Si Ming didn't dodge; he was even smiling.

That smile was the gambler's confidence in the last second.

boom.

The third shot rang out.

Time freezes at this moment.

Sound is removed, and the colors of the world are washed into monochrome.

In the red light, a silver bullet trajectory streaked across the sky from afar, piercing through her chest.

The bullet's trail of flame left a grayish-white pattern, a mark of a rewritten destiny.

Her mouth opened as if she wanted to say something, but her voice was drowned out by the flower petals.

Her body shattered, turning into countless rose petals that spun, burned, and turned to ashes in the air.

The dome of the disaster zone collapsed completely, the sea of ​​flowers vanished into dust, and the red light dissolved in the wind.

Si Ming slumped to the ground, leaning against the broken statue, his arms tingling with numbness.

The wind swept past him, carrying a mixture of floral and bloody scents.

Flowers rain down.

He looked up, and flower petals gently landed on his face.

That temperature was the lingering warmth of God's collapse.

He closed his eyes and smiled almost gently.

"I won? No...we won."

The wind scattered the ashes, and the square returned to silence.

Godslayer, three shots.

Fate collapsed.

On the other side of the mountain, the wind was as cold as a knife.

The sky was stained with blood, and the setting sun was reduced to a thin line.

Natasha lay prone on a snow-covered rock.
The sniper rifle was still mounted, and the smoke from its muzzle was slowly dissipating.

Her cloak was blown up by the wind.
The thin layer of frost slowly melted into water droplets, sliding down the silver hair.

Her face was pale, but her eyes remained calm.
However, the light shimmering deep within those heterochromatic eyes was a few degrees dimmer than usual.

She released her finger from the trigger.
The movements were so light, as if afraid of disturbing something.

"call."

Its breath was as white as mist.

The spatial ripples behind her gradually dissipated.

The silhouette of that shadowy figure—the sniper through the crevice.
It flickered a few times in the air.

Then it shattered completely into light dust.

It took the brunt of the Burning Star Technique and the backlash from the Limitless Strike in her place.

Natasha raised her hand and lifted the inside of her cloak.

A silver pocket watch hung around her neck.

"drop."

A crisp sound.

The hands of the clock return to zero, and time begins to flow again.

She leaned against the butt of the rifle and whispered:

"Gambler of Fate, Fate Collapses, Burning Star Technique, Discontinue."

Her voice was low and tired.

Looking up, the ancient town in the distance was being illuminated by the afterglow of the setting sun.
After the disaster area dissipated, only gray dust remained flying everywhere.

Everything fell silent.

She let out a soft breath.
A faint smile appeared on his lips.

Her voice sounded like she was reviewing a past event, or perhaps mocking herself.
"How lucky! This time the die I rolled was a 'six'."

The wind whipped her silver hair.

Her gaze remained calm, yet it held the confidence of a hunter.

"The end is three hundred and sixty times greater. Godslaying is complete."

She looked away.
The spear rested on his knee, his hand still trembling slightly.

The body temperature is gradually decreasing.

Spreading from fingertips to arms,

Then, following the rhythm of my heart, the cold seeps into my chest.

"Phew... As expected, every time the Star Burner comes, it's deadly."

She sighed softly, her voice shattered in the wind.

She leaned against the rock wall, closed her eyes,

It was as if it were synchronized with that heartbeat.

The wind changed direction.

Natasha opened her eyes again.
As the dust settled in the distance, she could see the figure of Si Ming.

That man who's always gambling recklessly,

Still sitting next to the collapsed statue,
Like a god who has been shattered yet is still smiling.

She slightly raised the corner of her lips.

"Siming, you owe me a life."

Her voice was so soft it was almost swallowed by the wind.

"Remember to reimburse me for my shopping expenses over three days."

She paused, her smile softening.

“Not too much, is it?”

The wind, carrying laughter, glides across the snow.

He lifted her hair and blew away the lingering smoke from the gun barrel.

The silver pocket watch swayed gently against his chest.

The hands stopped at zero, and a faint light shone on her face.

Her eyes slowly closed, a barely perceptible smile still lingering on her lips.

The wind and snow returned to the valley.

The sky and earth were a uniform ice-blue.

At that moment, the world finally fell silent.

Only the pocket watch remained on her chest.
Tick, tap.
Slowly pulsating.

Like the heartbeat of fate starting anew.

"Fate is unfair, so I have to snipe."

If God is immortal, then let's roll the dice—

Until fate collapsed.

—Uria: The God-Slayer Chronicle, Final Chapter

(End of this chapter)